Patriots Finalize 2-year Deal with Kenny Britt

Marciano490

Urological Expert
SoSH Member
Nov 4, 2007
62,312
Can we get some subject-verb agreement up in here? The thread title is making my head hurt.
 

johnmd20

mad dog
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
Dec 30, 2003
61,996
New York City
Parting shots are uttered by the person leaving, not the person who stayed behind. And, in this instance, has literally just arrived.

Britt left, so if he said, "The Cleveland Brown organization is a clown show, bro," it would be a parting shot.
 

E5 Yaz

Transcends message boarding
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
Apr 25, 2002
90,032
Oregon
Parting shots are uttered by the person leaving, not the person who stayed behind. And, in this instance, has literally just arrived.

Britt left, so if he said, "The Cleveland Brown organization is a clown show, bro," it would be a parting shot.
No
 

Marciano490

Urological Expert
SoSH Member
Nov 4, 2007
62,312
Let's solve Partingshotgate first, then we'll get the subjects and verbs to agree.
I think the subject of the parting shot is the person 'parting, in this case, Britt. Since it's a shot at him, it is a parting shot, regardless of whether the guy uttering the shot is arriving or not.
 

Marciano490

Urological Expert
SoSH Member
Nov 4, 2007
62,312
I don't think that I've ever been right when challenging johnmd20. I'll still do it, cuz I'm stubborn, but he always wins.
 

Morgan's Magic Snowplow

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 2, 2006
22,345
Philadelphia
Britt mentioned yesterday in an interview that he had only played the X receiver position beforehand and that learning the playbook here was a bit harder as they want him to know the responsibilities for all the receiver positions. On the one hand, that is not all that confidence inspiring in terms of how quickly he could get up to speed. It did make me think a little bit, however, about why he might really help the team even just in that X role. More than anything, the X receiver needs to be able to defeat jams at the line (since he is lining up on the LOS and can't line up deeper or go in motion) and win sometimes one-on-one against man coverage when isolated on the outside. Last year, from what I can tell, we most often either lined Jules up wide as the X (when he wasn't in the slot) or played Mitchell in that spot. I don't think Hogan or Amendola really has the skillset: They need to line up deeper to get a freer release to be effective and neither is very good against man coverage in general.

Brandin Cooks was mainly the Z receiver in New Orleans from what I can see. Michael Thomas most often played the X, and that allowed Cooks to use his quickness to get better releases and to move around the formation in motion to exploit apparent weaknesses in the coverage.

So the plan after signing Cooks was probably to have Mitchell play mainly the X, Edelman mainly the slot, and Cooks mainly the Z, with Jules also capable of playing the X if Mitchell wasn't in the game and Amendola backing up the slot. So what happens? Mitchell and Edelman both get hurt, we have nobody who is really well suited for the X receiver role, and Cooks ends up taking on a lot of those responsibilities. Unsurprisingly, he gets eaten up by jams a lot, because he is fairly small and because that hasn't been his primary role previously.

All this is to say that Kenny Britt, who has played his entire career as an X receiver, could really help solve this problem if he can get up to speed enough to get on the field, even for only half the snaps. At that point, you can start to play Cooks in his best role more often, he will get jammed less frequently, and he can be used in more ways.
 

Spelunker

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 17, 2005
11,884
Britt mentioned yesterday in an interview that he had only played the X receiver position beforehand and that learning the playbook here was a bit harder as they want him to know the responsibilities for all the receiver positions. On the one hand, that is not all that confidence inspiring in terms of how quickly he could get up to speed. It did make me think a little bit, however, about why he might really help the team even just in that X role. More than anything, the X receiver needs to be able to defeat jams at the line (since he is lining up on the LOS and can't line up deeper or go in motion) and win sometimes one-on-one against man coverage when isolated on the outside. Last year, from what I can tell, we most often either lined Jules up wide as the X (when he wasn't in the slot) or played Mitchell in that spot. I don't think Hogan or Amendola really has the skillset: They need to line up deeper to get a freer release to be effective and neither is very good against man coverage in general.

Brandin Cooks was mainly the Z receiver in New Orleans from what I can see. Michael Thomas most often played the X, and that allowed Cooks to use his quickness to get better releases and to move around the formation in motion to exploit apparent weaknesses in the coverage.

So the plan after signing Cooks was probably to have Mitchell play mainly the X, Edelman mainly the slot, and Cooks mainly the Z, with Jules also capable of playing the X if Mitchell wasn't in the game and Amendola backing up the slot. So what happens? Mitchell and Edelman both get hurt, we have nobody who is really well suited for the X receiver role, and Cooks ends up taking on a lot of those responsibilities. Unsurprisingly, he gets eaten up by jams a lot, because he is fairly small and because that hasn't been his primary role previously.

All this is to say that Kenny Britt, who has played his entire career as an X receiver, could really help solve this problem if he can get up to speed enough to get on the field, even for only half the snaps. At that point, you can start to play Cooks in his best role more often, he will get jammed less frequently, and he can be used in more ways.
Fantastic post.
 

TheoShmeo

Skrub's sympathy case
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
Jul 19, 2005
12,890
Boston, NY
It seems odd to me that Britt would make it known that he’s only learned the X receiver role. Why give the defenses any such intel? Maybe they could discern it anyway based on his usage but it’s a little surprising to see that get telegraphed in advance. Not the biggest issue but still somewhat curious to me.
 

lexrageorge

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 31, 2007
18,100
It seems odd to me that Britt would make it known that he’s only learned the X receiver role. Why give the defenses any such intel? Maybe they could discern it anyway based on his usage but it’s a little surprising to see that get telegraphed in advance. Not the biggest issue but still somewhat curious to me.
Because it's nothing that opposing defensive coordinators would not know anyway once they study film. Also, he said he's learning other roles, so defenses should no longer count on that being true anymore.
 

