Knee Jerk Reactions to Week 9: Patriots vs. Ravens

Things to consider while realizing it was all over as soon as Ed Reed took a drag off his victory heater:

–Some losses should bother your. Some should really, really bother you. When the Patriots went 3-5 on the road last year, they had several of them. This loss is not one of them.

–This one was that golf hole when you lose your tee shot. So you re-tee and hit it into the woods. You hit a safety just to get it back on the fairway. But you skull that one. And when you finally get it on the green, you three-putt. But we’re playing skins, not stroke play. So it’s just one bad hole and after taking a leak and refilling your cooler at the turn, you’re onto the 10th.

–It was facing a quality opponent in their own stadium when they’ve had two weeks to prepare. It was committing unforced errors on defense. It was was one of your most dependable players slip on the way to a sure touchdown. It was surrendering a touchdown on offense. It was having the ceiling collapse on you but still getting back on your feet to make a game of it. It … happens.

–More importantly, just to take the Google Earth view, this wasn’t one of those losses where you should feel like your team got exposed. Where the opponent revealed some two-meter wide exhaust port that’s going to be exploited week after week and blow this Death Star into space scrap metal. Lamar Jackson is a unique talent. The Read Option offense they run for him is a unique scheme that uses him effectively. The Patriots were not properly prepared to stop it. But it’s not like every opponent going forward is going to switch to it, and we’ll see Dak Prescott and Patrick Mahomes shredding this defense with runs out of the Pistol and it’ll be the death of them. With all due respect to the Ravens game plan that worked so well last night, it’s a gimmick. A Go Go Gadget attack that will work sometimes, but isn’t some blueprint for long term success.

–And that’s the thing about running quarterbacks like Jackson. I can respect the ability. I can admire the fact that they will steal a game with their legs, get you off balance and demoralize you. So I don’t want to be dismissive. But in the long run, no one has ever consistently won in this league that way. I’m sure with Baltimore at 6-2 we’ll be hearing talk about how Jackson is the quarterback of the future. And he may be. But it won’t be doing it like that. I’ve been hearing that the next great QB prototype will be a runner literally since I’ve been watching football. Going all the way back as far as I can remember. Cam Newton. Vince Young. Tim Tebow. Colin Kaeperinick. Michael Vick. Doug Flutie. Randall Cunningham. Fran Tarkenton, fercrissakes. Ulitmately though, any success those guys had was a direct result of their ability to throw and make smart decisions in the passing game. It’s like a pitcher who can hit. It’s nice to be able to do and will win you the occasional game. But in the whole vast configuration of things, it’s not all that much use and it still comes down to what you can do with your arm.

–More to the point of where this leaves us, the dumpster water smell of this loss isn’t so rank that we can’t spritz a little Paco Rabanne on it to cover it up. There were positives. First and foremost that Mohamed Sanu has taken no time to work his way into Tom Brady’s Circle of Trust. He had team highs with 10 receptions and 14 targets. He shows a knack for defeating coverage – particularly zone – by getting open on comebackers, in cuts and curls. He kept fighting for yards to every whistle. And looked like he’s been here all year. Yes, Julian Edelman got stripped. While only having one hand on the ball while he was wrapped up, no less. I’m not so much angry as I am, well, disappointed. But besides that was in peak Julian Edelman mode, running himself open while being the focal point of the Ravens coverages. Such as that one he caught in what was essentially triple coverage. The one in the 3rd when he caught a crosser at the sticks and turned the corner for nine. And none was better this seam route toward the end of the half:

–Now add N’Keal Harry to this mix and let’s see if he can produce something approaching a rookie Malcolm Mitchell-level November and December and I’ll take this offense anywhere. Also, get me Isaiah Wynn. For the love of God and all that his holy, get me Isaiah Wynn. Now. Marshall Newhouse has me emailing HR to find out what kind of counseling services are available on my health plan. It’s at the point where, as soon as the yellow “FLAG” icon comes on the screen I say “Holding. Number 72,” and then the ref says it and the Irish Rose looks at me like I’m talking to the spirit realm. Newhouse might be an OK backup who can spell you at either tackle spot for a drive or two. But as a full time 60 snap LT, he’s the No. 1 contributor to my stress drinking.

–So for all the self-inflicted wounds last night, and inability to handle the Option Runs or make stops on 3rd and 4th downs, there’s plenty of reason to be optimistic coming out of the bye. They’ve added Sanu and two 1st round picks will be dressing soon. The bye is a time of renewal. Our own Midsommer where we toss the elderly off a cliff to nourish this year’s crop of rookies and second year players. With Harry and Wynn as our November Queens. Bring on the newbloods. So continues the Great Cycle.

–Now, about their inability to handle the Ravens Read Option runs. I won’t take too deep a dive into it because it’s more of a topic for a book chapter than a poorly written blog slapped together through the haze of a Monday hangover. But in a My First Read Option by Fisher Price level of analysis, the offense seeks to flip the number advantage the defense usually enjoys by using the quarterback as a run threat and by leaving the edge defender unblocked. The QB “reads” him and hands off or runs according to who the edge guy attacks. Got it. So the way to counter that is the scrape/gap exchange. Where the end and the linebacker on that side swap jobs. But not in a zany, sitcomy, “OMG she’s doing all the chores while he’s taking care of the kids and hilarity ensues” kind of way. The end crashes running back hoping the QB will read that key and keep the ball, in which case the linebacker scrapes along the line to set the edge and prevent him from taking it outside. In a nutshell.

