Looking at the Patriots - 2020

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Injury Updates: Bridgewater, Panthers, Brees, Saints, Edelman, Patriots​

November 15th, 2020 at 8:59pm CST • By Andrew Ortenberg
Fortunately today looks like a (relatively) clean Sunday in terms of NFL injuries. We’re still tracking a couple of important quarterbacks though, and we’ve got a few updates to offer as the Week 10 slate winds down:
  • All eyes are on Teddy Bridgewater and the Panthers now after Bridgewater suffered a knee injury during Carolina’s loss to Tampa Bay. Bridgewater underwent an MRI immediately after the game, somewhat of a departure from a usual Monday MRI, Chris Mortensen of ESPN.com tweets. While the team clearly wanted to rush him in, fortunately the “initial word” on the injury is that “it’s not serious,” Ian Rapoport of NFL Network tweets. Rapsheet adds that a source told him they’re not even ruling Bridgewater out for next week yet. More good news is, as Mortensen points out, the injury is to his right knee which is not the one that was completely torn up during his devastating 2016 injury. All that being said, it sounds like there’s a good chance that former XFL star P.J. Walker gets one or more starts under center for Carolina. They’ll play the Lions next week.
  • Bridgewater wasn’t the only NFC South passer to get banged up, as Drew Brees didn’t play the second half of the Saints’ win over the 49ers due to a rib injury. Brees took a big hit late in the first half and initially stayed in the game before telling Sean Payton at halftime that he wouldn’t be able to continue. Speaking to the media after the game Brees was vague, and described his injury as an “accumulative thing,” via Jeff Nowak of NOLA.com (Twitter video link). He’s been listed on the injury report with a shoulder injury, and Brees made it sound like the issue is a combination of things rather than one specific ailment. It’ll be very interesting to monitor this situation going forward, and to see if Jameis Winston or Taysom Hill would become the starter if he has to miss time. Winston filled in on Sunday, completing 6/10 passes for 63 yards.
  • The Patriots have been widely criticized for the lack of weapons they’ve provided Cam Newton, but fortunately help could be on the way soon. Julian Edelman, sidelined since undergoing a knee procedure a couple of weeks ago, seems to be recovering well. Mike Reiss of ESPN.com heard some “optimism from those close” to Edelman, who said he’s been moving well in recent on-field work. It’s too early to say for sure, but it sounds from Reiss’ blurb that Edelman has a real chance to return in Week 11 when first eligible against the Texans.
 
profootballtalk.nbcsports.com

Belichick's Patriots have a winning record as underdogs by a touchdown or more

The Patriots won as seven-point underdogs against the Ravens on Sunday night.
profootballtalk.nbcsports.com profootballtalk.nbcsports.com

Belichick’s Patriots have a winning record as underdogs by a touchdown or more​

Posted by Michael David Smith on November 16, 2020, 9:04 AM EST


The Patriots won as seven-point underdogs against the Ravens on Sunday night. Perhaps that shouldn’t have been a surprise.
Since Bill Belichick became New England’s head coach, the Patriots are 7-6 outright (including the postseason) when they’re underdogs by seven points or more, according to Mike Reiss of ESPN.

That’s a winning percentage of .538. No other NFL team has even won 40 percent of its games when an underdog by seven points or more since 2000.
Among the Patriots’ most famous wins as heavy underdogs were Belichick’s first Super Bowl, when they beat the Greatest Show on Turf Rams as 14-point underdogs, and Tom Brady‘s first career start, when they beat Peyton Manning and the Colts as 11.5-point underdogs. More recently, the Patriots won the first game of 2016 when they were nine-point underdogs with Brady out because of his Deflategate suspension.
Betting against Belichick is never safe. Do so at your peril.
 
Big/Sky/Fly said:
Byrd isn't very good...but, Meyers is starting to grow as a player. He could be a good one actually.
Click to expand...

Byrd is pretty good in my mind. He's a solid 15-20 yd target primarily on crossers, outs, comebacks and digs from sideline to sideline. To me, he's a pretty darn good flanker who is fast enough to play the X position but whose best position is flanker & not the boundary X WR. He's an effective player who stretches the field horizontally, has a good release, makes good cuts, stacks well and catches with his hands reliably. He's playing X for the Pats bc we have no one else other than Harry and Byrd is much more effective at X than Harry will ever be. He can be upgraded in the off season but for now he's the hand we've been dealt. Even then I'd like to keep him as a backup to his upgrade.

His lack of targets vs the Ravens was bc of the run-the-ball game plan caused by the miserable gale conditions, imo, not bc he isn't very good.

When Edelman returns to his slot position hopefully Meyers bumps up to flanker and Byrd/Harry share X. Meyers should have as many snaps as any current receiver on this team.
Without Edelman and with the team limited to what we currently have, I'd like to see Harry in the slot, Meyers at flanker with Byrd outside in a rotation with Ford backing up Harry at slot, Olszewski backing up Meyers & Zuber behind Byrd.
 
JC Jackson was a 5 star recruit for the Univ of Fla. who was thought to be a sure-fire 1st rnd draft pick in the NFL. Why did he go undrafted?
Here is his story. BTW, BB knew he would be star.

nesn.com

Patriots Immediately Knew JC Jackson Wasn't A Typical Undrafted Rookie - NESN.com

FOXBORO, Mass. — Without knowledge of how Bill Belichick decided to untraditionally divvy out numbers to his rookies in the spring, it would have appeared an unnourished guard was starting at cornerback for the New England Patriots in June organized team activities. JC Jackson, an undrafted...
nesn.com nesn.com
 
Here's your feel good story about the Pats for today.
Advanced stats says our team is pretty damned good regardless of record.


Here's a sample from the article and there's lots more.

CAM NEWTON’S PASSING METRICS ​

Patriots quarterback Cam Newton only threw the ball 17 times against Baltimore, but he has been one of the most accurate downfield passers in the league over the last two weeks.

CamGood-500x334.png



Newton leads all quarterbacks in completion percentage over expected (CPOE) in his last two games and is fifth in EPA per play, making him one of the NFL’s most efficient passers of late.

After a long layoff due to COVID-19, the former MVP’s throwing mechanics and decision making are rounding into form once again.
 
foobahl said:
Did Byrd even have a target last night? I don't remember hearing his name.
Click to expand...
Pats only had 13 completed passes on 17 attempts. And one of those was Meyers TD to Burkhead.
 
Big/Sky/Fly said:
He must have misplaced his button for a few weeks... :coffee:
Click to expand...
Yeah. No kidding.

Still, I do love how he messes with Harbaugh. Apparently the rain was only coming down hard when the Ravens had the ball according to Lamar. LOL!
 
Best Completion % Among QBs the last 2 weeks:
Cam Newton - 77%

Jakobi Meyers is averaging nearly seven catches for 86.5 yards over the last four games. That’s a 16-game pace of 108 catches/1,384 yards.

Damien Harris now has three 100-yard rushing games this season (in his 1st 6 career starts). The only players with more 100-yard games are Derrick Henry (5), Dalvin Cook (4) and Ronald Jones (4).
 
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