As debuts go, Antonio Brown's first game action with the Flying Elvis on his helmet ranked somewhere between the first glimpses we received of Randy Moss (nine catches, 183 yards, one touchdown) ... and Chad Ochocinco (one catch, 14 yards).
It wasn't quite a booming success, and it was far from a dud.
And, frankly, I don't care what any of his Patriots teammates had to say about Brown after the game. The next time a Patriots player gives a frank critique of one of his teammates will be the first time in the Bill Belichick era. If you're never going to be honest (which, frankly, I don't blame them for) — "we have a long ways to go" is about as strong as you're going to hear — you're kind of eliminated from the potential witness list.
So what was good, bad and ugly from Brown's Patriots debut? Let's start with a detailed breakdown of all 24 of his snaps by alignment, route and result, and then get into what we did and didn't like.
Let's start with a couple of areas I didn't like that could be a bone of contention between Brown and the coaching staff — if they have any interest in holding him accountable like the other players. They might not. They know how combustible Brown is, so maybe they have no interest in upsetting the apple cart, especially since they've invested so much money in him (Brown has the leverage).
Before we get started with this, can we all be adults and stipulate that the Patriots' offense is precision-based? Good and thank you. Now we can have an honest and grown-up discussion about Brown's plusses and minuses.
Run blocking/fakes
Laugh if you want, but we all know how important the entire run-blocking apparatus is on this team and how it's valued when receivers do their job in this aspect of the offense for the Patriots. It can be the difference in earning a roster spot and playing time, and getting released and riding the pine.
And this is the area where Brown has the furthest to go. How much he improves might be an indication of his buy-in with the Patriots. If it goes nowhere, I'm going to have my doubts no matter how many touchdowns he produces. If we see improvement, then he's buying into what the Patriots are selling.
On at least three occasions, Brown showed little to no effort or interest in either attempting a run block, or running a route with max effort to distract the defender. This will not fly with the Patriots, if they have any interest in holding Brown accountable. You're either all in, or all out in this offense, and it all matters.
Brown will either show effort by getting off the ball quickly and angling off the player he's responsible for, or running a hard play fake, or he's not going to play on running downs and will miss out on opportunities given by Brady's audibles.
All is not lost, on his third series (perhaps after being coached on this point), Brown actually ran hard down the field and took the defender with him. But then he reverted later.
Route running
Since I've been watching the Patriots on film for so many years, I often fall back on, 'Does that look right or not?' when it comes to the way the players perform their duties. Whether it's coverage techniques, how they block up stunts, or route running, you become accustomed to the way the Patriots do things.
And the way Brown ran routes on Sunday ... I'm not sure that's ultimately what they want, but at least it was successful.
Take Brown's very first snap and route of the game when he caught a slant for 18 yards. Ran right into the void created by the inside linebacker dog blitz. Looked good.
But what kind of route was that? I may be wrong on this, but I can't recall ever seeing a Patriots receiver ever run a route ... that was basically a diagonal line from the line of scrimmage. That's not even a real passing route. If that's a slant, that's either a 3- for 5-step route and then you turn to look for the ball. That didn't happen. But at least it was effective.
Now, his touchdown catch was far from precise, but I have seen that fade before over the years. Still think it's supposed to be more of a corner route (straight for 10 yards and then turn in or out depending on the coverage), but at least it was functional.
BUSINESS IS BOOMIN! Tom Brady to Antonio Brown for the touchdown! LFG #Patriots pic.twitter.com/eYQLYS3KIy
— Casey Baker (@CaseyBake16) September 15, 2019
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