–The Patriots did none of those things. It twisted their brains into balloon animals. They simply were not prepared to handle what college coaches have been scheming against for 20 years. The Read Option might as well have been an iPhone 11 in the hands of my mother-in-law (before she reaches for her land line and Rolodex of numbers.) It was as if they’d never seen tape of it, much less the User Agreement. Jamie Collins in particular got caught committing too soon a couple of times, jumping the dive only to watch Jackson pull the ball and break containment. After one of those early on he was put in the Time Out chair and told to think about what he had done, not to return until the 2nd half.

–For the most part, they loaded the box and hoped to fight Baltimore’s numbers advantage with more numbers. To try to have a body for every gap, more or less. They played a lot of 8- and at least one 9-man man box, with Devin McCourty and Duron Harmon alternating dropping down into a Force safety role. They mostly played zone coverage and used Jonathan Jones to spy Jackson but at times that thankless task fell to John Simon. But escalating the war didn’t work, no matter how many troops they deployed.

–I don’t watch a ton of college ball so I don’t see as much Option as people with happier lived who get to spend Saturdays NOT getting crap done around the house and running errands. So maybe this is only a first for me. But they ran one option where the unblocked defender was Lawrence Guy, at the 3-tech tackle spot. The Pats had three defenders to the offense’s left to guard against the inside-out bend. But Jackson kept it and cut back and poor Guy was helpless to catch him and it went for 13.

–Thanks to chunk plays like that and quickly falling behind by three scores, the Patriots weren’t able to get into attack mode until the 3rd quarter, and even then couldn’t do damage. The most demoralizing moment coming when he escaped both Simon and Kyle Van Noy who had him dead to rights, but he was still able to pick up the 1st down.

Jackson was seeing ghosts, too. But he evaded them like Pac-Man, ate the pill and then devoured them. And that was the ballgame.

–Even on a bad night, Cris Collinsworth rated only about 4.5 Dan Fouts on the Insufferable Analyst Meter. But he still had his moments. For instance, I can guarantee Cris that Belichick wasn’t on his knee in front of his defensive unit yelling “You started to believe you were this good!” I vote he was reminding them of what they’d gone over in practice and in the meeting rooms, going over their assignments and focusing on the next drive. Not that I could read his lips. But talking to his team in the middle of the game like he’s the heavyset lady who runs the studio on “Dance Moms” is not his style.

–Getting back to the other side of the ball, I’m fascinated as to how or if Josh McDaniels plans to keep this approach going forward. Absent any kind of a fullback option on the roster, he went almost entirely with 11-personnel. He swapped out the lone running back, but everyone else stayed on the field the entire game. Ben Watson at tight end, mostly in the slot or detached from the formation, with Edelman, Sanu and Phillip Dorsett at the wideouts. Maybe it was a product of the decision to attack the Ravens with a steady dose of the 1.21 Jigowatts hurry up offense and so he couldn’t substitute. Or maybe it’s the other way around and he had to resort to it as a practical consequence of not having enough bodies. It’s just incredible to be sitting here in early November seeing the McOffense evolving in the exact opposite direction of where it was heading this time last year. James Develin’s injury continues to have a profound impact. But apparently there are not a lot of ads for “White Man With Neckroll Seeking Opportunity to Line Up in Backfield and Block” on Facebook Marketplace.

–This Week’s Applicable Movie Quote: “Well, it seems to me, sir, that God gave me a special gift, made me a fine instrument of warfare. ” – Jackson, “Saving Private Ryan”

–Remember when NBC’s lineup consisted entirely of iterations of “Law & Order”? That was like a golden age of originality and creativity compared to now. Is it me, or is every show now about first responders in Chicago? Firefighters. Cops. Hospital workers. And I swear I’ve never heard one person ever mentioning seeing a second of one of them. Personally I’m holding out for “Chicago Bailiff,” “Chicago Retail Loss Prevention Officer,” “Chicago TSA Metal Detector Runner” and “Chicago School Crossing Guard.” God, how I long for new episodes of “30 Rock.”

–But I’ll take a thousand promos for NBC’s lazy, recycled, unimaginative broadcast network dreck over a two minute Amazon Christmas ad running on November 3rd. I’m generally all about free speech and commerce. But in the Kingdom of Thorntopia, we are going to deal with cleaning that crap up. “To everything, there is a season” and all that. And I’m putting you on my List, Bezos.

–I mentioned how optimistic I am about getting the rookies and second year guys involved. But one sophomore I’m disappointed in is Ju’Whaun Bentley. I don’t want to overstate the case because he is part of the Boogeymen that had been dominating the league in the first half of the season. But too many times I have to really be looking for him to even know he’s out there. And when I do, I see him getting caught up in the wash and being taken out of plays. He did it two plays in a row, one on the 53-yard run by Mark Ingram and again on Edwards’ touchdown run. Both went right through the gap he’d vacated. He did make a nice stop for a loss later on. But I was expecting huge things from him after being their best linebacker at the start of last season.

–My only logical explanation for Brady’s terrible 3rd & 10 interception, the one that looked like a punt and you knew was going to get fair caught by a safety the millisecond it left his hand, was that it was Ed Reed’s doing.

–Maybe, other than giving the game tape to Ernie Adams to figure it out for the playoffs, we should just forget this one. Chalk it up to a learning experience, commit to getting better and move on. Or better yet, just do what I’m doing about everything in my life: Blaming it on Daylight Savings.

–We’re onto the Bye.