Unconventional Preview: This would be a fine time for LeGarrette Blount to get moving again
Tom Brady of the Patriots hands off to LeGarrette Blount.
COMMENTARY
Welcome to Season 4, Episode 12 of the Unconventional Preview, a serious-but-lighthearted, occasionally nostalgia-tinted look at the Patriots’ weekly matchup that runs right here every weekend.
For the first time this season, the Unconventional Preview is coming at you after a loss. The Patriots suffered their first defeat of the 2015 season Sunday night, falling to the Broncos in overtime, 30-24. While there were frustrations in and resulting from the defeat — the Patriots uncharacteristically let a 14-point lead in the fourth quarter slip from their grasp, in part because Chris Harper did the same with the football — the team also showed remarkable resilience.
After Denver took a late lead in regulation, Tom Brady drove the Patriots down the field to tie the game on Stephen Gostkowski’s 47-yard field goal through snow-globe conditions. That was admirable considering the players were probably as shell-shocked as we were after what appeared to be a serious injury to Rob Gronkowski.
It’s a bummer there’s no longer a zero in the loss column, but given that Gronk (and Dont’a Hightower, who also departed with a knee injury) will be OK, the outcome is fairly easy to accept. The biggest losses that night appear to have been dodged.
It’s time to begin a new winning streak, and the 4-7 Eagles would appear to be a cooperative conspirator. Philadelphia head coach Chip Kelly is an innovative offensive strategist, but his curious offseason roster maneuverings have not worked. Running back DeMarco Murray, brought in to replace LeSean McCoy, has exactly 1,300 fewer rushing yards through 10 games this season (545) than he had all of last season with the Cowboys (1,845). It’s a change that didn’t need to be made, and it’s magnified by the appearance that Murray, so tough between the tackles, seems to be miscast in Kelly’s east-west scheme.
There is a bonus motive for the Patriots this Sunday. With a win and a Jets loss to the Giants, they will clinch the AFC East title for the seventh straight season. If it plays out that way, the Patriots will tie the 1973-’79 Los Angeles Rams for the longest divisional championship streak since the NFL and AFL merged before the 1970 season. Better get those commemorative hats and t-shirts ready.
Kick it off Gostkowski, and let’s get this thing started …
THREE PLAYERS I’LL BE WATCHING NOT NAMED TOM BRADY
LaGarrette Blount: This surprised me when I looked it up: Blount is averaging 4.2 yards per carry this season, which is above the league average. He has struggled lately, with just 147 yards in the last three games, averaging 3.4 yards per carry during that span. Those recent outings makes it easier to forget his better stretches earlier in the season. In Weeks 3-5, he averaged 5.2 yards per pop, with 47 carries for 245 yards and four touchdowns. That trio of consecutive strong games came against the Jaguars, Cowboys and Colts, which is not exactly the equivalent of playing the ’84 Niners, ’85 Bears and ’86 Giants in succession. With their best pass-receivers absent, the Patriots need to start running the ball more often (they run approximately 22 percent of the time, which is 31st in the league) and effectively (they’re 29th with 959 rushing yards and tied for 24th in yards per carry at 3.8). The Eagles, who are tied with the Redskins for the fifth-worst rushing defense in the league (126.6 yards per game), provide a fine opportunity for Blount to return to that early-season form, assure us he’ll be useful come playoff time, and prevent us for the time being from referring to him as LeGarrette Butts. If you don’t get that reference, I will assume your interest in the Patriots perked up some time after Tom Brady and Bill Belichick arrived.
Eric Rowe: Rowe? Lowe? Bowe? OK, got it. It’s definitely Rowe. Who? Fair question, though you probably would have heard of him had you not spent so much time actually interacting with your family and having a merry time on Thanksgiving instead of watching a lousy football game. (I’ll pause here so you can properly feel the shame.) Rowe, you should know, is the Eagles’ starting cornerback who was burned like a novice cook’s first attempt at baking a turkey. (What, you don’t “bake’’ them? Well, that’s another reason everyone is mostly happy with me watching football instead of helping in the kitchen.) Rowe was tormented by Lions receiver Calvin Johnson all afternoon; the veteran All-Pro beat the rookie second-round pick out of Utah for three touchdowns. Johnson has slipped slightly since the height of his Megatron powers, but Rowe certainly isn’t the first cornerback he has turned into a bystander in his personal highlight reel. It’s fair to suggest, however, that the kid is a weak link in a defense that isn’t particular adept in any specific area. While the Patriots may not have the talent at receiver to torment him the way the Lions did, you can be sure he has caught the attention of the Patriots’ unsympathetic and rather capable quarterback.
Scott Chandler: Welp, Brady has to throw it to someone. By habit and tradition we usually include Gronk in this spot, so we might as well turn it over his replacement. Gronkowski is what Chandler might be if he A) could run fast, B) had a catch radius that extended beyond the pair of 8s on his jersey, C) remembered to oil his metal-based parts once in a while. He hasn’t been a total disappointment in that Joey Galloway sense where Brady regularly and justifiably rage-shames him on the sideline. Still, Brady has shot Chandler his will-you-please-catch-that-bleeping-thing glare enough times to suggest that his patience must be wearing thin. Brandon LaFell and Danny Amendola (presuming he plays) are a decent tandem of receivers, but the Patriots need something out of Chandler too beyond running low-percentage patterns.
GRIEVANCE OF THE WEEK
The following mini-paragraphs, pecked out by Denver Post columnist Mark Kiszla, are so shameless that calling him a troll would be an insult to all the hard-working trolls out there lurking under various Internet bridges:
The Pats are soft. Soft doesn’t win the Super Bowl. In the playoffs, foes smell weakness.
Players know. Leading up to the game against New England, when told the Patriots were a team for the ages, the Broncos rolled their eyes.
Team for the ages?
The Patriots aren’t even the league’s best team in 2015.
The champ is hurt and bleeding.
The knockout blow? It’s only a matter of time.
That’s not so much trolling as it is pandering. He’s sucking up to Broncos fans while trying to get you to notice him. Here we are, noticing the nonsense, so I suppose it worked. Broncos fans with any sense for what else is going on outside of their little mile-high bubble recognize that the Patriots’ offense was depleted by injury last week and yet nearly stole the game anyway. Maybe the Broncos don’t fear the Patriots. But they’d better respect them. “Soft’’ is the last adjective that should be used to describe New England’s performance that night. Kiszla is right about the knockout blow only being a matter of time. He just may be surprised by which team hits the mat.
PREDICTION, OR WHY DIDN’T CHIP KELLY TRADE FOR MARCUS MARIOTA OR SIGN RICKY SANTOS?
The Eagles have given up 45 points in each of the past two games — to Detroit and Tampa Bay. The Patriots’ offense, as has been noted a few times here already, is shorthanded. That’s not an excuse, it’s a truth. The defense, with Jamie Collins presumably returning, should be able to pick up some of the slack in the next few weeks as Julian Edelman and Gronk get well. And the offense … well, they’re probably not scoring 45, even against these Eagles. But they will score more than enough to win comfortably. I’m curious to see who steps up. But someone — a few someones — will. Patriots 31, Eagles 10.
Chad Finn can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @GlobeChadFinn.
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