Counting the Days

The Patriots released the shortest injury report in recent memory on Wednesday. Just four players were listed and none of them was named Dominique Easley, Aaron Dobson, Jerod Mayo or Vince Wilfork.

Yes, one of them was named Rob Gronkowski.

 

Gronk was joined on the “Limited Participation” list by Michael Buchanan, Chris Jones and Sealver Siliga who, like Gronk, has pronounced himself ready to go for Sunday. Siliga, like Gronkowski, is not a medical doctor or the HC of the NEP so please keep that in mind when assessing these players self-diagnoses for gambling fantasy football purposes.

I could talk about organizational communications models and men’s fashion all day but sometimes football intrudes…

The news out of Foxborough seems to be spinning in a positive rotation these days. Brady has inventory, the defense looks like it has a chain saw in one hand and a shotgun in the other and there are two open spots on the roster, one of which is sure to be filled by a long-snapper; perhaps Danny Aiken, perhaps Thursday.

The front seven was impressive without Easley; there are playmakers at nearly every position with Chandler Jones, Wilfork, Rob Ninkovich, Donta Hightower, Mayo and Jamie Collins. Add Easley and you’ve got seven three-down players up front. I’m looking for these guys to deconstruct Miami’s rebuilt offensive line and leave Ryan Tannehill’s wife and mother fearing for his life.

In the secondary, they have more ball hawks than positions on the field. Darrelle Revis and Devin McCourty will lead the way. Until Brandon Browner returns from his four-game suspension, Alfonzo Dennard, Logan Ryan, Kyle Arrington and UDFA phenom Malcolm Butler will have game reps to flash their mad ball skills opposite Revis. Duron Harmon and Patrick Chung will platoon at safety with Ryan and Arrington. Should Tannehill have enough time to actually plant his feet and throw, it’s hard to imagine he will find anyone open.

Imagine a passing down package with Ninko, Easley and Cha-Cha up front, Mayo and Collins at linebacker, and Revis, Butler, Ryan, Dennard, Arrington and McCourty in the secondary.

Look for the Patriots to be among the league leaders in turnovers and turnover differential in 2014.

Stevan Ridley is once again ready for a fresh start. Let’s hope so. 1200 yards rushing and 12 TDs would be most helpful. Running behind an offensive line with behemoths Nate Solder and Sebastian Vollmer on the left side, newly minted captain Dan Connolly at center and Josh Kline and Marcus Cannon on the right, Ridley should return to form. The only things that should limit his production are (a) his freakishly tiny hands, (b) the desire to develop James White as Ridley’s heir apparent and (c) the deep and diverse set of pass-catching options available to Josh McDaniels and Tom Terrific.

On top of returning Julian Edelman, Danny Amendola, Kenbrell Thompkins and Aaron Dobson, Bill Belichick added Brandon LaFell and move TE Tim Wright (who totaled 49 and 54 receptions, respectively in 2013). Let’s include Shane Vereen and Rob Gronkowski to the inventory for pass catchers. Let’s put Vereen and Wright in the backfield with Brady, Gronk in-line at TE, Edelman at flanker and Kenbrell Thompkins at split end and you have to leave Amendola, Dobson and LaFell on the sideline. Empty the backfield and put Amendola in the slot and move Jules inside with Dobson outside. Bring back Wright to manage Gronk’s snaps and flex him outside. Replace Amendola, Thompkins or Wright with LaFell. Sit LaFell and bring back Gronk for some 2TE action with Wright.

Someone with real math skills can verify this but if my calculations are correct, there are 40,320 different combinations the Patriots can put on the field with this set of pass catchers.

That’s inventory.

Assuming 70 offensive snaps a game, it would take the Patriots 576 games (36 years) to exhaust all the possibilities.

Let’s just say it’s going to be hard for opposing defensive coordinators to plan for everything the Patriots can do on offense.