Pats OTA Notes & Discussion
- Thread starter tims4wins
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He did, and the Shaughnessy's of the world were licking their chops in anticipation of how badly things would go. Then, he went 9 for 183 w 1TD and they shut the fuck up.
I like Juju, but ... I'm not expecting that here.
View: https://twitter.com/ByMarkDaniels/status/1669053310974808064
Todays OTA canceled for a paintball outing
Todays OTA canceled for a paintball outing
Can anything really be gleaned from performance during OTAs? Even the checkdown thing, for example - for all we know the coaches told him to work on checkdowns that day so that was his focus.
I mean it's better than the alternative of Mac looking horrible, but I'll curb my enthusiasm until at least the preseason (although the part about BOB not just recycling Patricia's shitty plays is welcome, if expected, news).
I was pointing out what was quoted in the previous post:
I'm not sure if this is something to get excited about but, as a skeptic, maybe it would be notable for you.
Thanks for sharing. I did read that and it does feel very "Mac" like. Lots of completions, not a ton of spreading the field.
Can't really glean anything from OTAs and mini-camp though, they're trying to just get the machine started. It'll be interesting to see how preseason games go and how actual defenses react. The issue with Mac last year is that defenses seemed to figure out his limitations to some degree and he couldn't overcome it (also the rest of the offense was a mess).
I'm not holding my breath, but I'm at least a little optimistic.
Also, is there anyone that's not a skeptic at this point? I get the optimism, but if you're not at least a little bit skeptical of Mac, then I'm not sure what to say.
Understood. Speaking for myself, I'm sort of trying not to draw too many conclusions about last year -- it was chicken or the egg in so many ways. Did Mac suck because the offense was a disaster? Or was the offense a disaster because Mac sucked? I mean, I think we know for a fact that the Patricia/Judge experiment failed because so many things that didn't have to do with Mac went horribly wrong (protection, getting plays in on time, etc.).
What I'm hoping is that what I thought was going to happen last year--that Mac would develop into an elite decision-maker--is what BOB works on making him into this year -- and that he has the X's and O's chops to scheme guys open to make that possible. I'm particularly optimistic on Gesicki. But of course, we shall see.
What I'm hoping is that what I thought was going to happen last year--that Mac would develop into an elite decision-maker--is what BOB works on making him into this year -- and that he has the X's and O's chops to scheme guys open to make that possible. I'm particularly optimistic on Gesicki. But of course, we shall see.
I think if this set of OTAs were coming off of Mac's positive rookie year, we would all be excited about his growth. Unfortunately for all of us, but especially for him, last year did happen. As Van notes, which was chicken, which was egg? I'm in the camp where 90% of the blame lies at the feet of the coaching disaster last year, not just at OC, but at OLine and QB.
He still has immense physical limitations, not sure how he overcomes that or they scheme around it. I think Patricia's main fault last year was trying to do too much and then he couldn't adjust once none of it worked, but not having a QB that could execute even the simple stuff was a huge problem.
NFL defenses eat up college offenses and it feels like that's what the Patriots need to run for Mac to be successful. Very interested to see and be proven wrong.
NFL defenses eat up college offenses and it feels like that's what the Patriots need to run for Mac to be successful. Very interested to see and be proven wrong.
Last year's set of OTAs/minicamp also received positive coverage, with players and media talking about how the offense was simpler and more aggressive. It's just not an evaluation environment, Belichick himself has said that. Training camp will paint a much clearer picture.
Tom Curran and Phil Perry were very, very, very down on the Pats' offensive line after day 2 of minicamp. Apparently Trent Brown got yanked from after one drill (seemingly due to a conditioning issue) and the rest of the line was not particularly impressive. Both of them, especially Curran, have become click-baity, but their concerns about the offensive line sounded pretty reasonable. The main takeaway I took from them is that the Pats don't seem to have changed their MO of finding 5 fat guys on the street and coaching them up, which is putting a lot of faith in Klemm to replicate an all-time-great o-line coach.
I don't know how accurate that is. Andrews is solid at C. Brown is what he is... but certainly not a guy off the street. Strange is a first round pick, and they were missing Onwenu as he is recovering from surgery. Yah, RT is a question mark... but that seems to be MAYBE the only position where it is a hope to "coach them up"
I am assuming that this is the segment you’re referring to. A few thoughts:
I thought Ted Johnson was a lot more clickbait-y than anything Curran or Perry said. Which has been par for the course with him for several years now.
Belichick has a history of making guys in down seasons be an example for what will and won’t be tolerated the season after. Lawyer Milloy in 2002 being the first example but also Adalius Thomas in 2009. It would not 100% surprise me if Trent Brown is the player this year that tells the rest of the roster that what happened last year isn’t going to be tolerated this time out.
Even then, the RTs are all players who started a significant amount of NFL games last year. Reiff has 149 career starts and was a first round pick, these aren't guys off the street.
Yeah I don't think it's an issue of pedigree. They don't have the equivalent of a Stephen Neal or Brandin Gorin or Russ Hochstein on the line IMO. They just haven't gotten the level of play that you'd expect. We saw in 2014-2015 how much Dante's absence impacted the team. I made a point in another thread that having a competent OC might be a bigger upgrade for this team than having prime Brady with Matty P. as the offensive coordinator (maybe a totally wrong take but that's not the point). It could be a similar story on the O line where the coach matters more than the talent.
Add me to the chorus of those who disagree with this statement. I'm not sure how it compares to other franchises, but they've traditionally invested quite a decent and consistent amount of draft capital in the O-Line. Klemm, Light, Solder, Vollmer, Wynn, and Strange were all 1st or 2nd round picks. Plus a very high number of middle and late round picks. Those later picks are where Dante really earned his keep turning guys like Neal, Hochstein, Andrews, Mason, Cannon, Onwenu into guys capable of high-level play.
They've also often spent a decent amount on 2nd-tier, under the radar, free agents, from Mike Compton and Joe Andruzzi, to Brian Waters, to Trent Brown.
I should have re-listened before I posted - it's even worse in terms of being clickbait than I thought. If you start listening at the 8 min mark of the podcast file on the page @Van Everyman linked, Curran says that he and Greg effin' Bedard were discussing show ideas and agreed that the Pats "are acting like they still have the best offensive line coach in history working for them."
Lots of good responses above countering Curran's claim about them historically and currently neglecting the o-line.
Lots of good responses above countering Curran's claim about them historically and currently neglecting the o-line.
