You got to give Evan huge props for this tweet. Even when you’re right, it isn’t usually in your own best employment interest to kick your employer. Massive respect.
But I want to see Mac fail in a stable offense before writing him off completely.
"Three, Mac, mainly his inability to play under pressure causing the issues with the offensive line to be exacerbated. That leaves the other personnel in the last spot."Q: Hi Evan, what is the biggest issue with the Patriots offense: Mac, Matt Patricia, the offensive line, or the rest of the personnel? - @ashley1992_
Hey Ashley, good question. Let's rank them: one, the offensive line. You can have a rudimentary scheme and an inexperienced play-caller, but if you can block, that'll cover up a lot. Two, Patricia, because his play sequencing and non-imaginative schemes hurt this team. Three, Mac, mainly his inability to play under pressure causing the issues with the offensive line to be exacerbated. That leaves the other personnel in the last spot. They still have enough to be a respectable offense at the skill position if 1-3 were in order. Are they great there? No. But they need to get the most out of their receiver group.
Q: Hypothetical: Bob Kraft adopts you and gives you full decision-making power. What would be your plan to turn this into a championship contender again? - @ChefdDds89
Pretty simple. Use the cap space this offseason to acquire a stud receiver, rebuild the offense line through the draft, and throw some money at an offensive coordinator. Every offseason, there's a disgruntled veteran receiver who wants a new contract and doesn't get it from their current team; go out and get that guy. Then, I'd take the rest of my assets to rebuild at offensive tackle and hire an experienced offensive coordinator. My goal would be to set Mac up for a potential year-three breakout in every way possible (see: Tua, Hurts). If Jones can't put it together in a viable situation, then we start talking about the quarterback position. But I want to see Mac fail in a stable offense before writing him off completely.
Q: Of all the options available right now, who appears to be the most likely candidate to be the offensive coordinator next year? Do you expect a change? - @SaltyCandyCane
We can all agree that the Patriots need to tinker with their offensive coaching staff in the offseason, and even Belichick is entertaining questions about it to an extent. It would be shocking to see the Patriots head into the 2023 season with the same coaching set up on offense. However, it's challenging to assess who is a legitimate option to bolster the staff, so we are throwing darts at this stage to come up with names. The rumors that Bill O'Brien wants to return to the NFL don't necessarily mean he wants back in as an OC. The situation in Houston went south quickly, but O'Brien was an above .500 (52-48) coach with the Texans, who went to the playoffs four times. His move back to the NFL could be as a head coach rather than an offensive coordinator. These types of candidates list usually materialize after the conclusion of the regular season.
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I've come to the conclusion that the OL is far more important than the skill positions for Mac. Having studs at the skill positions is a nice-to-have, not a need, for him to be successful. He is at his best when he can be Deep Blue playing chess: read, analyze, diagnose, execute. He can deal with occasional pressure just fine as long as he has confidence in his protection as a whole. Give him a schematic advantage and a clean pocket and he will be at least a top 10 QB, probably a quiet, underrated top 5, PG style, the way Brady was before his arm and swagger developed around 2006 or so. But throw static into his processing, and...he's not an improvisor, and he's only a "tight windows" guy when he's confident and preferably in the short and medium range.
Give me a right side of Trent Brown (assuming he cares again) and Onwenu. Give me a left side of stud pick/FA/trade and Strange. Give me Andrews and at least 2 decent backups. Spend 2-3 picks (or the FA pick-equivalent), including at least a 2nd, on OL. Throw money at the OL coach from a team with a dominant OL, like Philly, Dallas, or SF.
Sacrifice guys in the pattern for TE/RBs in passpro, and use that to your advantage by sometimes releasing them into patterns on a delay or after a chip. As far as personnel goes, retain Meyers. Let Agholor walk. Play Bourne and Thornton more, and Parker less (or rather, strategically). Draft a big TE with high upside in the middle to late rounds so you have him available for 3TE sets, and some time to bring him along behind Henry and Jonnu.
