Sloppy way to drop hint
Pats offense must learn to avoid mistakes
FOXBORO — For Patriots opponents, their best defense might be a sloppy offense.
Tom Brady and his cast of dominant weapons have the makings of a group that could score the most points in a single season in NFL history. They might be perfectly indefensible.
That is, of course, if they don’t succumb to avoidable mistakes.
“We have all the talent in the world,” said running back James White, who dropped a couple passes, including a screen from Brady, yesterday. “If you don’t come out here and work hard and practice and execute on game days, it doesn’t matter. We still have a long way to go.”
Brady and wide receiver Brandin Cooks put on a show yesterday during a joint workout with the Jaguars at Gillette Stadium. And more often than not, the Patriots were the superior team, which should be the case against the upstart Jags.
But with their first chance to line up against an opponent, the Patriots dropped seven passes during team drills, which matched their total from their first nine practices of camp, and Brady was burned by four drops. The 40-year-old also was plagued twice by miscommunication issues, including one time with Cooks that resulted in an interception.
On a grand scale, this hardly is a sweeping concern. But consider the question is consistently posed: How can anyone stop the Patriots offense? For the first time in camp, the Patriots delivered an answer. The self-inflicted wounds might cause greater harm than any defensive scheme.
For instance, Brady’s first pass of the day bounced off Rob Gronkowski’s face mask. His second was a fingertip away from a long connection with Cooks.
Gronk then dropped the opening pass of the first 11- on-11 period, and it otherwise would have gone for a long catch-and-run up the right seam.
“It’s always frustrating when you drop the ball,” Gronkowski said. “But you’ve got to go back out there, and you’ve got to put that play in the back of your head and keep on going.”
A play after that, Cooks misjudged a deep bid and dropped a Brady pass that could have resulted in a 60yard touchdown.
Brady’s interception, which was disputed as a potential offside flag by the Jaguars, occurred because he wasn’t on the same page with Cooks, who ran a fly pattern up the right sideline. Brady threw it short for a comeback route, and cornerback Doran made the easy pick.
And the always-sure chemistry between Brady and wideout Julian Edelman hit a snag in the end zone. Edelman was doublecovered by star cornerback A.J. Bouye and a safety and tried to suck in the safety with a double move. Brady read it a different way and thought Edelman was sitting between the two defenders and threw a ball to nowhere.
“We’ve always got a lot of work to put in,” Gronk said. “No matter if we caught every ball, if we got a first down every play, there’s always work that you can put in. Definitely from today of seeing what I did out there, I could definitely put more Grant work in, and probably as a whole, we can always put more work in as a team.”
These examples would highlight a doomsday scenario in a game-day situation, or the mistakes would at least level the playing field. Otherwise, Brady was clinical against the Jaguars, as he completed 23-of-35 passes, including a camphigh seven connections with Cooks.
The former Saints star had three eye-popping touchdown catches. He parted the Jaguars secondary for a 65-yard touchdown on a long heave from Brady, and Bouye even admitted they had a play call that was designed to prevent the deep post to Cooks. As Mike Tyson might say, everyone has a plan until Cooks simply runs by them.
“The deep threat that he adds, you have to play a little bit softer even while you’re pressing,” Bouye said. “You have to play on top. He has great route craft.”
Cooks also jumped and reached over his head with his right palm for an impressive touchdown catch, and he beat cornerback Jalen Myrick for a 20-yard touchdown on a fade pattern. That’s typically a two-way route for a Patriots receiver, so it can be assumed Cooks and Brady made a synchronized postsnap read on the coverage, which is a strong sign for their on-field chemistry and similar to how quickly Chris Hogan got with the program last season.
Brady also completed six passes to White and five to Edelman. Gronk has dominated in spurts at camp, and Hogan has been their most consistent weapon through 10 practices.
Bill Belichick probably knows his Patriots will be a nightmare to defend in 2017, but he relishes in the opportunities to rip into his team for unforced errors. As a refresher, they heard the same message last summer following sloppy practices with the Saints and Bears.
Summer flings with sloppiness can be easily overcome. For the first time yesterday, albeit in a relatively harmless setting, the Patriots recognized that even offensive juggernauts aren’t immune to mistakes.