Halftime observations from a game that could be far more out of hand than it is:
* Ray Rice doesn't waste any time. Center Matt Birk and right guard Marshal Yanda together shoved Vince Wilfork out of the way, and right tackle Michael Oher sealed off Ty Warren to create a seam for Ray Rice on the first snap of the game. Rice waited for a moment for the hole to develop and then cut to his right, back through the line. Left guard Ben Grubbs brushed against Wilfork and then got in the way of linebacker Jerod Mayo.
Only safety Brandon Meriweather was left -- that's Pro Bowl safety Brandon Meriweather, to be specific -- and Rice torched Meriweather as easily as if Meriweather was standing still.
The result was a stadium-deflating 83-yard touchdown run -- and only a sign of what was to come.
* Ed Reed is everywhere. When a fluky turnover on a punt gave the Patriots the ball deep in Baltimore territory, Brady had a chance to throw a dart to Randy Moss in the back of the end zone. Ravens safety Ed Reed was eight or 10 feet from the Patriots' best wide receiver, probably not close enough to make up the distance if Brady really zipped it in there.
Brady instead threw the ball out the back of the end zone -- a sign of just how terrified he is to throw anywhere close to where Reed is.
Reed was in position on Moss when Terrell Suggs turnstiled Matt Light off the edge on the Patriots' first drive of the game, forcing the quarterback to hesitate long enough for Suggs to get there and knock the ball loose. Later in the first quarter, after Brady already had thrown an interception to Chris Carr, Reed pounced on a pass deflected by wide receiver Sam Aiken and intercepted it.
When you consider that the Patriots haven't really thrown a pass in the direction of Moss, presumably the primary assignment given to Reed, it's amazing he's made the number of plays as he has.
(In a related story, Brady looks awful: His first interception was even worse than his first, a short pass thrown right at the hands of Carr. The three-time Super Bowl winner has 38 passing yards so far.)
* Ray Lewis is everywhere, too. The Patriots have had no answer for the linebacker who made a compelling case this week that he has plenty of football left in him. He's making a compelling case today, too.
Lewis dodged Laurence Maroney and drilled Brady for a seven-yard loss on the first snap of the Patriots' second series. He then got back in Brady's face to force an incomplete pass on first-and-10 on the next series. Late in the second quarter, Lewis tore through a gap and dropped Kevin Faulk for no gain on a second-and-8 draw.
Lewis finished the first half with eight tackles, including four solo tackles.
* Julian Edelman is doing everything anyone could expect. The rookie wide receiver -- he was just learning how to play the position a year ago, don't forget -- caught a touchdown pass in the second quarter and broke three different tackles on a nifty 28-yard punt return just a few minutes later.
Injured wide receiver Wes Welker hobbled out for the opening coin flip on crutches and watched the rest of the game from Robert Kraft's box. Edelman, obstensibly his replacement as the Patriots' slot receiver, was dropped for a loss on his first reception but looked in the second quarter like he was starting to find some gaps in the defense.
* Kevin Faulk came to play. Not that this should be a surprise to anyone, but the versatile running back has been the Patriots' most dependable player on the field. Faulk has 36 rushing yards and 25 receiving yards, including an 18-yard catch-and-run to dig the Patriots out of their own end late in the first quarter.
Of the Patriots' 61 yards from scrimmage in the first half, Faulk has 61.
(Brady has lost 16 yards to sacks, and the entire rest of the roster has combined for 16 yards.)
Showing posts with label edelman. Show all posts
Showing posts with label edelman. Show all posts
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Former QBs thriving as WRs for Patriots
Julian Edelman doesn't mind talking trash with Isaiah Stanback.
"We've talked the experience of playing quarterback," Edelman said, "and we have that little competitive edge: 'I can throw the ball better than you."
But while the Patriots' two former quarterbacks have different roles at wide receiver -- Edelman is more of an inside receiver while Stanback is more of an outside guy -- both have the similar advantage of having seen the field from the perspective of the passer.
