New England Patriots Links 8/09/11 - Shaun Ellis: Patriots "Made Me Feel Like a Weapon"

by Marima on Aug 9, 2011 10:40 AM EDT in New England Patriots Links

Shaun Ellis was asked if it was that easy to flip the switch ... to go from green to blue.

Guys change teams all the time. I've just been fortunate enough to play 11 years with the Jets. I had a great time, a great experience. It's just one of those things when it's time to move on, you have to move on. I've found a new home here and guys have welcomed me in. I was kind of a little hesitant at first, a little weird feelings, but once I got in here they made me feel like a weapon. Is it easy? Yeah it is.

Mike Rodak offers his observations from practice 13 Monday.

Skies open up. [Tell me about it!] About an hour into practice, heavy rain started to fall on the practice fields behind Gillette Stadium. The team practiced through it and did not move into the Dana Farber Fieldhouse. The conditions quickly became a factor, with quarterback Tom Brady and center Dan Koppen botching their first wet snap exchange of a 9-on-7 session. Both players ran a lap, as did quarterback Brian Hoyer and center Chris Morris later during the rainstorm. Meanwhile, Brady did not have his best day of camp, under- or over-throwing a number of his targets while also being intercepted by safety Sergio Brown during 11-on-11 work.

Red zone work in focus. The red zone was a big focus of the later part of practice on Monday. The defense made two impressive goal line stands, with defensive tackle Vince Wilfork stopping running back BenJarvus Green-Ellis short of the goal line, followed by linebacker Jerod Mayo stuffing Green-Ellis at the line. Wide receiver Chad Ochocinco made an impressive sideline grab in the end zone, but it didn't appear as if he got both feet down in bounds. Tight end Will Yeatman and wide receivers Julian Edelman and Tyree Barnes also made touchdown grabs during the drill.

Christopher Price gives us a rundown of Monday's afternoon practice.

Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski seemed to be laboring through much of the first part of the session, and at roughly the halfway point after one drill, he went to one knee and called for a trainer. He walked to the sidelines under his own power — quarterback Tom Brady checked on him — and then walked off the field. He was not limping or flexing any muscles, so it could be heat-related. Something that bears watching over the next few days. In addition, late in the practice session, right guard Dan Connolly appeared to be getting his right elbow or forearm examined at the end of a drill — also worth keeping an eye on going forward.

The conditions put the players under some level of stress they haven’t faced through the first two weeks or so of camp. As a result, it wasn’t the sharpest session of the summer: There were a handful of missteps, including a botched snap between Brady and center Dan Koppen in the rain that left them running a lap. (Backups Brian Hoyer and Chris Morris had to do the same later in the session, and offensive lineman Nate Solder and Mark LeVoir also had to run penalty laps.)

It was a sluggish day for the offensive line. Not sure if that was because of the heat, the constant rotation of new defensive linemen or the fact that the Patriots are a little thin at the spot — Wendell, Cannon and Light were all out — but they struggled through a good portion of the session. That extended to the rest of the offense as well, as there were several missed connections between Brady and pass catchers, with the quarterback delivering low passes to several players, including Chad Ochocinco, Tyree Barnes and Darnell Jenkins. (Jenkins and Ochocinco both made nice sliding grabs.) Brady was picked by safety Sergio Brown on a short ball meant for Barnes, while a Brady pass for Lee Smith was knocked down by linebacker Jerod Mayo.

