Breaking down the biggest plays in the Patriots' 29-0 win over the Lions — and some that set up those plays — using analysis of the coaches' film. The plays/discussion points:
- Jared Goff's two poor reads led to Jack Jones' spectacular sideline interception;
- Lions blowing a blocking assignment that caused a 7-yard loss and set up the Matthew Judon/Kyle Dugger scoop and score;
- Matt Patricia's perfect play call, Bailey Zappe's flawless execution on Patriots' lone offensive touchdown.
1-10-NE 18 (5:38) J.Goff pass short left intended for T.Hockenson INTERCEPTED by Ja.Jones at NE 3. Ja.Jones ran ob at NE 3 for no gain.
The Lions start with motion to give a coverage indicator and the Patriots appear to be in zone. What kind of zone? Tough to say before the snap if you're Goff. Appears to be quarters coverage (deep quarter for the four defensive backs), but the Patriots often change after the snap. Could be Cover 3 with one safety (Myles Bryant is the other safety here as a little curveball) rotating into the middle of the field. Can't rule out Cover 1 man after the snap either.
Once the ball is snapped, Goff reads Bryant and should know that it is quarters coverage. The Lions have a good playcall for this coverage to the top of the screen where they have better numbers (2 vs. 2) than the bottom (2 vs. 3). If Goff reads this play correctly, he should know early that he has a shot to Tom Kennedy in the end zone because Devin McCourty is shallow and flat-footed. But Goff doesn't throw it there, he's reading Jack Jones. He's expecting Jones to go with Kennedy, leaving TJ Hockenson the read in the flat. The problem is that Goff does not throw to the TE quickly enough, in fact, he double clutches, and throws a balloon ball that leaves Jones plenty of time to break on the ball.
Goff butchered this play twice. Either you throw to Kennedy, for a likely TD, or you throw early to the flat. He did neither and the Lions get zero points in the red zone.
"Yeah, the corner made a good play, man. It was probably a bad decision," Goff said. "But he kind of – he was with T.K. up the seam. And I thought I had T.J. down the sideline. And he fell off at the seam and made the play. And if I had to do it again, I'd check it down and move on to the next play. But I got a little greedy there. And he made a play."
3-2-NE 25 (4:27) (Shotgun) C.Reynolds right end to NE 32 for -7 yards (A.Phillips).
4-9-NE 32 (3:40) (Shotgun) J.Goff sacked at NE 45 for -13 yards (M.Judon). FUMBLES (M.Judon) [M.Judon], RECOVERED by NE-K.Dugger at NE 41. K.Dugger for 59 yards, TOUCHDOWN.
Dan Campbell had this to say after the game: "We had a ME (mental error). Yeah, we had – somebody was supposed to be blocked on the edge. So we had a mental error there. So that's why we lost the yardage. Yeah, the play was a good call. It was a real good call. We had exactly what we wanted."
Does the film back that up? Yes it does, and the Patriots were very fortunate the Lions screwed this play up because the Lions did have the perfect call and it could have gone for a touchdown.
After a Lions' timeout, the Patriots showed zero blitz on the 3rd and 2 play. There's only one player (McCourty) who is not on the line of scrimmage. Though they could and often do bluff here, this appears to be a boom or bust play.
Deatrich Wise ends up being unblocked and bouncing the play outside for a 7-yard loss. Wise is supposed to be blocked. The Lions are using a pin/pull tactic and it appears either RG Logan Sternberg or RG Jonah Jackson are supposed to pull and kickout Wise. If I had to wager, I think Sternberg blew the play — he pulls, but the wrong direction. If he pulls right and kicks out Wise, only McCourty would prevent this from being a TD as both ILBs, Ja'Whaun Bentley and Jahlani Tavai, were pinned inside.
On fourth down, Matthew Judon just beat Penei Sewell and Goff was slow/spooked checking it down, and probably wanted to throw to the sticks. Tough yardage situation,.
1-10-DET 24 (1:57) (Shotgun) B.Zappe pass deep right to J.Meyers for 24 yards, TOUCHDOWN
We've both criticized and praised Matt Patricia for some of his crucial playcalls. Well, he knocked this one out of the park to get the team's only offensive touchdown.
It certainly helped that the Lions were down five secondary players at this point in the game. And I'm guessing Patricia had data that the Lions are a high percentage Tampa 2 team in the red zone. And that's what he got here.
Patricia set up Zappe by giving him a half-field read. He reads the safety on the right side of the field as the Patriots send two verticals at him — Hunter Henry up the seam, and Jakobi Meyers on the boundary. As soon as the safety tips his hand and favors either Henry or Meyers, Zappe is to throw to the other player. Zappe climbed the pocket nicely, read the play right and the perfect call and execution led to an easy-looking touchdown.