Looking at the Patriots 2023

Hardly any rookie Guards, 1st rounders included, walk into the NFL and are great right away. I can think of Zack Martin and Quentin Nelson and then you have to really
scratch your head. Those guys were the exception, not the rule.

John Hannah wasn't great as a rookie. He was always very strong, very tough and amazingly agile, but he literally didn't know how to pass block worth a damn and
played out of a 4-point stance at Alabama. He was raw as hell. You know what happened during, say, his 3rd season where he started dominating. The GOAT.
And, yes, people initially said that he sucked and then he shut everybody up.

Strange is extremely quick and has fluid agility. He's fiesty and competitive and already excellent at hitting moving targets on the run. He has a natural ability to turn defenders
and screen them from the ball with his body, which sounds simple, but isn't commonly done that well. He showed what I would call good awareness of what he was supposed to
be doing right from his early snaps, especially considering that he was from a small program, but, yes, there were times where stunts got screwed up and rushers went free, particularly when Andrews was out of the lineup. There were a few pre-snap flags and holding calls, but not a ton. Again, he was a rookie and he wasn't the only OL to struggle with stunts or bull rushes.

He's got precise, lightning-quick feet and his hand and arm usage were better than a lot of kids from more advanced programs. It'll get better still. He can mirror in pass pro, but has gotten beat from over-setting to a fake and all of that is just part of the price of starting a rookie. It takes a while, but it won't take him nearly as long as it took Shaq Mason. Thuney didn't play great until his 3rd season. Strange was better in his 1st season than Thuney was through his 2nd, and everybody said he was a bust, too. How does that assessment look now? Thuney is all-pro. I'd call them
similar prospects, but Strange has a better frame.

When we saw a quick-hitter by Harris or Mondre go up the middle for 15 yards it was often behind a textbook eye-blink-quick kickout trap by Cole. He did that dozens of times and
will do it hundreds more as we find creative ways to utilize that special mobility and speed. The overall athleticism that few OLs have.

He has a few clear deficiencies to address, such as that he needs to add about 15 pounds of muscle mass to anchor better against the beasts and help his drive blocking and also more experience in handling 'veteran NFL pass rush moves. That is about the size of it. Manageable areas to improve upon. Strange said that there was no nutrition program at Chattanooga and he has never been in a full off-season strength training program as he will get to experience now. He'll likely look a lot different when camp opens.

The reason we drafted him so high is that he can do things that other Guards can't and the rest will come soon enough.

I'm really not trying to lecture anyone here, but I'm getting really tired of reading stuff like he was a waste of a 1st-round pick. Be skeptical all you want, but you shouldn't be surprised when he
impresses those same critics and you don't want to be the last one to get on board.
Didn’t I just say all of that?

Just kidding. Excellent analysis and comparisons.
 
That’s a BS thing to say. You either aren’t paying attention or you just took a lazy and weak ass swing.

If you don’t know the reason for my comment (which would seem highly improbable), then you aren’t paying attention around here.
You just proved my point, and it's not a swing, it's a fact.
 
You just proved my point, and it's not a swing, it's a fact.

Like I said, you have no clue why I posted what I posted. You aren't paying attention. I had you on ignore for a long time for reasons.

Back on ignore you go.
 
Hardly any rookie Guards, 1st rounders included, walk into the NFL and are great right away. I can think of Zack Martin and Quentin Nelson and then you have to really
scratch your head. Those guys were the exception, not the rule.

John Hannah wasn't great as a rookie. He was always very strong, very tough and amazingly agile, but he literally didn't know how to pass block worth a damn and
played out of a 4-point stance at Alabama. He was raw as hell. You know what happened during, say, his 3rd season where he started dominating. The GOAT.
And, yes, people initially said that he sucked and then he shut everybody up.

