Playbook - Daniel Fells
Without Rob Gronkowski, The Patriots still went with their bread-and-butter package against The Jets, the 2TE/2WR/1RB set. Ideally, when The Patriots align with this personnel they have Gronk and Hernandez as the 2 TEs. It seems that The Patriots like the idea of having 2 different styles of TE on the field at the same time. Judging by the way they've used different players to replace each top TE, its obvious that the TE depth chart is not just a simple list. The Patriots TEs have at least 2, but probably 3 distinct roles: (1) The Primary Blocking TE (Gronk and Fells), (2) The Receiving TE (Hernandez and Shiancoe), and (3) The Versatile TE/FB (Hoomanawanui). In this article, we're going to take a look at Daniel Fells and his performance filling in for Gronk as The Primary Blocking TE.
The Patriots really like to come out of the huddle with 2 TEs to one side, and 2 WRs to the other. That's what they do here with #86 Daniel Fells lined up between #81 Hernandez and LT Nate Solder, but just before the snap Fells comes in motion to the right. This gives The Patriots a heavy set to the right, and leaves The Jets with only 4 players (2 CBs, 1 S, and 1 DE) to defend Welker, Lloyd, and Fells.
The Jets are illprepared to defend the pass to the right, and it seems like the DE was assigned to chip Fells if he went out on a pattern. I think this was the assignment because the DE slides over with Fells as he comes in motion. He moved from a 9-technique outside the Tackle to a Wide-9 outside the TE. This may have been the correct approach for limiting Fells in the passing game, but the Wide-9 technique created an enormous hole for Stevan Ridley. Likewise, moving to the outside made Fells' blocking assignment super easy. Fells routinely seals the edge, and Ridley takes it into the second level before getting tackled by La'ron Landry.
The Patriots really like to come out of the huddle with 2 TEs to one side, and 2 WRs to the other. That's what they do here with #86 Daniel Fells lined up between #81 Hernandez and LT Nate Solder, but just before the snap Fells comes in motion to the right. This gives The Patriots a heavy set to the right, and leaves The Jets with only 4 players (2 CBs, 1 S, and 1 DE) to defend Welker, Lloyd, and Fells.
The Jets are illprepared to defend the pass to the right, and it seems like the DE was assigned to chip Fells if he went out on a pattern. I think this was the assignment because the DE slides over with Fells as he comes in motion. He moved from a 9-technique outside the Tackle to a Wide-9 outside the TE. This may have been the correct approach for limiting Fells in the passing game, but the Wide-9 technique created an enormous hole for Stevan Ridley. Likewise, moving to the outside made Fells' blocking assignment super easy. Fells routinely seals the edge, and Ridley takes it into the second level before getting tackled by La'ron Landry.
Overall, The Jets seemed like they just couldn't figure out what to do against the 2 TE set because its just too balanced. The alignments pre-snap indicate to me that The Jets simply didn't respect Daniel Fells' blocking ability. I don't know how else to explain their logic here on a 2nd and 7. Maybe they were just daring Brady to hand it off, but if so, why leave such a gaping hole without any attention from a LB? I just don't get it, especially when The Patriots have made it obvious that Fells is primarily a blocker. I guess The Jets were just selling out on the pass, and hoping that they could stop a run for less than 7 yards.
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