As opposed to his defensive colleague, Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels had a stellar Super Bowl.
I know, I know. They only had 613 yards of total offense. That’s some really brilliant analysis. Bed-ahd, you're a freaking genius.
Not really going to argue with that, but I will say that having 350 yards and only 12 points at halftime is not good enough. If we’re going to say yards don’t matter for the Patriots’ defense and points are the more important stat, then we have to say the same for the offense. Therefore, the Patriots left too many points on the field in the first half, and that was among the many things (defensive strategies, Malcolm Butler’s benching) that contributed to the 41-33 loss in Super Bowl LII.
And even though he calls the plays, I can’t find much fault with McDaniels’ play-calling in the game. Everything worked. Even the trick plays. That’s a tribute to everyone involved in the game-planning process, from the advanced scouts and the positional coaches with their own assignments (third downs, red zone, drive starters, etc.). To McDaniels for putting it all together. And Tom Brady keeping the Patriots out of bad plays, and his phenomenal execution.
The Patriots did have some missteps, but in my opinion, they almost exclusively fall on failed execution by the players. I’m sure McDaniels will have a much longer list, but in the 72 plays the Patriots ran against the Eagles, I think there’s really only one play the offensive coordinator will be kicking himself about all offseason.
We’ll get to that play in a minute, but let’s go through the plays that contributed to just a 12-point first half:
Third-and-4, Philadelphia 8-yard line, 4:25 first quarter
Brady sent James White in motion to his left, which made the free safety (Rodney McLeod) vacate the middle of the field. Patriots had exactly the look they wanted, as Rob Gronkowski came from wide right and ran a slant over the middle. Cornerback Jalen Mills had good coverage on the tight end and may well have broken up any pass, but Brady didn’t give Gronkowski a chance to make a play with a throw behind him. It was one of the few miscues Brady had in the game. Patriots had to settle for a field goal.
Third-and-2, Philadelphia 9, 15:00 second quarter
The Patriots run the jet sweep to the right with Brandin Cooks and while DE Chris Long made Cooks lose a little depth on his run, the play was still set up exactly how you would expect. Gronkowski and Chris Hogan execute their blocks, leaving just a heads-up McLeod for Cooks to beat. You can’t account for everyone on defense because of the quarterback, so you’re always expecting a player to make a defender miss. This was Cooks’ chance. Instead of making a move and/or diving for the line of scrimmage, he decided to leap in the air and was tackled for just a 1-yard gain. Bill Belichick elected not to go for it on fourth down, and a poor snap led to a missed field goal. A huge missed opportunity in so many ways.
Third-and-5, Philadelphia 35, 12:04 second quarter
A lot of people have a problem throwing the ball to Brady in this spot, but I don’t. He was side open and likely would have wound up in the red zone. He just has to catch the ball.
Fourth-and-5, Philadelphia 35, 11:58 second quarter
This was a questionable decision by Belichick. He passed up fourth-and-1 on the previous drive and came up empty, and now he seems to be trying to make up for it. Either you go from 1-yard out, kick the field goal in both spots (Patriots passed up a 52-yarder here), or go for both. Hard to make a sound argument for passing up the other fourth down and going for this one. In the end, they came up empty on both trips. On this fourth down —in what was some foreshadowing for the game-deciding strip-sack — Shaq Mason was beaten by Brandon Graham, who got enough of Brady to alter his throw to an open Gronkowski on a go route.
First-and-10, Patriots 44, 22 second quarter
The Patriots had no timeouts here and were looking to add another three points before halftime. Brady is flushed from the pocket, but instead of throwing the ball away and conserving time, the slow-footed QB thought he could run for the sideline. Big mistake. He was tackled in play after 6 yards and had to spike with three seconds remaining.
So those were the plays that the players left on the field that cost them points in the first half. What about McDaniels? This is the play he’ll be thinking about the most:
Third-and-8, Philadelphia 27, 7:33 second quarter
In many ways, this was a terrific play call. The fake jet sweep left to Amendola got some Eagles moving right. Phillip Dorsett cleared out Brady’s right with a go route. Gronkowski brought another defender away from the intended receiver, James White, who was leaking out to the right with three linemen out in front to clear out whoever was left on the right side of the field (one player). One problem, however: Long read the play from left end and hit White, causing the ball to fall incomplete. Going to second-guess McDaniels here: It was third-and-long, meaning there was a high probability that Long would a) be lined up on the offense’s right, b) he’d be in a wide-9 alignment meaning RT Cam Fleming had little chance to block Long, c) Long is extremely smart and he knows what the Patriots like to do. If I’m running this play, I’m not running it at Long. I’d say there was a better than 50-50 chance that he reads the play.