Strange is extremely quick and has fluid agility. He's fiesty and competitive and already excellent at hitting moving targets on the run. He has a natural ability to turn defenders
and screen them from the ball with his body, which sounds simple, but isn't commonly done that well. He showed what I would call good awareness of what he was supposed to
be doing right from his early snaps, especially considering that he was from a small program, but, yes, there were times where stunts got screwed up and rushers went free, particularly when Andrews was out of the lineup. There were a few pre-snap flags and holding calls, but not a ton. Again, he was a rookie and he wasn't the only OL to struggle with stunts or bull rushes.

He's got precise, lightning-quick feet and his hand and arm usage were better than a lot of kids from more advanced programs. It'll get better still. He can mirror in pass pro, but has gotten beat from over-setting to a fake and all of that is just part of the price of starting a rookie. It takes a while, but it won't take him nearly as long as it took Shaq Mason. Thuney didn't play great until his 3rd season. Strange was better in his 1st season than Thuney was through his 2nd, and everybody said he was a bust, too. How does that assessment look now? Thuney is all-pro. I'd call them
similar prospects, but Strange has a better frame.

When we saw a quick-hitter by Harris or Mondre go up the middle for 15 yards it was often behind a textbook eye-blink-quick kickout trap by Cole. He did that dozens of times and
will do it hundreds more as we find creative ways to utilize that special mobility and speed. The overall athleticism that few OLs have.

He has a few clear deficiencies to address, such as that he needs to add about 15 pounds of muscle mass to anchor better against the beasts and help his drive blocking and also more experience in handling 'veteran NFL pass rush moves. That is about the size of it. Manageable areas to improve upon. Strange said that there was no nutrition program at Chattanooga and he has never been in a full off-season strength training program as he will get to experience now. He'll likely look a lot different when camp opens.

The reason we drafted him so high is that he can do things that other Guards can't and the rest will come soon enough.

I'm really not trying to lecture anyone here, but I'm getting really tired of reading stuff like he was a waste of a 1st-round pick. Be skeptical all you want, but you shouldn't be surprised when he
impresses those same critics and you don't want to be the last one to get on board.

This is nice but Mason was a 4th round pick. Thuney was a 3rd round pick. Onwenu was a 6th rounder. So don’t use mid-tier draft development timelines for a 1st rounder.
By the way Russ Hochstein won 2 Superbowls while Logan Mankins won zero rings.

Saying give it 3 years for a 1st round pick guard to deliver, is basically acknowledging this was not a good use of a precious draft resource especially when one could have done things to keep Karras, Thuney, or Mason and not blow up what had been a good OLine and turned it into a mediocre OLine. There’s a huge missed opportunity cost here.
 
Why does Mac and only Mac get the benefit of the doubt because of coaching? Every other player is underperforming.
Is this true? It seems to me that not every player is under performing and it isn't only Mac. Stop listening to those few who are miserable sods and can only be satisfied if everyone else is miserable.


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tZWwqggSdQ
 
Why does Mac and only Mac get the benefit of the doubt because of coaching? Every other player is underperforming.
Because we have seen Mac play much better with better coaching. It's as simple as that. Now that said, Mac shouldn't get a complete pass for his play this year, nothing exists in a vacuum.
 
Why does Mac and only Mac get the benefit of the doubt because of coaching? Every other player is underperforming.

Good point and agree. It absolutely affects everyone on offense. Bourne, Parker, Agholor, Hunter Henry, Jonnu Smith, Damien Harris all went from having elite seasons in the past to their worst or near-worst seasons. Trent Brown too.
Basically Patricia and Joe Judge were worse than pop warner coaches and it showed
 
Good point and agree. It absolutely affects everyone on offense. Bourne, Parker, Agholor, Hunter Henry, Jonnu Smith, Damien Harris all went from having elite seasons in the past to their worst or near-worst seasons. Trent Brown too.
Basically Patricia and Joe Judge were worse than pop warner coaches and it showed
It is amazing that the one thing that used to separate the Patriots for 2+ decades was coaching and now it is the main reason for a losing season and a promising young QB regressing.
 
Well, Zo is saying he's hearing Mayo will be made Assistant Head Coach. it does seem like BB and RKK see Mayo as a future HC of the Patriots.

