The Mailbag: The International House of Football

It took some time, but you guys responded to my request — I got some good e-mails this week (including two from outside the United States) about a variety of Patriots-related stuff, including questions if Terrence Nunn or Brandon Tate can contribute this season, the future of Joey Galloway, the state of the Pats defense and whether or not Stephen Gostkowski can set an NFL record. Keep sending your questions to cprice@weei.com — we’re going to do this every Wednesday, people.

On to the mail.

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Hey Chris,

Do you see either Terrence Nunn or Brandon Tate having any sort of impact on the team this year? And, how do you think Gary Guyton has adjusted to the overall role as leader of the defense?

Cheers, Chris
Paul, London

A: Nice — first e-mail from overseas. I think the Patriots really like Nunn, but they see him as an unfinished product and would like him to get a year in the system before he takes any significant snaps. I see him spending the 2009 season as a practice squadder, but he could challenge for the role of third or fourth receiver next year. Consider it a redshirt season for him.

I believe that Tate may see time this season for several reasons — there is some uncertainty at the return spot, and there also is some concern about depth at wide receiver. The Patriots worked out several wideouts last week, and one of them (Chris Davis) also has some experience as a returner. Currently Tate, who injured his knee last year at the University of North Carolina, is on the non-football injury list and cannot practice or play with the team until after Week 6.

And for what its worth — if a player is shut down for the season, he doesn’t talk to us. Not at all. Avoids us like the plague. For example, I’ve tried to talk to Tyrone McKenzie on a couple of occasions, and he’s politely declined interview requests. It’s clear there’s no such mandate on Tate, who has talked with reporters on a couple of occasions. It’s a small thing, but another point that leads me to believe he will contribute this season.

As for Guyton, he has made mistakes, but I believe he has done as well as can be anticipated. The Patriots have made things easier for him, disguising him on occasion — they played a lot of 4-2-5 in Week 2 against the Jets. He has missed a few tackles, but overall, he has done well. Going from being an undrafted free agent to making the defensive calls within two seasons is a big leap, and is one that Guyton can be proud of.

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For two games, I was hesitant to praise the defense too much, since Buffalo is not considered by most to be a powerhouse, and the NYJ had a rookie QB. Yet, after the Falcons game, it seems as though NE may have an unappreciated, solid defense.

1) How long before we can state with certainty that the Patriots defense is better than advertised?
2) Were the "big names" (yet older players) on defense holding the team back, and is the team better off with the Pryors, McGowans, and Wilhites of the world?

Farn
Nova Scotia

A: Another international e-mail — the mailbag is going worldwide. Farn, I think that some of that praise can be attributed to lowered expectations. (They had so many new faces on the defense at the start of the season, it was difficult to peg how well they would do as a unit right out of the gate.) But at the same time, I do think the New England defense has played well through the first three games of the season, especially without Jerod Mayo for a sizable chunk of that time. In the last two games — against teams with a combined 5-1 record — the Patriots have allowed two touchdowns. I think you can state right now that the defense has been better than advertised.

I don’t think, however, it was a case of the older guys holding them back. I think the secondary has performed better than it did last season — Brandon McGowan and Leigh Bodden have played very well. There was a point where the Patriots simply had to get younger on defense, and they had to do it without losing some oomph. It remains to be seen if the young guys will be able to pick up where the others left off, but three games in, they’re off to a better-than-expected start.

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Chris —
This Patriots defense has far exceeded my expectations this year. Is our defensive secondary able to hold up all year with the defensive line generating little to no pressure?

James Christensen

A: I think the defensive front hasn’t been able to generate any real pressure on the opposing quarterbacks through three games. (In particular, Derrick Burgess has not performed up to expectations.) This season, opposing quarterbacks have dropped back 75 times, have been hit 12 times, and have taken six sacks. (Those numbers look even worse when you consider that two of those six sacks came at the end of the Buffalo game, when the Bills were in a must-pass situation.)

