Post by ATJ on Oct 29, 2017 6:51:45 GMT -5
www.espn.com/blog/new-england-patriots/post/_/id/4807419/what-makes-3-game-win-streak-rare-points-are-down-for-tom-brady-offense
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- Quick-hit thoughts and notes around the New England Patriots and NFL:
1. The Patriots' current three-game winning streak has been rare because they've done it by scoring just 19, 24 and 23 points, which is below their norm. They are usually in the 30s or even the 40s.
I went back through every three-game winning streak in Bill Belichick's Patriots tenure and the last time the team didn't break 30 points in a three-game win streak was the start of the 2013 season (23, 13, 23). It happened once in 2010 and then one had to go back to 2004 for the next time.
The good news for the Patriots is that defense and special teams has picked up the slack, and teams have to find different ways to win. The Patriots still enter Sunday's game against the Chargers as the NFL's top-rated attack in terms of yards gained, and the team is sixth in points scored.
But the offense, with quarterback Tom Brady's accuracy not as pinpoint as usual, is not operating at its normal efficiency. As Brady said, they want to go into next weekend's bye feeling good about themselves and that's why Sunday's home game against the Chargers has some added significance for the offense.
2. Brady's attention to detail showed up earlier this week when he was asked about the red zone offense, which is one main reason for the team's lower point totals; the offense is coming off a 2-for-5 performance (2 TDs in 5 trips) on the official stat sheet against Atlanta. Brady quickly corrected the record, pointing out one of those trips came at the end of the game when the Patriots were kneeling on the ball. Why does the NFL include that as part of its red zone stats? Great question, as not only is it an example of Brady's attention to detail, but also how stats can sometimes be deceiving without context.
3. When Rob Gronkowski was coming up the ranks as a tight end, he said he had three favorites that he watched closely. The answer is timely because the Patriots face one of them Sunday when the Chargers come to town. "Antonio Gates, Tony Gonzalez, Jeremy Shockey, those were the tight ends I definitely admired as a kid," he said.
4. Bill Belichick's response to the Chargers running a lot of two-tight end packages with 2016 second-round pick Hunter Henry and Antonio Gates spoke volumes about how he views the position. "I don't know, it depends what you call these guys. They have a lot of big receivers, whether you call them receivers or tight ends. They're good in the passing game, so call them whatever you want to call them," he said. To Belichick, a true tight end is a combination player (like Gronkowski) who can be a high-end blocker but also a top pass-catcher, which puts the defense in conflict on how to match them. Based on Belichick's response, I expect the Patriots to treat Henry and Gates as if they are big receivers on Sunday, which means the they should be in sub defense most of the game.
5. Former Chargers offensive lineman Nick Hardwick, who provided top-notch analysis previewing the Chargers leading into today's game and serves as a radio analyst for team broadcasts, shared his roller coaster of emotions of the franchise's relocation to Los Angeles this year. His answer came in the context of when I asked him what the reaction has been in San Diego. "What you have is a lot of people who feel betrayed and abandoned by the team. They parted ways," he relayed. "But then you have a very small contingent who doubled down on membership in the Chargers Club, and with that, it's really become a tighter, devout fan base. People didn't know where to go. A lot of them, at first, tried to get away from the NFL. That was me. I was trying on other teams and it didn't feel right. Then the draft came around and I was only concerned with who the Chargers were picking. I got excited and thought, 'I need to get back in with my old team.' I'm thankful I did. It's part of who I am. I can't deny it."
6. Like Hardwick, I love covering the NFL, but I do wonder if sometimes we reporters take things a little too far. One example: On Friday, after a brief glimpse of practice, reporters departed and Patriots defensive tackle Alan Branch followed with them. This was passed along on social media, leading to questions on whether Branch -- who in recent weeks had been in and out of the lineup -- might be managing an injury or perhaps something else. Two hours later, when Branch returned to the locker room, he was asked what was up. "I had to take a dump," he said in matter-of-fact fashion. OK, then.
7. The Patriots' victory over the Falcons last Sunday night was arguably their best of the season, and it was also their shortest. It marked the first time they played a game in less than three hours, which has been something the NFL is making a point of emphasis this year. The rundown:
Chiefs -- 3:37
Saints -- 3:06
Texans -- 3:19
Panthers -- 3:00
Buccaneers -- 3:13
Jets -- 3:10
Falcons -- 2:55
8. Patriots wide receiver Chris Hogan played on the kickoff coverage team last week against the Falcons, which was his first time covering kicks since he signed with the Patriots last season. He said it was something he did regularly in Buffalo, but with an expanded role as a receiver in New England, the coaches hadn't called on him. That changed last week, in part due to injuries to others. "That's kind of how I made my way in this league. Special teams, to me, is still a fun part of the game and when they put me out there I was pumped," Hogan said. "It kind of helps you stay in the rhythm in the game."