TEAM TALK

Paul Perillo gives us his Monday afternoon notes from camp. Leigh Bodden is having a terrific camp so far.
Erik Scalavino gives us the news and notes from Day 10 of training camp. Dane Fletcher has been hot, subbing for the injured Brandon Spikes.
Andy Hart examines the new-look D-line and wonders if quantity will translate into quality.
Bill Belichick Press Conference (13.49 min. video) plus Transcript.
Player Interviews: Shaun Ellis (3.18 min. audio) plus Transcript, and Andre Carter (1.53 min. audio)
Patriots Training Camp Schedule for Tuesday: 1:30-4:00 (practice field) and Wednesday: 10:00-11:15 (Gillette Stadium field)
Patriots Today - Hoyer ready for preseason action. (2.16 min. video)
Patriots Today - Hear from Ellis, Carter. (2.30 min. video)
Patriots Today - New faces on D-line Monday. (1.06 min. video)
Training Camp Review Podcast - 8/08/11 (11.34 min. program)

LOCAL LINKS

Steve Buckley thinks Bill Belichick secretly is enjoying this mad, late-summer dash to slap together a team that will be game-ready by Week 1.
Greg A. Bedard gives us the rundown on practice #13. The struggles of the offense are revived as the defensive front is active.
Greg A. Bedard talks about the injuries that occurred during Monday's practice, including Rob Gronkowski.
Karen Guregian notices that Ochocinco appears cured of his earlier case of the dropsies.
A. Sherrod Blakely tells us what he took from Monday's practice: Ochocinco's learning curve is still evident, but he's starting to catch on.
Mike Reiss cleans out his Patriots notebook before the start of camp on Monday.
Shalise Manza Young profiles the new big defenders brought in by Belichick & co, and looks at what roles they are expected to play.
Mike Reiss resets the D-Line roster (again) and wonders just how many linemen the Patriots can keep. The first cutdown date is Aug. 30th to 75 players.
Tom E. Curran thinks the Patriots aren't necessarily going away totally from their 3-4 roots. They will switch and mix and match.
Mike Reiss feels the Patriots current roster, loaded with 21 D-Linemen, opens up a number of possibilities for Belichick to evaluate.
Greg A. Bedard resets the roster as it stands late Monday night. Nice graphic.
Karen Guregian says it seems as if Belichick is throwing as many D-Linemen into the mix as he can, to see if he can squeeze out a pass rush by game day.
Mike Reiss reports former Jets coach Eric Mangini says adding Shaun Ellis is a 'really good signing' for the Patriots.
Ian Rapoport notes Shaun Ellis was nervous before entering the locker room of the team he had spent a decade "furiously hating."
Shalise Manza Young reports Shaun Ellis is recovering from a hip problem and has been placed on the PUP list for now.
Ian Rapoport tells us not to worry about Shaun Ellis being placed on PUP. It's a procedural move.
Christopher Price says the Patriots are keeping it simple with Andre Carter.
Karen Guregian talks about what Andre Carter's role on the defense will be.
Jeff Howe reports Dan Connolly has "higher expectations" in 2011, and is ready to assume his role at right guard.
Gethin Coolbaugh notes that Gary Guyton doesn't care what the scheme is, he is ready for a big season with the Patriots.
Tom E. Curran focuses on fringe player Eric Moore, who made plays for the Patriots after being signed off the street last December.
Jeff Howe picks up on Bill Belichick's high praise of Taylor Price and sees it as an indication of more playing time for him this year.
Mike Reiss offers a few soundbites from Bill Belichick's press conference where he talks about the new linemen.
Monique Walker highlights Bill Belichick addressing defensive changes and his philosophy during his Monday presser.
Jeff Howe and Shalise Manza Young talk about how Belichick isn't neglecting any aspect of game preparation as they the preseason opener nears. (1.15 min. video)
Ian Rapoport posts his video of the day: Meet Patriots rookies Ryan Mallett, Lee Smith and Markell Carter. (1.40 min. video)
Monique Walker Patriots Notebook: Shaun Ellis made a smooth transition from the Jets to the Patriots; Dan Connolly is expecting a lot more from himself this year; Plus injury updates.
Ian Rapoport Patriots Notebook: Andre Carter remembers the pre-draft meeting with Bill Belichick back in 2001; Dan Connolly is a returning starter for the first time in his career and he's trying to make it stick; Gerard Warren is another big DL addition to the monsters already at camp; Taylor Price gets praise from Belichick, who said "everything" is better about him this season.