At the same time, through three games, the New England secondary has surpassed expectations, so the imbalance hasn’t really been an issue. The Pats have allowed just one touchdown pass in their last two games, none of them to an opposing wide receiver. With the exception of one blown play against the Jets (a 45-yarder), they’ve done a nice job of limiting the big plays. And the arrival of both Leigh Bodden and Brandon McGowan have added a level of physicality to the secondary that was missing last season.

Will they be able to sustain this model? No. (Against high-powered offenses such as New Orleans and Indianapolis, they’ll have to do a better job of playing complete team defense, especially when it comes to generating a sustained pass rush.) But when it comes to the secondary, it’s a far cry from where they were last year.

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Hi Chris,
 
Steve Gostkowski has been around the football quite a bit on kickoff returns, along with a fumble recovery. So far, he's recorded one tackle, and the way he plays it looks like he's not afraid to make a few more this season. Which makes me wonder — what's the NFL record for tackles by a kicker during a season?
 
Ian

A: I’ve checked this in a few different places, and the record-holder is Joe Nedney, who had eight tackles as the kicker for the Tennessee Titans in 2002. (Of course, the fact that Nedney is built like a linebacker at 6-foot-5 and 234 pounds probably didn’t hurt.) According to the Patriots, Gostkowski actually has a pair of tackles on the season — one each in the first two games.

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Chris,
1) Do you see [BenJarvus] Green-Ellis becoming important to the team? He obviously did something to keep a roster spot, when will we see him? Is he perhaps in the long-term plans?

2) Two and three tight end sets are looking like the way to go right now. Health assumed, can we expect career years from Watson and Baker?

J

A: I think Green-Ellis does a great job providing depth at the running back spot. You need a young back somewhere on the depth chart, especially when you consider three of the four backs in front of him are 32 or older. When he’s been called on, he has done well — he ran for 105 yards in a win over Buffalo last November. And he’s also become a fairly regular presence on New England’s special teams.

However, in this offense, with backs such as Fred Taylor, Laurence Maroney and Sammy Morris in front of him, I think it will always be a struggle for playing time. It’s worth mentioning that he is only under contract for the 2009 season, so if he is in New England’s long-term plans, something will have to be worked out down the road.

I agree that we’ve seen a lot of two and three tight end sets, but I think the Patriots operate out of those formations, those are run-first, pass-second offensive sets. As a result, I don’t think Baker and Watson will catch too many extra passes. But at the same time, I believe those two remain great weapons in the red zone. So, while I don’t think we’re going to see them have career years in terms of receptions and yardage, I wouldn’t be surprised if their touchdown numbers increase.

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Hello Chris,
 
The Pats have been moving the ball well but have not been very proficient in the red zone. It seems to me that they are really tipping off defenses by going in to a shotgun formation when they're inside the 20; out of the shotgun they almost always pass and rarely run. With the success the Pats had running the ball, would you expect to see not only more run/pass balance, but also more snaps from under center? I understand the need to use the shotgun at the end of the half and end of the game, but I don't follow the reason for using it close to the goal line when receivers already have a shorter field to run their routes.
 
Also, Baltimore has what may be the NFL's best run defense. With that in mind, do you think the Pats will go back to passing the ball more this week? Or do you think they will try to continue with what worked against Atlanta, running out of a two-tight end formation?
 
Thanks for putting together the mailbag as well as your columns,
 
John

A: John, that’s a great question — and I’m not just saying that because of the nice words. It was one that sent me back to the tapes of the first three weeks. Of the four red-zone touchdowns they have scored, the Patriots have been in the shotgun for two (two touchdown passes to Benjamin Watson) and Tom Brady has been under center for the other two (a pair of runs for Fred Taylor). Meanwhile, the misfires in the red zone on almost every play have come while New England has operated out of the shotgun. (This was the case almost exclusively for the first two games, while it was roughly 50-50 Sunday against Atlanta.)

