Tag: devin mccourty

The worst Pro Bowl picks — and the players who should replace them

The worst Pro Bowl picks — and the players who should replace them

 

Kyle Van Noy reacts to Patriots’ Pro Bowl snubs

The Patriots have three Pro Bowlers this season, but some key players didn’t make the cut. 

The New England Patriots have three Pro Bowlers this season, but some key players didn’t make the cut.

Stephon Gilmore, Dont’a Hightower and Matthew Slater were the ones that earned the honor. Some players that have had seasons worth a Pro Bowl nod are Jamie Collins, Jake Bailey, Julian Edelman, Joe Thuney and Kyle Van Noy.

Van Noy is one of the most outspoken Patriots, and he expressed his disappointment with a tweet on Tuesday.

He followed up with this tweet shortly after.

He still acknowledged his teammates for the honors.

Van Noy has a history of proving people wrong and gaining fuel from situations like this. He’s sitting at a career-high 6.5 sacks right now and is a key component in this New England defense, but this won’t be the season he earns his first Pro Bowl nod.

[vertical-gallery id=74890]

The worst Pro Bowl picks — and the players who should replace them

Every year, a group of undeserving players are named to the Pro Bowl. Here’s this year’s list, and the players who should replace them.

If you think the Pro Bowl is a meaningless exercise, don’t tell the fans, players, and teams when somebody on their side is snubbed in the process. Every year, there are deserving players who aren’t voted to the Pro Bowl roster, and every year, there are players who get on more through previous reputation than current performance.

Here are the most egregious omissions in the 2019 voting, with thought on which players these unfortunate snubs should replace. Because if you’re going to complain about a player who’s wrongly off the Pro Bowl roster, you should be able to find a guy who’s taking up space. That’s where things get a bit more difficult!

Quarterback (NFC)

In: Dak Prescott or Kirk Cousins
Out: Aaron Rodgers

(Matthew Emmons-USA TODAY Sports)

Either Prescott or Cousins would be a better fit on the NFC roster than Aaron Rodgers, who had just three games with more than 300 passing yards this season, three games with less than 200 yards passing, and eight games with one or zero touchdowns. Cousins has been on fire after a rough start to the season, and Prescott ranks first in Football Outsiders’ opponent-adjusted efficiency metrics. Not that Rodgers has had a bad season, but this seems much more like a reputation pick than anything else.

Receiver (AFC)

In: Julian Edelman
Out: Jarvis Landry

(Winslow Townson-USA TODAY Sports)

Landry has been one of Cleveland’s few bright spots on offense this season, but it’s kind of ridiculous to have him in over Edelman, who was part of a total snub of New England offensive players that hasn’t happened since 2003. Yes, Landry has 74 catches on 1,018 yards and five touchdowns, but Edelman has 92 catches for 1,019 yards and six touchdowns in an offense so broken, opposing defenses can bracket him on just about every play. Edelman has faced more double teams than at any other point in his career, and he’s having arguably his most productive season.

Pages: Page 1, Page 2, Page 3, Page 4, Page 5

6 things Patriots fans should know about the Cowboys

The Cowboys present the Patriots their toughest opponent at home so far.

The Dallas Cowboys are coming to Gillette Stadium this Sunday for a Week 12 matchup against the New England Patriots. It will be a battle between America’s Team (Dallas) and America’s Most Hate Team (New England). The Cowboys have won three of their last four games, scoring at least 35 points in all three of those wins. The Patriots vaunted defense will be battle-tested once again vs. one of the top offensive teams in the entire NFL.

Here are six things New England fans should know before kickoff:

1. Dak Prescott is legit.

Dak Prescott is enjoying the best season of his four-year career so far. Boasting a league-leading 3,221 passing yards through 10 games, Prescott is well on pace to break his previous career-best 3,885 passing yards from last season. He has thrown for at least 395 yards the last two weeks, with a 444-yard performance in Week 11 vs. Detroit.

Even though Prescott has already thrown nine interceptions, tied for fifth-most in the league, he is proving he’s more than capable of leading the Cowboys offense. Prescott owns a 21-to-9 touchdown-interception ratio.

2. Can Stephon Gilmore and the Patriots secondary shutdown the Dallas receiver unit?

A reason why Prescott is having so much success this season is because of the receivers he’s throwing to.

The Dallas receiver unit is explosive with Amari Cooper and Michael Gallup. The Cooper-Gallup combo is just one of three receiver-duos to find themselves in the top 20 for receiving leaders in the league. Cooper has the fourth-most receiving yards with 886 yards while Gallup is no. 20 with 678 yards. Both are big play threats, so Stephon Gilmore, Devin McCourty and the rest of the New England secondary should have their hands full trying to shut them down.

3. Add in Ezekiel Elliot and the Cowboys present the toughest opponent the Patriots have faced at home.

When the Cleveland Browns came to Gillette Stadium in Week 8 with Baker Mayfield, Odell Beckham Jr., and Nick Chubb, there was a lot of talk that they might have had what it took to beat the Patriots. It did not take long for those thoughts to be put to rest.

