7-Things For Sunday: Part III.  By TOM Greetings Pats Fans, First off I just want to thank all the fans of this site. I have been promoting my books for sale primarily on this site. As a result, I have sold almost 500 books in the past year. Thank you for your support and patronage, both are greatly appreciated. I cannot tell you how happy it made me when I read that report. So thank you Draft fans and Patriot fans alike, and mostly thank you to all the fans of my books and website worldwide.

Pats Win!

By TOM

5. Pats D Vs NO O-  Tough to know how this defense gets better. Their Achilles heel was clearly visible against KC. Their D-ends just couldn't get a consistent rush. And like Elvis, they left the building in the 2nd Half. They have to get a better rush, and make Brees throw on the run.

Because the Saints' offence can kill you in a second. "Coach Payton and Coach Carmichael do a great job of mixing and matching personnel groups in," Patricia said. "We see it quite a bit week in week out from a lot of different offenses. I would say these guys do it quite a bit so you'll see different groups out there whether it's multiple running backs in the game or different wide receivers. They have a great wide receiver corps: Ted Ginn who just got there, [Brandon] Coleman, Thomas. Guys that can rotate in and out.

"You're going to see a lot of different tight ends in the games. Obviously, Fleener, who is in his second year there who's really starting to master this offense and be very productive. Josh Hill, who's another guy that will mix in there at the tight end position and really kind of does everything for them and then obviously Hoo-man, who we've got a lot of familiarity with, will be out there too. So the mixing and matching of those skill players. Occasionally they'll throw an extra lineman in the game, the fullback.

"So the constant turning of that personnel is something they do an excellent job with and really have mastered the ability to kind of work in and out of those groups at a very quick pace. The pace of the offense here is very fast. They do a good job of getting in and out of the huddle. You know, then playing down there in their home stadium is where they're going to be able to communicate the best so we're going to have to do a great job of just really trying to get out there and play sound, play good fundamental defense. I think that's what we're trying to get done and we're trying to obviously play a heck of a lot better than we did last week and just go out and try to make sure we're more improving in those areas."

They have some bigger and tougher WRs now, like nothing we've seen from them before. "He's a tough receiver, big, strong, strong hands, tough, hard to tackle, a very physical receiver. Probably as physical as any receiver we'll see," BB said about Michael Thomas. "Yeah, it's a big group. Yeah, I mean, he's by far the most physical. Coleman's 230- pounds. He's a big target. He's almost like a tight end. Fleener's a good receiver at tight end." They are not the flash and dash offense of old.

Brees is getting older and slowing down a little, and so is their offense. "We played them in my senior year in the Big House [at Michigan] and we beat him. And then he's had a great career. He was a year younger than me and came out and did a great job with San Diego and has done a great job with New Orleans," Brady said about Brees. "I think so much of him and his consistency [and] what he brings to the team. He's just a great player and he has been a great player for a long time. He plays well at home. They've got a good team. They do a good job with their offense which means we have to do a real good job with our offense. Sometimes the best defense is to keep your offense on the field. We're going to have to do a good job of that because you don't want to give those guys a huge time of possession advantage. We did that last time we were down there and we got our butts kicked so we're going to have to do a much better job."

The Defense has to step up this week and slow the Saints down. This game is likely won by the team that punts the least. The defense has to make some big stops on 3rd down. 

6. O-line- They had their entire starting five on the O-line from last season, but it sure didn't look like it. They were great in the 1st Half, but everything fell apart in the 2nd Half. They even started giving up sacks late in the 4th. They have to go the full four quarters this week.

It will be even harder on them with all the noise in the Dome. "We can turn the music up just like we can turn it up for the offense. I mean, look, practice is practice. It's the closest we can get to simulating a game. It's not game conditions but it's as close as we can get. Players that can perform in practice I think have a chance to perform in the game," BB said about the noise. "It's still another level. It's another step, but if you can't do it consistently in practice then it's pretty unlikely it's going to happen consistently in a game. That's really true of every positon on the field. I can't think of one that wouldn't fall into that category. You do what you can do. You make it as realistic as you can make it, or in some cases maybe you make it a little bit harder where you can in some areas and then the game is the game. It's a different speed. It's a different level." They didn't have their O-line play one snap together in the Preseason.

That decision really showed late in the 2nd Half. "I think we, obviously, are familiar with all of the people we have. Now we have an opportunity to work with them in regular season games and try to make improvement where we can," McDaniels said. "There are some things that we did well and there are some things that we didn't do well. So that's across the board at every position with every player. It starts with me. I didn't do a good enough job yesterday of putting us in position to do the things we needed to do consistently enough." The O-line wore down instead of wearing down the KC defense.

They are going to have an easier time with this pathetic defense. "Even though we've practiced with them a few times and played them in the preseason, I'd say we don't know this team very well," McDaniel said. "Hopefully, we do a good job of getting acclimated to them and getting familiar with who we're playing against this week. They've got a lot of new players, whether that's through the draft or free agency, in each level of their defense. Certainly, they're aggressive.

"Coach [Dennis] Allen calls an aggressive style of defense. You know they're definitely going to pressure you with a lot of different people, different variations, blitzes. They mix the coverages up pretty good. They've got good team speed, they get to the ball, they play hard and they're going to, obviously, be excited for their home opener. This is always a tough place to play. So, it's going to be a big challenge for us to get familiar with the people that we're going to be matched up against across the board and really get used to their scheme and have a great week of practice and try to go down there and put forth our best effort." They are more familiar with this offense than any other.

This will be a good game for the Pats O-line, which is half the Offense, to find some much needed continuity, and that includes the whole offense. "Certainly, there could be an element of nonverbal communication that's necessary, but there's probably many people that go in the game that they play a role that that's really not a huge factor in what they need to be able to do," McDaniel said. "There's a difference between communicating and then doing the right thing once the ball is snapped and you've got to make a choice or what have you. So, I just think all of those things, our team is continuing to work on those things. This isn't just about one player, a new player, a person that's been here a long time, a short time. I don't think you can ever relax because, I would say, communication in general is a core fundamental that our offense needs to be good at every level.

"If you ever stop and think that you've got it all figured out, then you're probably going to run into some problems. From the quarterback position to the line, tight ends, skill players, backs, receivers, it's something that we try to work on if it's necessary that week, and we'll continue to do that every week and never really kind of relax and assume that we've got it all handled and all understood. Because, again, those are some things that, if you ever let up, could come back and really haunt you if that's the case." Communication is paramount to the O-line.

If the O-line dominates they win. If the O-line is good they have a better than average chance. The whole offense had some continuity problems Thursday night. If that was solved they win. If not it is going to be a long season. The other concern is that the Pats were at home last week, and will be on the Road this week, in a Dome. Road games in domes are always the worst for offenses. The offense will struggle to hear Brady, and they will have to go to all to sorts of silent counts that always help the passrush.

7. First Win By A Hair- The Saints are one of those teams that BB really respects, from the Head Coach to the last Special Teams player. So this is not an easy matchup. But I gotta go win here. BB and Brady just don't lose two games in a row. They always win after a big lose. Plus, I think Cooks explodes in this game for over a hundred yards. He comes up big as he goes back to the team that traded him.

The Saints had the worst pass defense in the NFL last season. This is not KC's defense. KC has a great defense, and the Saints were maybe the worst in the NFL last season. This is the exact prescription that Brady and Cooks need to get some chemistry going all over the field. I just like the match up on Offense.

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