I love the Pats philosophy of drafting defensive position players in the first rounds. Very smart way to build a championship team. It's why that defense is so damn good this year.
Brady took like 12 hits tonight, impressive that he didn't get sacked more. He's in for the Rodgers treatment now with missing all his best receivers. Rodgers at one point was missing Nelson, Quarless, Adams, and Montgomery. Still missing Nelson, Quarless and Montgomery. Good thing Brady still has unstoppable Gronk. Be interesting to see how long Amendola is out for. Dobson too for that matter. Is there any news on Edelman returning for the playoffs yet? I read it's a maybe...?
The high picks on D over the past 2-3 years are finally paying off. With a D-minded coach like BB, Pats have always prioritized D in the early rounds, with Gronk being the one notable exception, which is why Brady has always had an under-the-radar WR corps. Still, for some years after they changed generations in 2008-2009 (lots of vet players either retired or were traded/released), the D was pretty bad, especially vs the pass. It took a change in philosophy - going from overly big and sluggish players (e.g. Wilfork and Spikes) in the front 7 to smaller, more mobile and explosive DTs and LBs - for the D to transition to the next level over the past couple of seasons.
This year, they have been great so far, as Collins and Hightower are finally vet NFL players, while Ch. Jones has finally put things together and is playing to his potential. Great contributions from 2nd year player Easley and rookie DT Malcom Brown. Free agency has also been good to the Pats in the form of J. Sheard - a very underrated OLB/DE, who they loved in the 2011 draft but was drafted and then horrendously miss-used by Cleveland.
Edelman, barring any setbacks, is expected to be back for the play-offs. He had the same injury as Dez Bryant in week 1, basically. Dez was rushed a bit but if the Pats get a bye, Edelman could be back right on schedule for the POFs, if everything goes smoothly.
Edelman out for the rest of the reg season hurts and hurts a lot but the biggest loss so far is Dion Lewis, who offered an entirely different dimension to the Pats O. With him, they were truly unstoppable.
Dobson looks done for the year. So, Keyshawn martin (currently injured too) and Chris Harper (rookie) will have to step it up.
When Amendola went down tonight, Buffalo had no trouble doubling Gronk on every down, which is another issue with losing numbers at WR besides the obvious one. TE Chandler will have to earn his roster spot, I guess.
Next man up
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Brady to his OL-ine during the game: Have some fuckin' pride!
https://pbs.twimg.com/tweet_video/CUjc26ZWwAAo1X3.mp4
