PATRIOTS ANALYSIS: They’re learning to walk before they run
Patriots coach Mike Vrabel tries to keep up on the sidelines with Antonio Gibson during Gibson's gme-changing kickoff return for a TD in Miami on Sunday. (Facebook photo)
The image of New England Patriots coach Mike Vrabel trying in vain to run stride for stride with Antonio Gibson during the player’s game-changing kickoff return for a TD Sunday is the stamp for the win over the Dolphins in Miami.
But there should be another image: the quarterback running, the quarterback directing traffic, the quarterback looking like he knew exactly what he wanted to do and how to do it.
“That’s how I try to approach it every week,” Maye said. “I try to approach it like that every week. Just try to stay calm and cool in the huddle. Those guys respond to me and I fire them up. I feel like that’s my mindset every week. It’s my job.”
That’s our biggest takeaway from Sunday’s win, which wasn’t the neatest but nor are many around the NFL in the first month of the season.
The Patriots should be extremely happy with what they got from their QB compared to the season opener.
What was Vrabel’s takeaway?
“That it was hugely efficient,” he said on Monday. “The ball went where it was supposed to go. He was decisive. I thought he did a great job of transferring up into the pocket, setting his depth, and then transferring up, being really good with the football, being able to pull through with two hands in the pocket when they have edge rushers and we’re on the road.
” That’s where it’s going to be really critical, is to be able to set the depth of the pocket, get back, keep your eyes downfield, transfer up into the pocket and deliver the football, and he did that on multiple occasions. So, when you don’t do that, those turn into sacks, hurries, throwaways, strip sacks, and when you can climb the pocket, remain a thrower and keep your eyes downfield, that’s when you can hit some plays.”
Maye’s timing is good as it takes some of the heat off. Especially when on Sunday a future Hall of Fame quarterback, Aaron Rodgers, comes to Gillette with his latest team, the 1-1 Pittsburgh Steelers. The Steelers, by the way, have not won at Gillette since Nov. 14, 2008, when Tom Brady was out for the season with a torn ACL. That year Pittsburgh won the Super Bowl.
It will be an interesting matchup for Maye. Fans are impatient once an NFL season begins as they want to see results right away. The Patriots did what they needed to do against a bad Miami team; they ran the football. That took the heat off Maye, who ran for a touchdown himself.
There’s heat on the defense, and New England’s tackling. Bad tackling can be contagious, and a coach like Vrabel certainly knows it.
“We missed far too many tackles,” Vrabel said, “so debate whether we tackled well the first week or not. I mean, it’s always physical, I think mentally it puts you in the right position, puts you in the right frame of mind of what we’re asking out of each tackle. Where are you? Are you in space and we need to come to balance? Are we in close quarters where we can run through somebody, run our feet on contact and be able to wrap? Are we using the sidelines?”
All that is a work in progress, as it should be.
“A lot of things that we want to avoid and make sure that we practice and continue to practice,” Vrabel said. “I mean, we have, we’ll need to do more of it this week. They put you into a space game, a team like Miami puts you into a space game, and there’s no shortage of skilled players that are good with the ball in their hands, so we’ll have to be better, be able to use the right technique and the right mentality, and then also having everybody else come in full tilt at a tackle to, again, sometimes make up and atone for some of those misses.”
The quarterback is feeling better about things. Now the Patriots need its defense to feel the same way.
Remember, it’s only been two weeks. These Patriots will need to learn how to walk before they run. They just better not run like Vrabel.