Dallas presents New England with its toughest test yet in Foxboro. Not only do the Cowboys have the best aerial attack in the league, they have a stud running back in Ezekiel Elliot. In his fourth season, Elliot has ran for 833 yards and seven touchdowns through Dallas’ first 10 games.

4. The Cowboys defense presents another top-10 defense for the Patriots offense.

Last week it was the Philadelphia Eagles and their no. 9 ranked defense that provided Tom Brady and the New England offense a challenge. The Dallas defense is even tougher, ranked seventh in the league in least yards allowed per game at 322.1. In addition, the Cowboys allow 19.7 points per game, good for ninth-least in the league.

Fortunately for the Patriots, Dallas middle linebacker Leighton Vander Esch has been ruled for Sunday. New England’s offensive line will have to stop another Cowboys middle linebacker in Jaylon Smith, who is tied for seventh in the league with 90 tackles. Defensive end Robert Quinn is another force amongst the defense, leading the team with 8.5 sacks.

5. When was the last time Dallas came to New England?

Like most NFC teams, it’s often quite some time that the Cowboys travel to Foxboro. The last time Dallas came to town was eight years ago when the Patriots beat them 20-16 in a Week 6 tilt.

Tony Romo, who is a lead commentator for CBS, was the Cowboys quarterback in the contest and outside of Tom Brady, the two rosters are mostly completely different.

6. Will Dallas finally beat the Patriots?

New England has won its last five games against the Cowboys, dating back to 1999. The last time Dallas won was in a 12-6 victory all the way back in 1996. Shockingly, the game featured the only remaining active NFL player from that game in 46-year-old kicker Adam Vinatieri.

5 takeaways from Patriots’ 17-10 win over Eagles

Here are five takeaways from the Patriots’ hard-fought win over the Eagles.

The New England Patriots are 9-1 this season, but they still have a ton of room for improvement as the postseason creeps up.

New England defeated the Philadelphia Eagles on the road in a hard-fought 17-10 game. Tom Brady and the offense struggled mightily in the red zone and the defense had a tremendous bounce-back game. The only Patriots touchdown came from a double-pass trick play that was thrown by Julian Edelman. The rest of the points came from Nick Folk field goals — which was definitely a positive from this game.

Brady understands that this offense needs to crank it up a notch before the postseason begins and that the Patriots are currently playing through the most difficult stretch of the schedule. The next three games include the Dallas Cowboy, Houston Texans and Kansas City Chiefs. It’ll be a test for this defense and it’ll give the offense a playoff atmosphere to prepare for the postseason.

Here are five takeaways from the game.

Tom Brady has been trending in a negative direction

Either Brady’s age or the lack of protection has led to a steady decline in production for the 42 year old quarterback. With the combination of his 21 incompletions and inability to score in the red zone, Brady has relied heavily on the defense to bail him out.

Brady started off the first five games with ten touchdowns and one interception — he’s had four touchdowns and three interceptions in his last five games. The level of competition likely played a factor, and he’s also without key offensive linemen and his critical blocker with James Develin.

He was visibly frustrated in his press conference after the game and Brady is conscious of the fact that the offense isn’t clicking right now. It doesn’t help that the rushing attack has been non-existent so far this season and that the receiving corps continues to change. N’Keal Harry had a positive debut game for the Patriots and his presence along with Mohamed Sanu should play a huge role heading into the postseason.

Whether it’s Brady’s age or the lack of protection, Bill Belichick and Josh McDaniels have limited time to find a solution.

Pages: Page 1, Page 2, Page 3, Page 4, Page 5

This insane statistic puts perspective on Patriots’ lockdown secondary

Here’s a disclaimer for NFL teams: Don’t throw a deep ball against the New England Patriots. 

Here’s a disclaimer for NFL teams: Don’t throw a deep ball against the New England Patriots.

Through nine games this season, opposing quarterbacks have a 13.3 passer rating while throwing 21 yards or more in the air, H/T Boston Globe’s Ben Volin. New England has more interceptions (7) than opposing teams have completions (5) when throwing for more than 21 yards.

The second-best team in this category is the Buffalo Bills, who have kept opposing quarterbacks at a 40.6 passer rating. But, they’ve only had 20 pass attempts against them, compared to New England with 44 pass attempts. The Patriots have the No. 2 pass defense in the league currently with 150.2 passing yards allowed per game.

The secondary is primarily composed of Stephon Gilmore, Devin McCourty, Jason McCourty, J.C. Jackson, Pat Chung and Duron Harmon. Devin leads the group with five interceptions and Gilmore is second in the unit with three.  New England has a league-high 19 interceptions through nine games and the second-best team has 14.

The Patriots have accumulated a league-high 270 yards from interceptions along with two touchdowns. They’ve been able to create great field position for the offense, while helping hold opposing offenses to an average of 10.9 points per game.

New England struggled against the Baltimore Ravens in a Week 9 loss, but it was mostly due to the run defense. Baltimore had 210 rushing yards against the Patriots and only 162 passing yards.

This secondary has some talented quarterbacks ahead of them with Carson Wentz, Day Prescott, Deshaun Watson and Patrick Mahomes. It would be an incredible feat if the Patriots could keep these numbers up for the entirety of the season.

[vertical-gallery id=72662]