All that being said, however, I don’t think the fact that they were operating out of the shotgun more often than not is the reason for the Patriots' red-zone woes. There has been a distinct lack of crispness and overall execution when the offense has gotten inside the 20-yard line. There have been dropped passes, miscommunication and bad penalties that all have contributed to the fact that the Patriots are just 4-for-13 in the red zone through three games.

I do think that New England will pass the ball this week — the Ravens are the best team in the league at stopping the run. If the Patriots do run the ball, they will run some draws and maybe a reverse or two to try to negate Baltimore’s aggressiveness and tendency to overpursue.

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Hello Chris,
 
A lot of Pats fans are talking about Joey Galloway, saying he was a mistake and should be cut, etc. Personally, I'm of the opinion that some of those missed passes were either bad passes (such as the one in the end zone against the Jets) or Brady not having enough time (the last play of the game against the Jets, for example.)
 
What's your opinion? Do you think the Patriots should have kept [Greg] Lewis, [Jabar] Gaffney or {Kelley] Washington instead? Are fans overreacting, or is Galloway's play as really as bad as some make it out to be? At what point would Belichick take Galloway off the field and replace him with [Terrence] Nunn, [Matthew] Slater or a second tight end due to lack of confidence in him?
 
Thank you,
Hugh Culverhouse

A: This probably isn’t the Hugh Culverhouse I’m thinking of, but nonetheless, it’s good to hear from South Florida. Galloway is a mystery — he clearly is not on the same page as Brady. You are correct when you say that some of that miscommunication is the fault of the quarterback. In addition, it can be very difficult for a new receiver to come into the New England offense.

But Galloway also shares a large part of that blame. It’s not like he was just dropped in here a week before the start of the season. He’s had plenty of time to get up to speed on things. I’ve said this before, but for me, Galloway reminds me of what John Smoltz went through with the Red Sox: He’s a classy veteran who still has something left, and came to New England in hopes of making a run at a championship. But the acclimation process to a new team/offense hasn’t gone smoothly at all. I don’t see them pulling the plug on Galloway, but at the same time, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Julian Edelman or Sam Aiken get more time at the receiver spot.

As for the others, I still think that Jabar Gaffney would have been a better fit in this offense. The Greg Lewis release still puzzles me — Belichick confessed in training camp that he had tried to land Lewis for several years. However, I don’t think Washington would have made much of a difference — he’s played well this season in Baltimore, but at this stage of his career, he was far more valuable as a special teamer than a wide receiver.

Even with all the struggles he’s had through the first three weeks, Galloway is on pace for 35-40 catches, which would compare favorably to the work of the No. 3 receivers that Patriots have had the last two seasons (Gaffney had 38 in 2008, and Donte Stallworth had 46 in 2007).

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Chris,
 
Against the Falcons, Bill Belichick went with Myron Pryor rather than Ron Brace after Vince Wilfork sprained his ankle. What is your take on that? Was it a case of Pryor matching up better against the Falcons than Brace? Pryor having practiced better and passing Brace on the depth chart? Maybe Belichick trying to motivate Brace to work harder? I was pleased with Pryor's play but surprised to see him in there rather than Brace.
 
Also, any clue yet on how long Wilfork will be sidelined? When he's out should we expect Pryor to continue to be the first off the bench, ahead of Brace?
 
Thanks,
Carl

A: I agree with you — I love Brace, and actually picked him to be my Pats Rookie of the Year. However, Pryor played well on Sunday, and everyone had encouraging things to say about his performance after the game. Director of player personnel Nick Caserio was asked about the Brace/Pryor question in his weekly conference call on Tuesday, and said: “The way the game was going, there might have been a little bit more of a role for Myron,” which leads me to believe it may have been a matchup issue.

All reports indicate that Wilfork’s ankle injury is not serious, but at the same time, I don’t think the signing of Terdell Sands earlier this week is an isolated incident. If Wilfork is out for any sustained length of time — and assuming Sands can pick up the scheme quickly — I wouldn’t be shocked to see Sands and a combination of Pryor and Brace at defensive tackle.