9. The NFL's most recent owners meeting in New York included a significant discussion on the league's declining TV ratings, a topic that Patriots president Jonathan Kraft was asked about during a pregame interview on 98.5 The Sports Hub last week.
"It is true. Ratings are down, mid-single digits year over year. If anything has a negative trend in your business, you're always focused on it," Kraft said on the program. "I think the one thing with television ratings, though, which relatively speaking is still a strength in the NFL -- if you were to go back to 10 years ago, the ratings for the NFL in absolute terms are materially higher than they were a decade ago. If you go to where prime-time television was, or literally anything else on traditional broadcast television, not only is it not up, it's down by about 40 percent. So relatively speaking, we've held our own.
"But clearly now, I think in particular mobile viewing and attention spans of younger people are definitely going to require us -- and we have been thinking about it -- how to present our games in different ways and make sure going forward we maintain a strong entertainment product."
Kraft wonders what things will look like 10 years from now.
"Seventeen of the top 20 shows this calendar year are NFL games," he said in the interview. "I think we're still, by far and away, the most watched thing on television. But television is a medium that is very, very rapidly transforming. When you think of a generation of people that grow up watching anything they want to watch on demand, the idea of setting your schedule around a live event week in and week out is a little antithetical. I think we're working on ways, and I think you're going to hear some news in the coming weeks, where you're going to be able to watch our games, or many of our games on your wireless device in your market. You're going to see other forms and presentations of our content that will hopefully allow us to adapt to the consumer's taste. So we clearly are focused on it, but I think relatively speaking as a traditional television product we're very strong. But in 10 years, traditional television probably, likely; the concept of traditional television doesn't exist and it will be something else."
10. Did You Know: Bill Belichick has 268 career victories (including the postseason) and is closing on Tom Landry (270) for third on the all-time list. Don Shula (347) and George Halas (324) are first and second, respectively. Belichick's .678 winning percentage is second all-time behind Halas (.682).
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- Quick-hit thoughts and notes around the New England Patriots and NFL:
1. The Patriots' current three-game winning streak has been rare because they've done it by scoring just 19, 24 and 23 points, which is below their norm. They are usually in the 30s or even the 40s.
I went back through every three-game winning streak in Bill Belichick's Patriots tenure and the last time the team didn't break 30 points in a three-game win streak was the start of the 2013 season (23, 13, 23). It happened once in 2010 and then one had to go back to 2004 for the next time.
The good news for the Patriots is that defense and special teams has picked up the slack, and teams have to find different ways to win. The Patriots still enter Sunday's game against the Chargers as the NFL's top-rated attack in terms of yards gained, and the team is sixth in points scored.
But the offense, with quarterback Tom Brady's accuracy not as pinpoint as usual, is not operating at its normal efficiency. As Brady said, they want to go into next weekend's bye feeling good about themselves and that's why Sunday's home game against the Chargers has some added significance for the offense.
2. Brady's attention to detail showed up earlier this week when he was asked about the red zone offense, which is one main reason for the team's lower point totals; the offense is coming off a 2-for-5 performance (2 TDs in 5 trips) on the official stat sheet against Atlanta. Brady quickly corrected the record, pointing out one of those trips came at the end of the game when the Patriots were kneeling on the ball. Why does the NFL include that as part of its red zone stats? Great question, as not only is it an example of Brady's attention to detail, but also how stats can sometimes be deceiving without context.
3. When Rob Gronkowski was coming up the ranks as a tight end, he said he had three favorites that he watched closely. The answer is timely because the Patriots face one of them Sunday when the Chargers come to town. "Antonio Gates, Tony Gonzalez, Jeremy Shockey, those were the tight ends I definitely admired as a kid," he said.
4. Bill Belichick's response to the Chargers running a lot of two-tight end packages with 2016 second-round pick Hunter Henry and Antonio Gates spoke volumes about how he views the position. "I don't know, it depends what you call these guys. They have a lot of big receivers, whether you call them receivers or tight ends. They're good in the passing game, so call them whatever you want to call them," he said. To Belichick, a true tight end is a combination player (like Gronkowski) who can be a high-end blocker but also a top pass-catcher, which puts the defense in conflict on how to match them. Based on Belichick's response, I expect the Patriots to treat Henry and Gates as if they are big receivers on Sunday, which means the they should be in sub defense most of the game.