"(Stanback) has a better than average feel for how to come open, when to come open on certain routes and what the quarterback’s looking at," Belichick said. (He was asked specifically about Stanback, but he could have just as easily have been talking about Edelman.) "For anybody that’s played quarterback, you know it doesn’t really help you for a receiver to come open when either you can’t or you’re not ready to throw them him the ball. ...
"On the other hand, it’s better if a receiver is open when you are ready to throw regardless if it’s the exact route that you’re trying to run. Maybe it’s a little bit shorter, maybe it’s a little bit wider, maybe it’s not perfect -- but if he’s open at the right time, that’s a lot better than being open at the wrong time. There’s a sense of timing and spacing that an instinctive player at both of those positions understands and does."
Edelman, for his part, brushed off the idea that he was a more instinctive wide receiver because he'd played quarterback in college.
"It helps, but this isn't college," Edelman said. "This is a different level. I'm still learning every day. I have a lot to learn."
He's doing just fine so far.
The touchdown pass he caught in the second quarter against Indianapolis, in fact, might be the best evidence of those instincts. Edelman lined up in the slot and ran a route that took him toward the sideline -- but when Robert Mathis beat right tackle Nick Kaczur to get some pressure on Tom Brady, Edelman broke out his route and did whatever he could to get open for his quarterback.
Here's what the initial routes looked like for the Patriots' four wide receivers on the field:
When Mathis got into the backfield, though, Edelman cut back away from the sideline and sprinted back toward the middle of the field, a yard or two deep in the end zone. It almost certainly was not where he was supposed to be based on the way the play was designed -- but it was exactly where he was supposed to be based on what his quarterback needed:
Stanback actually broke off his route first and made the same sprint across the middle. Brady, though, still was shaking off Mathis and wasn't yet ready to throw. But when both Colts' safeties went with Stanback, anticipating a pass to him, and that left Edelman with an opening on the left side of the field.
It was just the way you'd expect two quarterbacks to play wide receiver -- getting open any way they could.
Edelman and Stanback weren't the only two wide receivers to break off their routes to get open, of course. Wes Welker initially cut to the outside but drifted back into the middle of the field, finding a seam six or seven yards past the line of scrimmage.
The ability of Welker to find gaps in the defense fits naturally with the instincts of Edelman and Stanback to get open. The Patriots didn't have that in Week 2 against the Jets, and it'll help Brady immensely to have two instinctive slot receivers when the Jets throw their blitzes at him.
"It's great to play with Wes Welker," Edelman said. "Just watching him every day in practice and seeing him in the game, a lot of the (defensive) guys go to him, and it opens you up because he's such a huge part of our offense."
And Edelman, who drew comparisons to Welker before he ever took the field for the Patriots, has mad sure to pick up everything he can from one of the NFL's most productive receivers.
"Little things, like how he practices -- watching a guy go 100 miles an hour every time in practice so he can be used to going that fast," Edelman said. "How he recognizes the defense. How he runs a route a certain way here and there -- and how he runs it differently the next time. Things like that are how you get better because you're learning new stuff, and you're seeing him do different things."
"We've talked the experience of playing quarterback," Edelman said, "and we have that little competitive edge: 'I can throw the ball better than you."
But while the Patriots' two former quarterbacks have different roles at wide receiver -- Edelman is more of an inside receiver while Stanback is more of an outside guy -- both have the similar advantage of having seen the field from the perspective of the passer.
"(Stanback) has a better than average feel for how to come open, when to come open on certain routes and what the quarterback’s looking at," Belichick said. (He was asked specifically about Stanback, but he could have just as easily have been talking about Edelman.) "For anybody that’s played quarterback, you know it doesn’t really help you for a receiver to come open when either you can’t or you’re not ready to throw them him the ball. ...
"On the other hand, it’s better if a receiver is open when you are ready to throw regardless if it’s the exact route that you’re trying to run. Maybe it’s a little bit shorter, maybe it’s a little bit wider, maybe it’s not perfect -- but if he’s open at the right time, that’s a lot better than being open at the wrong time. There’s a sense of timing and spacing that an instinctive player at both of those positions understands and does."
