All-22 Review/Thoughts on the Pats Week 1 Game

[Dont Stop Billeiving]

It's a bit late in the week so I hope no one else has done this already, but I went through the Pats-Steelers All-22 on my NFL GamePass as a means of scouting our opponent for tomorrow and came up with the following observations (broken down into three parts: 1. Individual Player Notes 2. Team Notes/Coaching/Game Plan 3. Overall Thoughts/Conclusion). Note: no idea how to make GIFs or anything like that so apologies. Any thoughts or ideas to improve my analysis would be much appreciated. Hoping to make this a weekly project if people enjoy it.

 

New England vs Pittsburgh Recap

 

Player Notes- Pats*

 

Jamie Collins: rough game…swallowed up on several run plays and got burned by Heath Miller in coverage on a few occasions. Thought he was being touted as a rising star, but not impressed with his play in this game. Still maybe the best LB they’ve got, stays back in coverage a lot and flashed his athleticism at times.

 

Tom Brady: Amendola beats 1 on 1 coverage down right sideline. Brady had all the time in the world and overthrows him. Missed a few other deep throws to Edelman as well, hasn't been accurate on any throws more than 15 yards downfield.

 

A holding and PF called on Nate Solder...seems like he may have been benched for a bit as well. Probably considered their best player on the O-line.

 

Dont'a Hightower: gets a nice sack on a delayed blitz right up the middle. Pittsburgh center barely gets a mitt on him…Hightower generally looks slow and whiffed on a couple tackles badly, but did look better than he has in past seasons.

 

Jerod Mayo: might as well have taken the night off, never saw him make a play once or heard his name called.

 

Julian Edelman: Consistently getting open/trash talking non-stop and the Pitt corners don’t seem to want anything to do with him…he’s jawing in someone’s face after every catch. Pats run a nice reverse to Edelman, makes a DB miss and get a 1^st down. Just open on every play and strutting around the place, he might be my least favorite Patriot not named Brady.

 

Dion Lewis (the guy whose name isn't worth knowing): looks halfway decent. However, had a Bryce Brown-like “how do you fumble on the 1 yard line?” moment in the 4^th quarter. Of course in this case, Gronk recovers it and the Pats score a TD two plays later. Lewis also drops a wide open pass in the flat on the next drive. Didn't have the best game, but looked fairly quick and shifty.

 

Scott Chandler: gets a 1 yard TD grab in the 3^rd quarter…made the play, but looked as awkward and un-athletic as ever in doing so. Only got separation due to a blatant pick play by Gronk.

 

Patrick Chung: Haven’t heard his name more than a couple times. Committed PI in the end zone on a big 3^rd down play for the Steelers that led to a score.

 

Gronk: best player on the field for either side in this contest. For whatever reason, the Steelers, with the entire offseason to game plan, decided to let him float around unmarked and he made them pay. Basically left wide open on a seam route by a LB, winds up getting about 50 easy yards. However, he constantly pushes off and never seems to get called for it. Hopefully the refs tomorrow will call this a bit tighter.

 

Jabaal Sheard: Thought the Pats bringing him on in FA was one of the best and most underrated moves of the off-season. However, only heard his name called once on his sack in the 4^th. Didn't see him make much of an impact in run defense either.

 

Player Notes- Steelers (including this as it reflects on the Pats offense/defense and how well/poorly they matched up against these players)

 

DeAngelo Williams: 18 yd run on the first play of the game…no one even touched him until he was 10-12 yards downfield. Did not look particularly fast or elusive though.

 

Josh Scobee: Missed his first two kicks badly…Pittsburgh drove downfield at will on their first drive until a botched trick play and a penalty stalled it. Lost a lot of potential momentum here. Gave the Pats good field position on both occasions.

 

Sack by Bud Dupree forces Pats to punt…Antonio Brown inexplicably fair catches it at the Pitt 4 yard line. One of many errors that the Steelers committed in this game.

 

Antonio Brown out-muscles Malcolm Butler for a very risky pass that probably should have been picked, gets the 1^st. Not impressed with Butler so far…Butler absolutely torched again on a deep ball to Brown at the end of the 1^st half, a good three steps behind him. Brown later gets open on another 20+ yard catch and run in the 3^rd, Butler again trailing him by a good few steps. Rinse and repeat.

 

Ryan Shazier: knifes up the middle and tackles Brandon Bolden for a 3-4 yd loss. Terrible blocking by Pats interior O-line.

 

Darius Heyward-Bey: burns Bradley Fletcher badly on a deep ball…unlucky to not get credit for a TD catch later on as his toe was slightly out of bounds in the end zone.

 

Ben Roethlisberger: got a ton of yards, but I didn't think he looked very sharp in this game…bad throws on key third downs.

 

Good safety blitz by Will Allen in the 3^rd. No one picks him up, sacks Brady. A similar play with Aaron Williams or Robey right up the middle could be successful.

 

Play Calling/ Coaching/ Game Plan

 

Pats*

 

First offensive play for the Pats…Steelers give Edelman a 10 yard cushion, he catches a 7 yard hook and gets an easy first down. Second and third plays, same thing to Dion Lewis, Steelers giving them way too much respect. We cannot make the same mistake.

 

Brady getting the ball out within a couple seconds…no Pitt defenders are getting anywhere close to him.

 

Pats didn't blitz very often, but when they did, they got nowhere close to Big Ben most of the time. Pats entire D-line getting pushed back a couple yards on several plays throughout.

 

Pats with a lot of bubble screens and passes under 5 yards…our CBs should be ready to jump routes just like against the Colts. Hitting 5-6 yd square routes to Edelman on almost every 3^rd down with a lot of success.