5. Former Chargers offensive lineman Nick Hardwick, who provided top-notch analysis previewing the Chargers leading into today's game and serves as a radio analyst for team broadcasts, shared his roller coaster of emotions of the franchise's relocation to Los Angeles this year. His answer came in the context of when I asked him what the reaction has been in San Diego. "What you have is a lot of people who feel betrayed and abandoned by the team. They parted ways," he relayed. "But then you have a very small contingent who doubled down on membership in the Chargers Club, and with that, it's really become a tighter, devout fan base. People didn't know where to go. A lot of them, at first, tried to get away from the NFL. That was me. I was trying on other teams and it didn't feel right. Then the draft came around and I was only concerned with who the Chargers were picking. I got excited and thought, 'I need to get back in with my old team.' I'm thankful I did. It's part of who I am. I can't deny it."
6. Like Hardwick, I love covering the NFL, but I do wonder if sometimes we reporters take things a little too far. One example: On Friday, after a brief glimpse of practice, reporters departed and Patriots defensive tackle Alan Branch followed with them. This was passed along on social media, leading to questions on whether Branch -- who in recent weeks had been in and out of the lineup -- might be managing an injury or perhaps something else. Two hours later, when Branch returned to the locker room, he was asked what was up. "I had to take a dump," he said in matter-of-fact fashion. OK, then.
7. The Patriots' victory over the Falcons last Sunday night was arguably their best of the season, and it was also their shortest. It marked the first time they played a game in less than three hours, which has been something the NFL is making a point of emphasis this year. The rundown:
Chiefs -- 3:37
Saints -- 3:06
Texans -- 3:19
Panthers -- 3:00
Buccaneers -- 3:13
Jets -- 3:10
Falcons -- 2:55
8. Patriots wide receiver Chris Hogan played on the kickoff coverage team last week against the Falcons, which was his first time covering kicks since he signed with the Patriots last season. He said it was something he did regularly in Buffalo, but with an expanded role as a receiver in New England, the coaches hadn't called on him. That changed last week, in part due to injuries to others. "That's kind of how I made my way in this league. Special teams, to me, is still a fun part of the game and when they put me out there I was pumped," Hogan said. "It kind of helps you stay in the rhythm in the game."
9. The NFL's most recent owners meeting in New York included a significant discussion on the league's declining TV ratings, a topic that Patriots president Jonathan Kraft was asked about during a pregame interview on 98.5 The Sports Hub last week.
"It is true. Ratings are down, mid-single digits year over year. If anything has a negative trend in your business, you're always focused on it," Kraft said on the program. "I think the one thing with television ratings, though, which relatively speaking is still a strength in the NFL -- if you were to go back to 10 years ago, the ratings for the NFL in absolute terms are materially higher than they were a decade ago. If you go to where prime-time television was, or literally anything else on traditional broadcast television, not only is it not up, it's down by about 40 percent. So relatively speaking, we've held our own.
"But clearly now, I think in particular mobile viewing and attention spans of younger people are definitely going to require us -- and we have been thinking about it -- how to present our games in different ways and make sure going forward we maintain a strong entertainment product."
Kraft wonders what things will look like 10 years from now.
"Seventeen of the top 20 shows this calendar year are NFL games," he said in the interview. "I think we're still, by far and away, the most watched thing on television. But television is a medium that is very, very rapidly transforming. When you think of a generation of people that grow up watching anything they want to watch on demand, the idea of setting your schedule around a live event week in and week out is a little antithetical. I think we're working on ways, and I think you're going to hear some news in the coming weeks, where you're going to be able to watch our games, or many of our games on your wireless device in your market. You're going to see other forms and presentations of our content that will hopefully allow us to adapt to the consumer's taste. So we clearly are focused on it, but I think relatively speaking as a traditional television product we're very strong. But in 10 years, traditional television probably, likely; the concept of traditional television doesn't exist and it will be something else."
10. Did You Know: Bill Belichick has 268 career victories (including the postseason) and is closing on Tom Landry (270) for third on the all-time list. Don Shula (347) and George Halas (324) are first and second, respectively. Belichick's .678 winning percentage is second all-time behind Halas (.682).
