New England Patriots Week 13 By The Numbers
It’s time to take a look at some interesting statistics following the New England Patriots 23-16 victory over the Miami Dolphins on Sunday.
1. According to The Pro Football Focus, Jerod Mayo allowed just two receptions for eight yards in a tidy game of coverage and had three quarterback disruptions. Mayo has been great when given the chance to rush the passer, and he finished with a sack today and a few other solid pressures. With six tackles, Mayo tied for the team lead with cornerback Kyle Arrington.
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2. PFF also notes that 55 of Aaron Hernandez’s 97 receiving yards came after the catch, which is an outstanding total for a tight end. Heck, it just goes to show you that Hernandez isn’t your normal tight end. That more than makes up for the two drops he had in this one.
3. PFF also notes that Stevan Ridley missed six tackles, Ryan Tannehill was 1-7 when blitzed, and Wes Welker now has 11 drops on the season to tie the league. However, he’s also caught so many passes that his drop rate is outside the top ten (13th, to be exact).
4. Ryan Tannehill threw just four passes on short and intermediate routes toward the middle of the field and just two of them were completed.
5. Tom Brady was 9-12 on throws to the left side of the field with Wes Welker turning in four of those passes into receptions for 31 yards. Oh, and Welk was also targeted four times for a 100% catch rate. He caught two-thirds of everything thrown at him overall.
6. Vince Wilfork owned the interior, and he led the Patriots with a 5.5 EPA on the strength of three tackles and a forced fumble. He also provided some decent pressure on Tannehill as well, in addition to his work in run defense.
7. The Patriots offensive line allowed a whopping six hits on Tom Brady and paved the way for little success on the ground. The left side of the line was fine, with Nate Solder in particular being great as a run blocker. But Nick McDonald was terrible as a replacement to the injured Dan Connolly (hope he comes back soon, things fell apart when he left). Sebastian Vollmer is clearly not healthy, and he was horrible in all facets of the game. I know it isn’t easy going up against Cameron Wake (maybe the best pass rusher in the game), but you’d expect more out of the game’s best right tackle.
8. Brady attempted six deep passes but never completed a single one of them. He had a successful play on just half of the throws he attempted and finished with a mediocre 53.5 TQBR.
9. The New England Patriots averaged just under ten yards per reception.
10. The Pats were actually outgained by the Dolphins on a per-play basis 4.7 to 4.2, but they also converted third downs at a much higher rate (7-15 to 3-13) and ran more plays (76 to 59) with 40 yards less in penalty yards (still mad at Chris Clemons for some reason).
11. Tannehill had a terrible 14.3 TQBR and completed a little under 45% of his passes on the afternoon (66.2 QB Rating).
You can follow Joe Soriano on Twitter @SorianoJoe.