TEs help bring balance to offense
August, 13, 2010
8/13/10
10:00
AM ET
By
Mike Reiss | ESPNBoston.com
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- The Patriots are the only team in the NFL to not have a tight end return from the 2009 season. They've wiped the slate clean.
Thursday's preseason opener offered the first glimpse of the new look at tight end -- with veteran Alge Crumpler and rookies Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez -- and while this wasn't a game-planning situation, the usage of tight ends seemed like a high priority for the coaching staff.
The heavy tight-end presence showed how the position can bring balance to an offense. While the chunk yardage still came in the passing game -- 67 of the 93 yards on the initial touchdown march were through the air -- the tight ends played an important role in helping open holes in the running game.
Here is the breakdown of positional groupings from the preseason opener, which show that the Patriots had two or more tight ends on the field on 40 of their 67 snaps:
2 TE/2 WR/1 RB -- 30 of 67
3 WR/1 TE/1 RB -- 27 of 67
1 WR/3 TE/1 RB -- 8 of 67
1 WR/2 TE/1 FB/1 RB -- 2 of 67
Thursday's preseason opener offered the first glimpse of the new look at tight end -- with veteran Alge Crumpler and rookies Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez -- and while this wasn't a game-planning situation, the usage of tight ends seemed like a high priority for the coaching staff.
The heavy tight-end presence showed how the position can bring balance to an offense. While the chunk yardage still came in the passing game -- 67 of the 93 yards on the initial touchdown march were through the air -- the tight ends played an important role in helping open holes in the running game.
Here is the breakdown of positional groupings from the preseason opener, which show that the Patriots had two or more tight ends on the field on 40 of their 67 snaps:
2 TE/2 WR/1 RB -- 30 of 67
3 WR/1 TE/1 RB -- 27 of 67
1 WR/3 TE/1 RB -- 8 of 67
1 WR/2 TE/1 FB/1 RB -- 2 of 67
Mike Reiss
Patriots reporter, ESPNBoston.com- Covered Patriots since 1997
- Blogging on Pats since 2004
- Joined ESPNBoston.com in 2009
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Mike Reiss
Mike Reiss first started covering the Patriots in 1997 with the team's official newspaper, Patriots Football Weekly, before moving on to the MetroWest Daily News in his hometown of Framingham. From 2005 to 2009, he covered the Patriots for The Boston Globe, while also writing on the NFL. He started his popular Patriots blog in 2004. Send any questions or comments for Mike to his mailbag. Follow him on Twitter here.
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