Which Patriots Team Has the Better Potential Offense: 2007 or 2012?

[bosoxlover12]

This was being debated on ESPN Boston, and I thought it was a very interesting topic to think about.


You have the 2007 Patriots offense. One of, if not, the best offenses of all time, and statistically won't be matched for a while.

You have Tom Brady, throwing 50 TD passes, an NFL record.
You got Randy Moss with 98 catches and almost 1500 yards, with the addition to the NFL record 23 TD receptions. He was the most feared WR in the NFL at the time
Wes Welker caught 112 catches that season for 1175 yards too.

They also set the records for most points in a season (589), highest point differential (+315), most 1st Downs (391), and most TDs (75).

They usually spread the ball out, with Welker, Moss, Stallworth, and then two of the following: Gaffney, Watson, Faulk, Maroney.

How is it that there could be a better offense?



Coming into the 2012 season, the Patriots looked really deadly. As a team with no deep threat from last years 5284 passing yard team, they signed Brandon Lloyd, a speedy WR with exceptionally good hands and field awareness. With Welker, Gronkowski, Hernandez, and now Lloyd, New England's only real concern, if it was even considered a concern, was the running game. With last year's starter Benjarvus Green-Ellis off to Cincinatti, most expected Brady to eclipse last year's passing numbers, since of the added talent of Lloyd.

But the running game has actually been extremely good, led by 2nd year player Stevan Ridley, as NE is 3rd in total rushing offense and 1st in rushing TDs. While its definitely obvious that a lot of that success is from defenses playing in sub packages to try to not let Brady have his, the run game is getting theirs. It creates a lot of mismatches for the defense: do they try to stop the successful run game by putting an extra LB out there, leaving less DBs for Brady, or do they play in the sub package defenses to stop the greatest QB of our generation, and pray that the running game isnt too successful? Its a lose-lose situation for most teams, and it will only get worse for defenses once Hernandez is healthy. Versatility is the epitome of this Patriots team. If we run in our base 2 WR- 2 TE- 1 RB system, with Lloyd, Welker, Gronkowski, Hernandez, and Ridley, we can throw the ball with ease in a spread formation, and we can run the ball hard by bunching both TEs as blockers. And when Edelman gets back, it makes it even harder, because as shown in last year's Playoffs, Aaron Hernandez can have success at a FB/RB position. So we have a 5 receiver spread with Lloyd and Hernandez wide, Welker and Edelman in slots, and Gronk in the middle, and then the next play we can have Hernandez on a pitch with Edelman (our best blocking WR) and Gronk taking the block role. And then we can always substitute Edelman for Wes in the 2-2-1 package from before, and the run game is even more deadly. There are an endless possibility of options that we can do on offense, which is why I'd say our offense in 2012 is deadlier than in 2007.

 

[Elite]

tl;dr

07 Pats

 

[Giantmetfan07]

07 and its not close

 

[BwareDWare94]

There's this strange thing that Pats fans seem to do every year. They try to make some sort of comparison to the 2007 team that was without a doubt the best team in the NFL and the best team the league had seen in several years.

Every team since that 07 team hasn't been nearly as good. They were lucky to reach the Super Bowl last year, and will be lucky if they do this year. I do not fear the Patriots as potential Super Bowl winners.

Stop the comparisons, yo. That 2007 team would trounce this one.

 

[jonathanlambert33]

07

 

[Lake Louise]

Yeah, I'm going with 07 and didn't even have to think about it really.

Patriots are consistently competitive yes, but that 07 team is untouchable.

 

[bosoxlover12]

I was reading an interview with Mike Reiss and Tedy Bruschi about Seattle this week, and they brought up how NE has been way too one-dimensional offensely, which works well if successful.

In '07 most teams couldn't match up with our guys and Brady teed off. Same in '11 as well. But both times, the one weakness broke us apart: a strong line

If the OL isn't in control, we won't do as well. When they are, we are unstoppable. So when the NY Giants know that Brady will be throwing the ball 50 times, there isn't much confusion to what this stellar front 7 needs to do: rush the QB! They went right after the line, who got more tired as the game went on, and therefore they got to Brady.

When you have a running game, it completely changes that. The defenses have to play bigger, which usually means slower, and the pass rush is slowed down too, because they cannot allow big gains up the middle from the RB. By becoming less one dimensional, we in turn become more deadly, because its harder for the defenses to know what we are doing. From 2003-2005, Tom Brady was excellent at the Play Action, because of a strong run game and offensive versatility. That's gone away a little bit, since its guys like Laurence Maroney and Benjarvus Green-Ellis taking the carries, not Kevin Faulk and Corey Dillon.



If the '07 Pats had a run game, it'd be clearly them. But they got stopped because they were so one dimensional, and that's why I feel '12 >

 

[footballplaya52]

07, it's not even a conversation.

 

[bosoxlover12]

I still fail to see how its not a conversation.


If 07 was such a perfect team, we would have gone 19-0. And it wasn't our defense that let us down in XLII, it was the offense. The Giants DL straight up beat us, because we were too one-dimensional.


And now we aren't. We have a good running game, which will keep the defenses balanced. And no, we don't have Randy Moss. But Lloyd has great hands and awareness to know exactly where he is, and where he needs to put his body to stay in bounds. You have Mr. Versatility, Aaron Hernandez, who's agile and quick enough to be a WR, but plays TE, so he creates numerous amounts of mismatches, plus his ability to be effective in the backfield and PR game as well. And then you have the beast known as Gronk, who when healthy is almost impossible to stop due to his freakish stature. We have a lot more options now than we did back then.

 

[youngguru]

tl;dr

07 Pats

lol this

 

[Steez]

THIS IS THE STUPIDEST QUESTION I'VE EVER BEEN ASKED.