NATIONAL NEWS

Alex Marvez (Fox Sports) Sky-high expectations remain for Pats.
Gregg Rosenthal (ProFootballTalk) Shaun Ellis doesn't feel like Rex Ryan respects him.
Total Access (NFL.com) Arms race: Jets vs. Patriots. (4.21 min. video)
Matt Bowen (Nat'l Football Post) How will coaches approach the NFL preseason?
Mike Florio (ProFootballTalk) League says supplemental draft will occur on August 17.
Mike Florio (ProFootballTalk) FOX to unveil game lineup as Kurt Warner heads exclusively to NFLN.

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Comments

I'm really worried...

… about the offense. Is the slow start a function of the extremely condensed schedule, forcing everyone to get on the same page a lot more quickly? Or is the defense just that good?

My family lives in St. Louis. I'm going to law school in New Orleans. I'm a Patriots fan. Something doesn't compute.

by imaginarimari on Aug 9, 2011 11:02 AM EDT reply actions

dont worry they are normally behind at the beginning

the offense will be fine by season starts, most of the offense is filled with returning players.

by brady12mvp3 on Aug 9, 2011 11:06 AM EDT up reply actions

Way too early to be concerned...

about the offense. I guarantee you every other team in the NFL’s offense is starting slow, in most cases much slower than ours. We will probably see some pretty sloppy play on offense across the NFL the first few weeks of the season this year. As for the defense, we’ve made some nice additions that give us a lot of depth.

"If you know how to cheat, start now." - Earl Weaver

by rebop on Aug 9, 2011 11:25 AM EDT up reply actions

It isn’t too early to be concerned with the offensive. The line has struggled to block the defense from what I’ve been hearing. Which isn’t good. But I still have hope.

by Patriots12 on Aug 9, 2011 12:44 PM EDT up reply actions

Get used to it.

If you’re new to preseason football — at least as an interested follower — there are a number of things to keep in mind when reading the dailies. I wrote a whole post about it a couple of years ago, but this discrepancy between the offense and the defense was one of the main themes.

No matter what kind of defense you run, the essential skill is to read and react — and often, just react. Coaches or the defensive captains set the defense up according to down-and-distance and offensive tendency. Once the players are in position, they have general responsibilities but the foundation of their work is to see what happens and react accordingly. For example: A defensive end or OLB (whomever is last on the LOS) probably has two main responsibilities if he’s not blitzing the run or the passer. 1) set a hard edge against the run if it’s a run; 2) rush the passer and contain him (keep him from getting outside) if it’s a pass. That’s it. Once the ball is snapped he reacts to the offense and does his thing. The same is essentially true for all defensive players. The “system” relies on everyone doing what his responsibilities dictate — no less and (here’s where Merriweather has a hard time) no more. As long as you “do your job” the defense can succeed.

The offense has essentially the same goal — do your job - but the foundation of offensive success is simultaneous execution. All eleven players have to “do their job” at precisely timed intervals. The offensive line (and everyone else in the blocking scheme) has to move as a single unit. Receivers have to get out of their break at exactly the moment Brady plants his back foot; Brady has to 3, 5-, or 7-step drop at exactly the same speed each snap; the center, the qb and the backs/receivers all have to make the same read on the defense, with the backs and the line staying in synch and the qb/backs/and receivers all on the same route page. And the have to maintain that synchronicity on-the-fly as the defensive mask falls away and the D shows it’s true orientation as the play unfolds. Add to that that it’s harder for two guys to complete a pass than it is for one guy to defend it.

As a result, it just takes more time for offenses (of all stripes) to come into form than for defenses. Two further corollaries are that you don’t really know what kind of a defense you might have until week 3 or four, and that (especially this year) the first few weeks of the season will be sloppy.

"Every time I call it a game, you call it a business. Every time I call it a business, you call it a game."

by JohnHannahRules on Aug 9, 2011 1:26 PM EDT up reply actions 2 recs

Don't know why that strikeout went in there. Sorry.