That was about it. Other than that, I thought McDaniels and Brady were largely flawless. But the Patriots as a collective left too many points on the field in the first half.
With that, here are the positional ratings against the Eagles:
Quarterback (5 out of 5)
Brady dropped back some 51 times in the Super Bowl and here is the grand total of plays I took issue with:
- Throw behind Gronkowski at the goal line
- Throw behind James White on a crosser
- His dropped pass
- Not throwing the ball away with 22 seconds left in first half
- Throw low to White at the goal line.
That’s it. Other than that, he was sensational with 13 plus plays (eight in the second half). If anyone chooses to say Brady lost his fastball down the stretch after having to play in 19 games this season, they’re sorely mistaken. He threw a couple of lasers. And this was so subtly good by both Amendola and Brady.
A lot of people think Brady should have quickly dumped the ball down to White on the strip sack. I initially thought that could be possible, but I asked a Patriots source if Brady would not be graded negatively on that play: "Hell no." Protection had been good all day, there's no way Brady can expect Mason to get there and so fast. I timed it at 2.32 seconds, and Graham closed very quickly. He just made a play.
Running backs (3 out of 5)
A few plays here and there, especially Rex Burkhead's perfectly blocked screen pass, and White showed some phenomenal tough inside rushing for one of the first times in his career on the 26-yard score (he's tremendous in space), but I expected more out of this group, especially Dion Lewis, who felt like the forgotten man. ... I will give the Eagles' defense credit for one thing: it seemed they put a lot of emphasis on taking away the Patriots' two-way go from the running backs. The Patriots love to run the backs up on a flat-footed linebacker or safety, and then they'll make a move one way or the other. It's almost an undefendable play if Brady reads it the same way. Well, the Eagles played a lot of outside leverage to take away the most dangerous option and funnel them back to teammates. Not anything overly brilliant, but very smart and I expect other teams to copy that next season. ... I'm not crazy about using James Develin in the red zone, but I have to admit that, overall, the package was effective. Still would rather see a real target in there.
Receivers (4 out of 5)
Throw out Gronkowski's ineffective first half (penalty, poor route and two drops), and Cooks' Leap to Nowhere, this group was outstanding. Gronkowski owned the second half, Amendola and Hogan were nails, and I want to see a lot more of Phillip Dorsett, who very quietly because a very good player for this team with his clutch catches and unselfish blocking, including on White's touchdown.
Offensive line (4 out of 5)
After viewing the game film, there was a little bit more pressure on Brady than originally thought. But considering nearly 30 percent is decent but not great against normal opponents, I think the Patriots are very happy with the performance, which was, as usual, helped greatly by McDaniels' varied play-calling and Dante Scarnecchia's protection packages.
In order of effectiveness:
Joe Thuney: Was incredibly tough on the interior against Timmy Jernigan and Fletcher Cox (subpackages). Improved greatly on screens
David Andrews: Very nearly a clean sheet, but was most responsible for keeping the middle clear for Brady.
Nate Solder: What a difference a year makes. Was a turnstile against the Falcons, but rock-solid against the much scarier Eagles. Go figure.
Shaq Mason: Had by far the toughest assignment vs. Cox in base and Graham in sub, and largely played to a draw except for two plays.
Cam Fleming: Limitations were exposed when he wasn't given help, but he battled and improved this season.
THREE UP
Tom Brady: What else needs to be said?
Second-half Gronkowski: Completely dominated after halftime and almost won it on his own.
Josh McDaniels: Called one of his best games ever. It's just too bad the Patriots couldn't execute just a little bit better.
THREE DOWN
First-half Gronkowski: Patriots need him to do better than two drops, a penalty and a poor route.
Shaq Mason: Really pains me to do this because he played so well overall, but gave up two hits to Graham that cost the team points.
James Develin: Not really his fault, I just don't care for that package in the red zone in the first half. Plus, on one play he missed his run block. If fullbacks are on the field in the red zone, they better be perfect.