 

DeAngelo Williams got a lot of yards, but didn’t look very fast or elusive in doing so…not sure he’s very good, maybe says a lot more about how poor the Pats run defense is. Dom Easley being out hurts them as well. Ninkovich and Chandler Jones didn’t set the edge well on several plays.

 

Pat’s goal line usage for the 4 TE spread could be dangerous. Pitt had no idea how to adapt to cover it. Also, they use a ton of illegal pick plays as WGR has spoken about all week.

 

Steelers

 

Stupid penalties hurting Pittsburgh on many of their drives.

 

Pitt not getting into the Pats backfield at all, the D-line might be one of the worstin the league. Not one guy that would scare you as an offense…Pats O-line doing a surprisingly good job despite have three rookies at C and G. Running up the middle with a lot of success. Pitt’s D-line finally starts to dominate the Pats interior O-line in the 4^th. Mulltiple TFLs and increased pressure on Brady.

 

Two missed tackles on Gronk’s first TD…terrible coverage as Pitt was fooled by the Pats hurry-up offense. Literally, the ball was snapped and no defender was within 15 yards of Gronk. Another 5 missed tackles on a Dion Lewis run in the 3^rd.

 

Announcers seemed to know right away that the Pats had yelled/simulated the snap count when drawing the Steelers offsides at the one yard line late in the game. Roethlisberger was furious, probably cost them a TD. A dirty play, Bills need to be prepared for that.

 

Pitt’s playcalling on both offense and defense was simplistic and very ineffective. Seemed to leave Gronk and Edelman wide open and cover everyone else.

 

Conclusion

 

The most important factor in this game was how badly the Steelers got out-coached especially their inability to match up with Gronk. They took Amendola and other Pats players out of the game, but repeatedly failed to cover or even mark Gronk and Edelman. On offense, the Steelers moved the ball fairly effectively, but missed kicks and committed self-inflicted penalties at inopportune times.

 

The Pats took advantage of a few key match ups and delivered some strong individual performances by Brady, Gronk, and Edelman. However, their interior O-line looked very weak and their defense played poorly against both the run and the pass. Malcolm Butler is probably not the 4th CB on most teams let alone the top CB and he was taken to the woodshed by Antonio Brown over and over.

 

Pats have some key injuries (Dom Easley, Dane Fletcher, Brandon LaFell, etc.) and a roster that has arguably declined in talent over the last few years. I would argue that they only have 4 true great players/difference makers in Brady, Gronk, Edelman, and McCourty and not much beyond that. We all know the difference an elite QB makes and how that can really cover up a team's weaknesses, but I believe our more balanced roster and the insane home field advantage the team should receive tomorrow will result in a hard-fought Bills victory.

 

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts. Can't wait for gametime tomorrow, let's go Bills!

[BuffaninATL]

thanks for the write-up, DSB: 2 thoughts:

 

1) I want someone, anyone on the Bills D to absolutely annihilate that loudmouth mosquito, Edelman. Breaking his jaw so he cannot mouth off would be an easy solution.

2) I'd like to see Rex have a pre-game powwow with the officiating crew to loudly stress they need to enforce any illegality of the Pats infamous pick plays. This seems to be a centerpiece of the Pats strategy and needs to be monitored.

[Punching Bag]

Really the ones who need to be hit are the zebras when they ignore calls; does not need to be as blatant as in "The Longest Yard" but remember they have better laywers in the NFLPA than in many Supreme Court cases. "You gotta always protect the McNuggets!"

[YoloinOhio]

Thanks! This is great. I posted a few all 22s if this game earlier in the week from pats* reporters but this was much better.

[BuffaloBill]

thanks for the write-up, DSB: 2 thoughts:

 

1) I want someone, anyone on the Bills D to absolutely annihilate that loudmouth mosquito, Edelman. Breaking his jaw so he cannot mouth off would be an easy solution.

2) I'd like to see Rex have a pre-game powwow with the officiating crew to loudly stress they need to enforce any illegality of the Pats infamous pick plays. This seems to be a centerpiece of the Pats strategy and needs to be monitored.

The refs are not going to call this game any differently. If the Bills want to beat the Pats they hopefully are not counting on the zebras doing anything new.

[2020 Our Year For Sure]

Thanks! Good stuff. I think we're gonna win this here foosball game.

 

Introduce the Patsies to one Samuel Watkins, then forge ahead on the ground.

Edited September 20, 2015 by Aaron

[Dont Stop Billeiving]

thanks for the write-up, DSB: 2 thoughts:

 

1) I want someone, anyone on the Bills D to absolutely annihilate that loudmouth mosquito, Edelman. Breaking his jaw so he cannot mouth off would be an easy solution.

2) I'd like to see Rex have a pre-game powwow with the officiating crew to loudly stress they need to enforce any illegality of the Pats infamous pick plays. This seems to be a centerpiece of the Pats strategy and needs to be monitored.

Haha hopefully nothing that costs the team penalties or suspension-wise, but yeah I'd love to see Edelman get tagged by Bradham or A Williams coming across the middle.

 

And I like to see the refs let them play and not be too strict, but in terms of the pick plays and pushoffs that the Pats love, you'd like to think that they will call a couple of those.

Thanks! This is great. I posted a few all 22s if this game earlier in the week from pats* reporters but this was much better.

Thanks Yolo, much appreciated. I'll try to do one for the Dolphins this week and try to review both of their games. Watched part of their game against Washington and thought they looked flat. Suh didn't have the impact I thought he might either.

Thanks for the comments guys. Takes a bit of time, but I'll try to continue on with these each week throughout the season. Go Bills!