"Every time I call it a game, you call it a business. Every time I call it a business, you call it a game."

by JohnHannahRules on Aug 9, 2011 1:26 PM EDT up reply actions

no space between your hyphens and the text. Like -this, rather than - this

"Perhaps it was the Noid who should have avoided me." Mayor Adam West

by ISN on Aug 9, 2011 1:46 PM EDT up reply actions

Is there any word about Haynesworth?

IIRC, he hasn’t been seen at practice for several days, but we haven’t specifically heard about an injury or something of that sort. It’s beginning to worry me.

Oh, if a man tried to take his time on earth, and prove before he died
What one man's life could be worth--oh, I wonder what would happen to this world.

by LegendaryTadpole on Aug 9, 2011 11:30 AM EDT reply actions

The optimistic word....

…is that the staff are simply being overly conservative with Albert. He has traditionally had minor knee problems throughout his career and has always been a slow starter. Mike Reiss likens it to the Randy Moss approach. When Moss came in his first year, he barely practiced, which led to speculation that he was injured. But, really, they just wanted him as fresh as possible, and so didn’t complicate the playbook for him. So, hopefully, same with Albert.

by furiousd on Aug 9, 2011 12:38 PM EDT up reply actions

Predictions:

How many DL?
Who in order from top to bottom w/ position(s)?

Wilfork (NT, DT)
Haynesworth (DT)
Ellis (DE)
Andre Carter (DE)
Warren (DT)
.
.

etc.

by OneOpinion on Aug 9, 2011 11:44 AM EDT reply actions

i think warren is there for insurance

by prioris on Aug 9, 2011 4:06 PM EDT up reply actions

I can’t understand why everyone thinks Bill is changing his scheme. There are a lot of wounded defensive linemen right now. So he needs bodies to help out. Some guys won’t make it. But some will. I still expect to see a 3-4 defense Monday night in Miami. With Albert coming in on passing downs.

by Patriots12 on Aug 9, 2011 12:47 PM EDT reply actions

Me too. I still expect a 3-4.

However with BB sometimes the theme is “expect the unexpected.” I’d be way more surprised to see a 4-3, than anything else, but at this point you never know.

by UtopianAverage on Aug 9, 2011 1:18 PM EDT up reply actions

I also wouldn't be too shocked to see BB run a "multiple" defense.

Run about an even amount of 3-4, 4-3, and bunch of subpackages. Nickel, Dime, 1-5-5, the “chaos” package with 0 down lineman, etc.

by UtopianAverage on Aug 9, 2011 1:27 PM EDT up reply actions

Maybe not a change in scheme

but it’s certainly looking like a change in philosophy. It’s hard to say that X is changing to Y, because with Belichick, X was never a settled variable. However, based on the personnel he’s gathering and some common traits about his past defenses, I think it makes sense to conclude that he’s thinking of a more DL-dependent pass rush with a focus on interior pressure (as opposed to pressure from the edge).

An interior pressure scheme goes against some of the “containment” principles that so dominated the defenses we have come to know under BB. When you pressure up the middle, you force the play outside. This isn’t a containment strategy, because you’re opening yourself up scrambles, broken play heroics, etc. At the same time, containment isn’t a great strategy for pressuring the QB (unless your team is oozing with talent at OLB and DE). In such a pass happy league, where the rules favor receivers and quarterbacks, you NEED to pressure the passer. When you have a whole mess of cover corners and coverage-savvy OLBs, I think it makes sense to shift toward an emphasis on interior pressure, MLB blitzes, safety blitzes, etc. I think the Patriots are moving more in that direction, without abandoning their 3-4, containment-oriented roots.

by nbradley07 on Aug 9, 2011 1:29 PM EDT up reply actions

I'd agree.

I think with the talent on the back-end we’ll see our defense be more aggressive this year.

