Month: January 2016

The New England Patriots 2015-16 campaign came to a screeching halt Sunday afternoon in Denver, closing the book on repeating as champions. This marks the 5th consecutive AFC Title Game appearance for Brady & crew, with only two resulting in Superbowl berths. There is much to take away from this past season, a lot of good, and a few things that need to be addressed in the offseason.

This past season was special for New England fans. Unlike any other team, the New England Patriots season began all the way back on May 6th, the day we were introduced to a little thing called “The Wells Report.” At that very point, the title defense began for New England. It created a great deal of animosity towards Patriot Nation as a whole, leaving the team and it’s fans galvanized, counting the seconds, anxiously awaiting week 1. All Summer the team was under fire, specifically Quarterback Tom Brady. Brady was slapped with a 4 game suspension, and the team stripped of a first round pick and 1 million dollars.   However with what felt like years of court room battles, Brady’s suspension was lifted by Judge Richard Berman, and with one week until the season began, Patriot nation was ready to rock. Never has a fan base been more fired up to see their quarterback and their team take the field than the foxboro faithful were week one against Pittsburgh. After a lengthy, rigorous Summer, we were all ready to see Brady stick it to the NFL, and for the most part, he didn’t disappoint.

The 2015 season gave us a whole new outlook on several players. Some were pleasant surprises, others left us shaking our heads.

Most Improved/Breakthrough Players: 

CB Logan Ryan – The third year corner out of Rutgers had previously been looked at as a liability in the New England secondary, especially following a less than stellar performance in Super Bowl 49. Ryan’s role was relatively minimal in the early parts of the year, but when #2 CB Terrell Brown was lost for the year, Ryan had to step up and played significantly better than anyone could have imagined. Ryan had 4 interceptions and limited some of the better receivers in the league, including Demaryius Thomas and DeAndre Hopkins.

RB Dion Lewis – While we only saw lewis for 7 games this season, there is no understating his role in the offense early in the season. Many questioned who would fill the role of Shane Vereen, the pass catcher out of the backfield for Tom Brady, and Lewis went above an beyond what anyone could have imagined. In those first 7 games Lewis totaled 572 yards and found the endzone 4 times. It was a shame his season was cut short, but the Patriots have themselves quite a player for the next couple seasons.

CB Malcolm Butler– Perhaps the biggest breakthrough player in all of football this season was  Super Bowl hero Malcolm Butler, even despite having to fill big shoes. When Pro Bowl corner Darrelle Revis left New England to return to the Jets, many of those in Patriot Nation began to panic. While he will be remembered forever after his heroic game sealing interception in the Super Bowl last season, Butler did not hesitate to show what he’s truly made of. Not only did Butler match-up with some of the leagues best receivers such as Antonio Brown, Sammy Watkins, Odell Beckham Jr to name a few,  but he came pretty close to locking them down entirely. His most impressive performance came in a week 10 showdown against the New York Giants. Malcolm got beat on the first drive of the day, but after that, completely eliminated Odell Beckham Jr from the game, including a last second slap to break up what would have been a potential game sealing touchdown in the final seconds. It really was an incredible year for Butler, especially given that he was named to the Probowl, something no one could have predicted. So, instead of spending an unreasonable amount of money on Darrelle Revis, who showed signs of aging this year, the Patriots took a chance on Butler, and it certainly paid off.

Additional Breakthrough players: DT Malcom Brown, DE Jabaal Sheard SS Patrick Chung. 

Most Disappointing player: 

WR Brandon LaFell – Last season Brandon LaFell was a key piece in bringing the Lombardi Trophy back to Foxboro. He’s a tall, athletic receiver who can add a new dimension to the New England offense.  After starting the first 7 games of the season on the PUP list, LaFell made his season debut vs the New York Jets on October 25th and it was a day to forget for the man they call JoJo. LaFell had two receptions for 25 yards on eight targets with six drops. Unfortunately for Brandon, he couldn’t shake the demons from that game, and never found any rhythm this season. With all the injuries in the receiving core for New England, LaFell’s had his opportunities , but he never capitalized on any of them. It’s possible that his injuries were more serious than expected, or that all the time he missed from training camp to midseason set him back, but regardless none of us saw what we expected to out of him this season. Im curious to see what the Pats do with LaFell this offseason. Personally, I do not expect to see him in a Patriots uniform next season.

Additional Disappointments: TE Scott Chandler, LB Jerod Mayo

Although the 2015 season did not end as memorable as the 2014 season, there is one aspect that we will not have to concern ourselves with this offseason. Last season the Patriots had some big players who were free agents, Devin McCourty, Darrelle Revis, Vince Wilfork, etc. This season the biggest free agent they have is DT Akiem Hicks, who for the record I believe should be resigned, but nonetheless the team we saw in 2015 will most likely be very similar to the team we see in 2016. Assuming everyone shows up in shape and healthy, there strive for ring number five is certainly alive.