Edelman, for his part, brushed off the idea that he was a more instinctive wide receiver because he'd played quarterback in college.
"It helps, but this isn't college," Edelman said. "This is a different level. I'm still learning every day. I have a lot to learn."
He's doing just fine so far.
The touchdown pass he caught in the second quarter against Indianapolis, in fact, might be the best evidence of those instincts. Edelman lined up in the slot and ran a route that took him toward the sideline -- but when Robert Mathis beat right tackle Nick Kaczur to get some pressure on Tom Brady, Edelman broke out his route and did whatever he could to get open for his quarterback.
Here's what the initial routes looked like for the Patriots' four wide receivers on the field:
When Mathis got into the backfield, though, Edelman cut back away from the sideline and sprinted back toward the middle of the field, a yard or two deep in the end zone. It almost certainly was not where he was supposed to be based on the way the play was designed -- but it was exactly where he was supposed to be based on what his quarterback needed:
Stanback actually broke off his route first and made the same sprint across the middle. Brady, though, still was shaking off Mathis and wasn't yet ready to throw. But when both Colts' safeties went with Stanback, anticipating a pass to him, and that left Edelman with an opening on the left side of the field.
It was just the way you'd expect two quarterbacks to play wide receiver -- getting open any way they could.
Edelman and Stanback weren't the only two wide receivers to break off their routes to get open, of course. Wes Welker initially cut to the outside but drifted back into the middle of the field, finding a seam six or seven yards past the line of scrimmage.
The ability of Welker to find gaps in the defense fits naturally with the instincts of Edelman and Stanback to get open. The Patriots didn't have that in Week 2 against the Jets, and it'll help Brady immensely to have two instinctive slot receivers when the Jets throw their blitzes at him.
"It's great to play with Wes Welker," Edelman said. "Just watching him every day in practice and seeing him in the game, a lot of the (defensive) guys go to him, and it opens you up because he's such a huge part of our offense."
And Edelman, who drew comparisons to Welker before he ever took the field for the Patriots, has mad sure to pick up everything he can from one of the NFL's most productive receivers.
"Little things, like how he practices -- watching a guy go 100 miles an hour every time in practice so he can be used to going that fast," Edelman said. "How he recognizes the defense. How he runs a route a certain way here and there -- and how he runs it differently the next time. Things like that are how you get better because you're learning new stuff, and you're seeing him do different things."
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Carrying two QBs means extra roster spot
Roster spots in the NFL are precious commodities. With injuries creating so much week-to-week uncertainty, every one of the 53 roster spots teams have must be devoted with a specific purpose in mind -- and sometimes with more than one purpose. The more versatile a player, after all, the more value a team can pump out of his roster spot.
"When you look at all the things that have to be done on your football team – offense, defense, special teams, goal line to multiple receivers and multiple defensive back groups, nickels, and dimes, and three receivers and four receivers and all that — you’ve got to have a team that can do the things you want it to do, in terms of personnel groupings, and has some depth on that," Patriots coach Bill Belichick said during a press conference in early September. "(You) also have to be able to handle all the responsibilities in the kicking game, from gunners, to inside coverage people, to wedge blockers, to guys that can play on the wing in the punt team and all that. You look at a lot of people doing different things in training camp to kind of evaluate your depth, and then when you come down to getting your roster, you have to make sure that all those spots are covered. It’s really a mosaic of all of that.
"It’s not a third-down running back versus another third-down running back. It’s all the things that come into play that those players would do, or the other value that they would bring to your roster that, if they do them, then you don’t need somebody else somewhere else to do them. Or if they don’t do them, then you do need somebody somewhere else or somehow you’ve got to those things filled.
"It’s a very inexact science. With 53 players, which is really only 45, you just can’t have the depth that every coach would like to have. Some positions you have it. At other positions, you don’t. I don’t think there’s really any way to ever have the kind of depth that all the NFL coaches would like to have on their roster. It’s just not possible."