I think we’ll mix it up a lot more than in the past on defense as well. We have the personnel to do so. We have the guys to play a 1 gap 4-3, and the guys to play a 2 gap 3-4. Why not try to confuse the offense as much as possible, and mix it up and disguise as much as possible?

Play a ton of different looks. Switch from one look to another and back again before the ball is even snapped. Disguise your coverages, never let the offense know whether you’re in man or zone, or whether certain guys or blitzing or dropping back.

I think the base defense will still be a 3-4. I just think he’s going to use a lot more looks than in the past, and perhaps be more aggressive with them.

by UtopianAverage on Aug 9, 2011 1:42 PM EDT up reply actions

I don't think it is a change in scheme or philosophy.

I think it is just getting new talent to fill in missing (or under-performing) parts of the philosophy.

Bill has always mixed up the line gap coverage so 3-4 vs 4-3 is a false dichotomy. And Bill has never ever said “Tully, don’t pressure the QB – its not our philosophy to do so.” It isn’t a case of not wanting to bring pressure from the edges. Its mostly been that that isn’t where Bill has acquired and deployed his best personnel. We haven’t the quality of pass rusher’s that made it worth the risk of lessening containment as a priority. Bill has accumulated and thus built his defensive line from the inside out. The inside that he put together over the last couple of years (Vince, Mayo, Spikes) is the foundation. Those are his best defensive players (in addition to McCourty and Bodden in the backfield). Now, he’s adding nice new accessories on top of that foundation in the form of more aggressive pass rushing specialists.

NBA Officiating - Corrupt? Incompetent? Which is worse? Does it matter? It sucks.

by mmmmm on Aug 9, 2011 4:23 PM EDT up reply actions

@MMMMM-I agree with you the most. The defensive philosophy has been 3 down linemen. And 4 linebackers. And depending on who is being played that week, it changes. Pressure from the middle can disrupt a whole lot of things. But with a shortened off season, Bill has been unable to implement a lot of new ideas. So I don’t see a lot changing at this point. If anything I have him trying to see what is best for his team and running with that.

by Patriots12 on Aug 9, 2011 5:01 PM EDT up reply actions

That's definitely the money quote, Marima.

I saw that this morning and briefly considered emailing you, but then I thought, “Nah. She’ll get it for sure.”

"Every time I call it a game, you call it a business. Every time I call it a business, you call it a game."

by JohnHannahRules on Aug 9, 2011 1:30 PM EDT reply actions

I love that quote. It shows that this is a guy who still wants to play

-Not just take a token veteran minimum salary and ride out his last years as an afterthought on the bench.

Keep the faith!

by Marima on Aug 9, 2011 4:51 PM EDT up reply actions

Ditto.

Love the attitude it expresses.

NBA Officiating - Corrupt? Incompetent? Which is worse? Does it matter? It sucks.

by mmmmm on Aug 9, 2011 9:23 PM EDT up reply actions

...and I just want to add here, that if Shawn Ellis is a weapon, he has no business being on a team with Plaxico Burress.

That is all.

The more you know, the more you know that you don't know.
Some people can learn from the mistakes of others, while some people need to pee on the electric fence themselves.

by SlotMachinePlayer on Aug 10, 2011 11:05 AM EDT up reply actions 3 recs

Hahaha

Deep in enemy territory

by JeffyB on Aug 10, 2011 11:39 AM EDT up reply actions

lol

The real reason he had to leave NY

Keep the faith!

by Marima on Aug 10, 2011 11:46 AM EDT up reply actions

Ha.

Ellis doesn’t want Plax taking him to the club and accidentally causing him to discharge in public.

by nbradley07 on Aug 10, 2011 4:23 PM EDT up reply actions 2 recs

lol

The more you know, the more you know that you don't know.
Some people can learn from the mistakes of others, while some people need to pee on the electric fence themselves.

by SlotMachinePlayer on Aug 10, 2011 4:56 PM EDT up reply actions