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Positional groupings

Email|Link|Comments (6) Posted by Mike Reiss, Globe Staff September 9, 2008 09:06 AM

A look at the positional groupings utilized by the Patriots in Sunday’s season-opening 17-10 win over the Chiefs:

3 WR/1 TE/1 RB – 36 of 58 snaps

1 WR/2 TE/1 FB/1 RB – 8 of 58

2 WR/2 TE/1 RB – 6 of 58

3 WR/1 FB/1 RB – 5 of 58

3 WR/2 RB – 2 of 58

4 WR/1 RB – 1 of 58

(snaps do not include two kneel-downs, but do include one holding penalty on Stephen Spach)

ANALYSIS: The first question would naturally be “Did the Patriots dramatically alter their approach with Matt Cassel in the game?” The answer, based solely on the positional groupings is “no”. This was not a case where the Patriots went from their base 3-wide offense into more compact formations to pound the ball on the ground. They stayed with what they did, although the play-calls out of those packages might have been altered a bit. … Both touchdowns came out of the 3 WR/1 TE/1 RB grouping. ... Encouraging for the Patriots was that when the Chiefs went light in the box against the 3 WR/1 TE/1 RB package, the running game delivered (34 yards on the final 3 plays of the second scoring drive). … The Patriots used the 4 WR/1 RB package once – and it came up huge with Cassel finding Wes Welker for a 12-yard gain on third and 9 on the team’s final drive.

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6 comments so far...

Hey Mike,
Any chance you can lose the question marks in your posts? They are a bit confusing...not sure why it is happening in some and not others.

Thanks

Posted by Christian September 9, 08 09:13 AM

Christian,

If you can, you want to set your browser to auto detect the character encoding. If not, you want to use ISO-8859-1 (Western). That will fix your problem.

Posted by JG September 9, 08 09:54 AM

After having thought about all this for a couple of days, all may not be lost with the Patriots.

Let's remember this....in the past decade 7 QBs NOT named Tom Brady have won a Super Bowl. Yes this is a major blow (I am still reeling from all this). But it is not insurmountable. First let me say that I don't believe Matt Cassell is the answer. But this team has more than enough talent to make the playoffs with a competant, veteran at QB. And once you get in the playoffs it almost becomes a crap shoot. Just ask the Giants who were outplayed in 2 of the 3 games in the NFC playoffs yet still wound up in the Super Bowl. And once there used a lucky catch and a couple of officials swallowing their whistles to actually win the game. So literally anything can happen.

And has anyone mentioned Drew Bledsoe ? I know, I know that sounds idiotic. But is it really ? At 37 years old he is still 2 years younger than Brett Favre. And what kind of story would that be ? We aren't going anywhere with Matt Cassell so why not ?

The biggest down side for me is that I will lose a year of getting to watch the NFL's best player perform in his prime. But we all know that Brady will be back to 100% and ready to go next season.

In the meantime, depending on what the Patriots decide to do, this season could be a very interesting ride to say the least....

Posted by Gary September 9, 08 10:45 AM

"Hey Mike,
Any chance you can lose the question marks in your posts? They are a bit confusing...not sure why it is happening in some and not others."

Huh? Why? No, really. Why? I'm interested.

Posted by Los Angeles September 9, 08 11:20 AM

Drew is not our answer... he would be out of shape and it would be very awkward - replacing the guy who replaced you... I still think we should get Culpepper and have him replace Cassel if things go bad (like we drop next 2). The WRs are only as good as the QB and our running game isn't to be scared of. Luckily we have a "easy" schedule...

Posted by shaselai September 9, 08 11:45 AM

Thanks JG....

Posted by Christian September 9, 08 11:54 AM

DO NOT HIT THE SUBMIT BUTTON MORE THAN ONCE!

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Mike Reiss, Christopher L. Gasper and the rest of the Globe team provide regular updates –and a behind-the-scenes look– on the daily happenings of the Patriots.

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