To wit: The Patriots traded a conditional draft choice to the Ravens for linebacker Prescott Burgess in order to create a little depth in the aftermath of the injury to Jerod Mayo. Less than a week later, Vince Wilfork went down with an ankle injury and the Patriots signed defensive tackle Terdell Sands -- waiving Burgess to make room. If Burgess didn't remaining practice-squad eligibility, the Patriots would have lost him.
But there are ways to be flexible.
The Patriots right now have just two true quarterbacks on their roster: Future Hall of Famer Tom Brady and untested rookie Brian Hoyer. Isaiah Stanback, a wide receiver originally drafted by the Dallas Cowboys who was a quarterback in college at Washington, is listed as a quarterback on the Patriots' practice squad. But he's not even on the active roster -- let alone eligible to play in case of an emergency.
The NFL instituted the third-quarterback rule in 1991 to give teams a chance to have an extra quarterback handy just in case both other quarterbacks somehow were injured in the same game. The third quarterback is the 46th man on a 45-man active roster. If he appears in a game before the fourth quarter, both of the other two quarterbacks become ineligible to appear in the game under any circumstances.
In some ways, it's a free roster spot -- and that's true, if you're just looking at the 45-man roster each team brings with it into Sunday games.
But in the context of a 53-man roster, a third quarterback is something of a waste. Here's why:
1. If the third quarterback is needed in a game, that game probably is already lost. Few teams can afford to carry two top-notch NFL quarterbacks, let alone three, and it's unlikely that the third quarterback would do any better than a running back with a little Wildcat training.
2. Mediocre quarterbacks are available all over the free-agent wire. Andrew Walter is still out there. Jeff Garcia and Patrick Ramsey are free agents, and quarterbacks like Brooks Bollinger, J.P. Losman and Tim Rattay popular the rosters of the upstart UFL. (No, really.) If a quarterback gets injured on Sunday, a newly acquired quarterback can be at practice on Monday.
3. As detailed above, with special teams an important consideration, roster spots are precious.
Carrying just two quarterbacks isn't unique to the Patriots. Five other NFL teams have just two active quarterbacks on their roster -- Chicago, Green Bay, Jacksonville, the New York Giants and Tennessee.
Three teams actually have four quarterbacks on their active roster -- Carolina, Miami and the New York Jets. But one of those teams is dealing with an injured quarterback, and another is dealing with a terrible quarterback. There's a little method to the madness there.
To make a two-quarterback roster work, though, a team has to have someone they'd be willing to throw back there in case of an emergency. You can't just forfeit, and you probably can't run the old Wing-T with Kevin Faulk or Fred Taylor for a quarter or two.
That's where Julian Edelman comes into play for the Patriots. Edelman spent most of his life playing quarterback and only switched to wide receiver at the conclusion of his college career, aware that his NFL prospects were better as an athlete than as a signal-caller. If Brady and Hoyer both got hurt in the same game, there's no question Edelman could get back into the pocket and run around and throw a few passes and generally not embarrass himself.
The more versatile a player is, the more a team can do with its available roster spots. Without Edelman, it's likely the Patriots would have hung onto Walter just in case of emergency. Now, though, Edelman can serve as the team's third receiver and punt returner and No. 3 quarterback -- and that means the Patriots were able to shore up their depth on the defensive side of the ball with acquisitions like Prescott Burgess and Terdell Sands.
"When you look at all the things that have to be done on your football team – offense, defense, special teams, goal line to multiple receivers and multiple defensive back groups, nickels, and dimes, and three receivers and four receivers and all that — you’ve got to have a team that can do the things you want it to do, in terms of personnel groupings, and has some depth on that," Patriots coach Bill Belichick said during a press conference in early September. "(You) also have to be able to handle all the responsibilities in the kicking game, from gunners, to inside coverage people, to wedge blockers, to guys that can play on the wing in the punt team and all that. You look at a lot of people doing different things in training camp to kind of evaluate your depth, and then when you come down to getting your roster, you have to make sure that all those spots are covered. It’s really a mosaic of all of that.