How about Buffalo's assistant Oline coach Ryan Wendell?I've come to the conclusion that the OL is far more important than the skill positions for Mac. Having studs at the skill positions is a nice-to-have, not a need, for him to be successful. He is at his best when he can be Deep Blue playing chess: read, analyze, diagnose, execute. He can deal with occasional pressure just fine as long as he has confidence in his protection as a whole. Give him a schematic advantage and a clean pocket and he will be at least a top 10 QB, probably a quiet, underrated top 5, PG style, the way Brady was before his arm and swagger developed around 2006 or so. But throw static into his processing, and...he's not an improvisor, and he's only a "tight windows" guy when he's confident and preferably in the short and medium range.
Give me a right side of Trent Brown (assuming he cares again) and Onwenu. Give me a left side of stud pick/FA/trade and Strange. Give me Andrews and at least 2 decent backups. Spend 2-3 picks (or the FA pick-equivalent), including at least a 2nd, on OL. Throw money at the OL coach from a team with a dominant OL, like Philly, Dallas, or SF.
Sacrifice guys in the pattern for TE/RBs in passpro, and use that to your advantage by sometimes releasing them into patterns on a delay or after a chip. As far as personnel goes, retain Meyers. Let Agholor walk. Play Bourne and Thornton more, and Parker less (or rather, strategically). Draft a big TE with high upside in the middle to late rounds so you have him available for 3TE sets, and some time to bring him along behind Henry and Jonnu.
I haven't been very impressed with Buffalo's OL, though. Dallas's has been outstanding, and they focus on gap style. Philly's might be the best in the league. SF is too zone-based, but hard to argue that they're not outstanding.How about Buffalo's assistant Oline coach Ryan Wendell?
Does have Patriots connection.
Have no idea if he's anywhere close to Scar, but a possibility.
This is misleading though. The other guys on the list are consistent 3-down players while Uche is a part time specialist.
But...since week nine Josh Uche has an overall grade of 92.6, 1st among edge defenders in that span. He's earning more playing time.
right but if he's only playing in pass rush downs, can't compare with a guy who stays on the field all 3 downs.
You know, we're all acting like the season is lost, but if the Patriots take care of business over the next 2 weeks they're in a good spot to make the playoffs given the remaining schedule for all involved.
Currently one game out of the last WC spot, tied with just one other team. We hold the tiebreaker with the team in the 7 spot (Jets) and the team currently tied with us at 6-6 (Chargers). And generally, our conference record is good - 3 of our losses were to the NFC so we look good in most tiebreaker scenarios.
Chargers and #6 Dolphins play each other, so we essentially have a half game on them - we distance ourselves from a competitor or the Dolphins fall to just one game ahead, with a game against them in Foxborough pending. Winning that game would tie all tiebreakers with the Dolphins. For the tiebreaker to matter they'd have to lose one other game. Unless that's to the Packers that would put us ahead on tiebreakers.
We are two games behind the Bengals, but we have a have a game against them pending, and winning it would give us the tiebreaker.
The Jets and the Dolphins play each other, which means one of them is a half game closer to us.
Plus, everyone we're currently behind for the WC has a game against the Bills on tap. So check this out: if the Bills win out, including beating the Patriots, a 10-7 Patriots team makes the playoffs no matter what, as we have to catch either the Phins or Jets in that scenario, and we win on tiebreakers.
Bengals (2 games up):
Browns
Bucs
Patriots
Bills
Ravens
Miami (2 up):
Chargers
Bills
Packers
Patriots
Jets
Jets (1 up):
Bills
Lions
Jags
Seahawks
Dolphins
Chargers (even):
Dolphins
Titans
Colts
Rams
Broncos
Patriots:
Cardinals
Raiders
Bengals
Dolphins
Bills
The point? Apart from cheering for the Patriots, I guess we're Bills fans the rest of the way...