On Monday’s edition of Zolak & Bertrand, Scott Zolak dove into what he’s hearing about the Patriots coaching staff.
  • Jerod Mayo To Be Named Assistant Head Coach​

    Marc Bertrand: Question now, Zo, is what’s his (Jerod Mayo) title going to be? Will it involve a title change or not?
    Scott Zolak: Yes.
    Marc Bertrand: And he will be what?
    Scott Zolak: To what I said Wednesday, assistant head coach. I think he’ll be named assistant head coach. Dante Scarnecchia was assistant head coach, I think, up until 2013. When Dante first stepped away from the game, then he didn’t get the title again. But for a long stretch there, I think for over ten years he was assistant head coach. So Bill’s given the title before.
    Marc Bertrand: And what does that involve beyond what he would be doing already, like for Dante Scarnecchia, what was he doing beyond coaching offensive line when he was doing that and also assistant head coach?
    Scott Zolak: You probably have to meet with Bill. You have to talk about all three different units, offense, defense, special team, just in the case of an emergency, because then you become the guy. Here’s the way I like to see things run. Give you a little peek into what we’re doing here, maybe bring you into some personnel meetings, I don’t know. But I don’t think it’s just the title. I think you actually got to put more in charge, you know, as far as you got to see the way you’re going to run all three groups here just in case something would happen to me. You’re the next guy. You’re my hand-picked next guy in charge. That’s the way this thing’s going to go. So I just think that, you know, Mayo has been around the team, they all know him. Whatever you think about him as a leader of men, yeah we all know that stuff. He’s got a great football mind. And I think that’s a guy that, you know, you’ve helped work in the business world when he retired. That the head coach here talked him into coming in and being a coach. He got bit by it. He likes it. He wants to be a head coach. I think this is keeping him around to be the next guy when Bill is done. I think that’s where this is headed. Read the room. Not saying I know anything or anything, but I just think it’s a natural progression. And I think you’ve obviously made him enough of an offer with a wink without putting on paper, you’re the next guy. But I think ownership has made it quite clear how they view him. You know, and how highly they hold him with regard. That’s a big statement coming from them because they’ve been around it for a long time. There’s not a lot of up and downs here. I mean, it’s it’s been a steady Eddie ship.

 
More from Zo.

Matt Patricia Moving Back Upstairs​

Marc Bertrand: What’s Matt Patricia doing? What’s Joe Judge doing?
Scott Zolak: I think Matt’s going to be moving upstairs.
Marc Bertrand: Okay, so we’ve got we’re hearing some things there.
Scott Zolak: Sort of back to the same role he was in and still have, you know, the main ear of the coach.
Marc Bertrand: So non-offensive line?
Scott Zolak: I’m not hearing that.


Joe Judge Back To Special Teams​

Marc Bertrand: How about Joe Judge? Where’s he go? He’s not going upstairs.
Scott Zolak: Special teams. See Cam Achord had an assistant special teams coach. So you just bump all those guys down.
Marc Bertrand: He’s going to be the assistant to…
Scott Zolak: I think Cam Achord is going to stay and be the assistant to Joe.
Marc Bertrand: Oh, well, that’s different. That’s a reversal.
Scott Zolak: Right.
Marc Bertrand: So Joe will be special teams again. I think they are.
 
More from Zo.
I really wish they would just cut bait with Patricia. But if these moves prove true then it is a step in the right direction. I do wonder though if Judge wants to go back to STs.
 
I really wish they would just cut bait with Patricia. But if these moves prove true then it is a step in the right direction. I do wonder though if Judge wants to go back to STs.
Why, because Patricia proved he is not an OC? We don't work with the guy but he is widely respected by the Krafts on down. If he can help in an Ernie Adams-type role (or variation of), then great. We'll rarely hear boo of him, anyway.
 
Why, because Patricia proved he is not an OC? We don't work with the guy but he is widely respected by the Krafts on down. If he can help in an Ernie Adams-type role (or variation of), then great. We'll rarely hear boo of him, anyway.
Between Detroit and now here, the guy is despised by players.
 
Back
Top