"It’s not a third-down running back versus another third-down running back. It’s all the things that come into play that those players would do, or the other value that they would bring to your roster that, if they do them, then you don’t need somebody else somewhere else to do them. Or if they don’t do them, then you do need somebody somewhere else or somehow you’ve got to those things filled.
"It’s a very inexact science. With 53 players, which is really only 45, you just can’t have the depth that every coach would like to have. Some positions you have it. At other positions, you don’t. I don’t think there’s really any way to ever have the kind of depth that all the NFL coaches would like to have on their roster. It’s just not possible."
To wit: The Patriots traded a conditional draft choice to the Ravens for linebacker Prescott Burgess in order to create a little depth in the aftermath of the injury to Jerod Mayo. Less than a week later, Vince Wilfork went down with an ankle injury and the Patriots signed defensive tackle Terdell Sands -- waiving Burgess to make room. If Burgess didn't remaining practice-squad eligibility, the Patriots would have lost him.
But there are ways to be flexible.
The Patriots right now have just two true quarterbacks on their roster: Future Hall of Famer Tom Brady and untested rookie Brian Hoyer. Isaiah Stanback, a wide receiver originally drafted by the Dallas Cowboys who was a quarterback in college at Washington, is listed as a quarterback on the Patriots' practice squad. But he's not even on the active roster -- let alone eligible to play in case of an emergency.
The NFL instituted the third-quarterback rule in 1991 to give teams a chance to have an extra quarterback handy just in case both other quarterbacks somehow were injured in the same game. The third quarterback is the 46th man on a 45-man active roster. If he appears in a game before the fourth quarter, both of the other two quarterbacks become ineligible to appear in the game under any circumstances.
In some ways, it's a free roster spot -- and that's true, if you're just looking at the 45-man roster each team brings with it into Sunday games.
But in the context of a 53-man roster, a third quarterback is something of a waste. Here's why:
1. If the third quarterback is needed in a game, that game probably is already lost. Few teams can afford to carry two top-notch NFL quarterbacks, let alone three, and it's unlikely that the third quarterback would do any better than a running back with a little Wildcat training.
2. Mediocre quarterbacks are available all over the free-agent wire. Andrew Walter is still out there. Jeff Garcia and Patrick Ramsey are free agents, and quarterbacks like Brooks Bollinger, J.P. Losman and Tim Rattay popular the rosters of the upstart UFL. (No, really.) If a quarterback gets injured on Sunday, a newly acquired quarterback can be at practice on Monday.
3. As detailed above, with special teams an important consideration, roster spots are precious.
Carrying just two quarterbacks isn't unique to the Patriots. Five other NFL teams have just two active quarterbacks on their roster -- Chicago, Green Bay, Jacksonville, the New York Giants and Tennessee.
Three teams actually have four quarterbacks on their active roster -- Carolina, Miami and the New York Jets. But one of those teams is dealing with an injured quarterback, and another is dealing with a terrible quarterback. There's a little method to the madness there.
To make a two-quarterback roster work, though, a team has to have someone they'd be willing to throw back there in case of an emergency. You can't just forfeit, and you probably can't run the old Wing-T with Kevin Faulk or Fred Taylor for a quarter or two.
That's where Julian Edelman comes into play for the Patriots. Edelman spent most of his life playing quarterback and only switched to wide receiver at the conclusion of his college career, aware that his NFL prospects were better as an athlete than as a signal-caller. If Brady and Hoyer both got hurt in the same game, there's no question Edelman could get back into the pocket and run around and throw a few passes and generally not embarrass himself.
The more versatile a player is, the more a team can do with its available roster spots. Without Edelman, it's likely the Patriots would have hung onto Walter just in case of emergency. Now, though, Edelman can serve as the team's third receiver and punt returner and No. 3 quarterback -- and that means the Patriots were able to shore up their depth on the defensive side of the ball with acquisitions like Prescott Burgess and Terdell Sands.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