Sunday the Patriots will take a trip across the country to take on their good friends, the Denver Broncos with a trip to Superbowl 50 on the line. And, in case you didn’t hear, it will represent the 17th matchup between the two great quarterbacks Tom Brady and Peyton Manning. The two teams met in late november with Denver prevailing in overtime, but much has changed since then. In that game, New England was without Julian Edelman, Danny Amendola, Jamie Collins and lost Dont’a Hightower and Rob Gronkowski during the game. All those key players will be on the field this sunday, but theres one other minor difference, in that the Broncos were led by Brock Osweiler, not Peyton Manning. While New England is as healthy as they’ve been since October, Denver’s star CB Chris Harris will be battling with what looks like a very serious shoulder injury this Sunday. Harris is typically a physical corner who excels when he can get his hands on the opposing receiver, so that will be something to keep an eye on. At the end of the day, both defenses will have to do the following:

1. New England must limit the Denver running game as best they can. Peyton Manning is not the same quarterback as he was years ago, so if New England can force Manning to throw the ball, it could be beneficiary for the Patriots.
2. Denver’s pass rush with Von Miller and Demarcus Ware will have to take over and get to Brady. Brady is so dominant in getting the ball out quick, so the Denver pass rushers will have to be on top of their game Sunday.

Final Prediction:

New England 31 Denver 23- While I believe Denver’s defense will do a great job in keeping the game close, Peyton Manning is a mere game manager at this point in his career, and if Denver falls behind, I believe it will be very difficult for Peyton to keep Denver in this game.

     Well- it’s that time of year again, postseason football is finally here. Saturday afternoon at 4:35 ET the Kansas City Chiefs, riding with a 12 game win streak, will take a trip into Gillette Stadium to take on the number two seed in the AFC, the New England Patriots. Lets take a deeper look into this matchup.

Rested Pats 

     For New England, they will be coming off a much needed bye week, especially with a week 4 bye, this was essentially the first break all year for Belichick’s men, and they have needed it. This week will likely represent the first game since week 7 vs Miami where the Patriots have all their guys star players back, not including those on season ending IR. Easily, the most notable return will be that of WR Julian Edelman. Edelman’s impact on both the offense and on QB Tom Brady cannot be understated. The offense with #11 is entirely different specifically on third downs, where the offense is 50% on third downs with him, and just 33.9% without him. Tom Brady will also be glad to see Edelman return, given that his QBR was 111 in the seasons first 8 games with Edelman healthy and has dropped to 92 ever since. One might wonder how smooth is transition back into the offense will be, given that he hasn’t played since mid november, but Edelman told ESPN Boston’s Mike Reiss that he will “go full throttle regardless.” Edelman’s return should also open things up for TE Rob Gronkowski, Danny Amendola and the rest of the weapons on the outside as well.

Matchups to Watch 

     The Kansas City Chiefs have three prolific offensive players, TE Travis Kelce, RB Jamaal Charles and WR Jeremy Maclin. Of those three, it looks as though Kelce will be the only one on the field Saturday, with Charles out for the year and Maclin’s status in doubt following a high-ankle-sprain in their wildcard round win in Houston last week. Knowing Belichick always draws up a specific plan to eliminate one certain offensive player, my guess is he will do that with Kelce. No body else on the outside scares New England and there secondary, which will most likely allow the Pats to throw eight in the box to limit RB Charcandrick West, leaving it in the hands of Alex Smith. Knowing how lethal Smith can be with his legs, New England must keep Smith in the pocket. If New England can prevent Smith from running wild, given the injuries that offense is facing,  Alex Smith will need to play his absolute best football to win this game.

     The Kansas City defense is among the best in the entire NFL, so Brady and the offense will certainly have their hands full.  It includes probowl pass rusher Justin Houston who has been battling a knee injury for quite some time, so his health will have a huge impact on Saturday’s outcome. Marcus Peters is also a very talented player in the Kansas City secondary and will most likely spend most of his time across from Julian Edelman, and assuming he is as healthy as he says he is, it should be a matchup to watch. The third and final matchup that will have a huge impact on the game is All-Pro TE Rob Gronkowski going against All-Pro Safety Eric Berry. Gronk, who has missed practice twice this week, is battling a lingering knee injury, so thats another thing to keep an eye on.

Final Prediction:

Patriots 27 Chiefs 17 – Tom Brady is 14-3 at home in the playoffs and has been bounced in the first round just two times. The Patriots will be getting a lot of rested key players back this weekend, and that should get them back on  track. That being said nothing will come easy against this Chief defense, so it will certainly be a tight game. The deciding factor for me is if Kansas City is without Jeremy Maclin, I just don’t think they have the fire power to put up enough points this Saturday.