TheoShmeo

Skrub's sympathy case
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
Jul 19, 2005
12,890
Boston, NY
Because it's nothing that opposing defensive coordinators would not know anyway once they study film. Also, he said he's learning other roles, so defenses should no longer count on that being true anymore.
Yes, understood, as I noted above. In truth, I did not see the actual comment and if he left room for adding more on later, then he probably indeed gave away nothing that opposing coordinators could not discern on their own. I just found it to be unusual to see a Pats player discussing limitations on his usage in the media...and generally prefer the Belichick “Tell them nothing” approach.
 

tims4wins

PN23's replacement
SoSH Member
Jul 15, 2005
37,069
Hingham, MA
Yes, understood, as I noted above. In truth, I did not see the actual comment and if he left room for adding more on later, then he probably indeed gave away nothing that opposing coordinators could not discern on their own. I just found it to be unusual to see a Pats player discussing limitations on his usage in the media...and generally prefer the Belichick “Tell them nothing” approach.
I don't think you are understanding the quote. Britt said he only learned the X position ELSEWHERE - and what makes NE so hard is he has to learn all of the positions.
 

Super Nomario

Member
SoSH Member
Nov 5, 2000
14,012
Mansfield MA
Britt mentioned yesterday in an interview that he had only played the X receiver position beforehand and that learning the playbook here was a bit harder as they want him to know the responsibilities for all the receiver positions. On the one hand, that is not all that confidence inspiring in terms of how quickly he could get up to speed. It did make me think a little bit, however, about why he might really help the team even just in that X role. More than anything, the X receiver needs to be able to defeat jams at the line (since he is lining up on the LOS and can't line up deeper or go in motion) and win sometimes one-on-one against man coverage when isolated on the outside. Last year, from what I can tell, we most often either lined Jules up wide as the X (when he wasn't in the slot) or played Mitchell in that spot. I don't think Hogan or Amendola really has the skillset: They need to line up deeper to get a freer release to be effective and neither is very good against man coverage in general.

Brandin Cooks was mainly the Z receiver in New Orleans from what I can see. Michael Thomas most often played the X, and that allowed Cooks to use his quickness to get better releases and to move around the formation in motion to exploit apparent weaknesses in the coverage.

So the plan after signing Cooks was probably to have Mitchell play mainly the X, Edelman mainly the slot, and Cooks mainly the Z, with Jules also capable of playing the X if Mitchell wasn't in the game and Amendola backing up the slot. So what happens? Mitchell and Edelman both get hurt, we have nobody who is really well suited for the X receiver role, and Cooks ends up taking on a lot of those responsibilities. Unsurprisingly, he gets eaten up by jams a lot, because he is fairly small and because that hasn't been his primary role previously.

All this is to say that Kenny Britt, who has played his entire career as an X receiver, could really help solve this problem if he can get up to speed enough to get on the field, even for only half the snaps. At that point, you can start to play Cooks in his best role more often, he will get jammed less frequently, and he can be used in more ways.
It seems to me that the Patriots often plug "the new guy" in at X, probably because it is the simplest (not easiest - it requires the most physical talent for reasons you've stated - but it doesn't have as much coordination with other receivers, moving around, motioning pre-snap, etc.), whether that's a rookie like Mitchell (or Dobson, the last big rookie contributor) or a new signee like Lloyd, LaFell, Hogan (who we saw a fair amount of at X last year), or in this case Cooks. I wouldn't be surprised to see Cooks move around more next season.
 

tims4wins

PN23's replacement
SoSH Member
Jul 15, 2005
37,069
Hingham, MA
Here is the full quote

What has been the toughest part of the playbook?

Britt: Everything, to tell you the truth. It has to do with lining up and being in different positions, which I haven’t done in my whole career. I was always just one position, the ‘X’ position. Here, they have me moving all around. It’s making things more complicated but it’s helping me learn the playbook faster than just being in one spot.
 

Morgan's Magic Snowplow

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 2, 2006
22,345
Philadelphia
It seems to me that the Patriots often plug "the new guy" in at X, probably because it is the simplest (not easiest - it requires the most physical talent for reasons you've stated - but it doesn't have as much coordination with other receivers, moving around, motioning pre-snap, etc.), whether that's a rookie like Mitchell (or Dobson, the last big rookie contributor) or a new signee like Lloyd, LaFell, Hogan (who we saw a fair amount of at X last year), or in this case Cooks. I wouldn't be surprised to see Cooks move around more next season.
Yeah, I think you're absolutely right about the new guy effect in general. A lot of those guys were more prototypical fits for the X role based on size and/or experience, though, whereas Cooks is on the smaller/quicker side and seemed (from my very cursory research, which could be wrong) to have been played heavily in other role sin New Orleans. I would be a little surprised if the plan from the start was to play him heavily as the X but who really knows.
 

Super Nomario

Member
SoSH Member
Nov 5, 2000
14,012
Mansfield MA
Yeah, I think you're absolutely right about the new guy effect in general. A lot of those guys were more prototypical fits for the X role based on size and/or experience, though, whereas Cooks is on the smaller/quicker side and seemed (from my very cursory research, which could be wrong) to have been played heavily in other role sin New Orleans. I would be a little surprised if the plan from the start was to play him heavily as the X but who really knows.
If anything I would think Edelman's injury opened up snaps at the Z and made them less likely to use Cooks just as an X, but obviously it hasn't played out that way.

Cooks is definitely small for an X, but so is Mitchell. LaFell and Hogan both played a ton of slot prior to joining the Pats but have been used outside primarily with NE. It is hard to know whether that's by design, the "new guy" effect, or just because they already had Welker / Edelman.