This Breakdown of Brandin Cooks is Pure Patriots Porn
I suppose the fact that on a Friday of the best long weekend of the year I’m mining the Internet for Patriots videos can be taken as a cry for help. But in the words of Norman Dale, I apologize for nothing.
This video just dropped breaking down Brandin Cooks’ 2016 season from a guy who reviewed all of his 117 targets, and it is pure Patriots Porn. Granted, this guy looks at players from a Fantasy perspective, but there’s still a mother lode of real world scheme stuff here that I feel in my soon-to-be-drunk plums. And there is never a wrong time for this.
Consider this graphic. I seen enough about Cooks’ game to know he was one of the most prolific deep-ball threats in football, with the most catches on balls that traveled over 20 yards in the air and without a single drop. But these numbers on short and intermediate routes are Baldwinesque:
His 4.3 speed speaks for itself as he blows past Oakland’s Sean Smith then widens the gap on the safety post-catch until he looks like the Road Runner:
… And even though the Patriots’ offense is way less predicated on Go routes than it is on Combos and Crosses, here we see how the corners have to respect his speed, which opens up space for the guy coming across the deep middle:
… But for all his speed, the Patriots have never been whores to the stopwatch. Their priority is precision route-running, timing and being on the same page at the quarterback. Which is what makes this double move he puts on Carolina, breaking at exactly the same time Drew Brees plants his foot, boner material:
… Especially coming off a Super Bowl where Atlanta crossed the McOffense up for three quarters by overplaying the middle of the field and forcing them to look to the numbers and sidelines. Successfully. But by adding a 23-year-old rocket sled who runs crisp routes and has a playlist of moves, no one is going to have that luxury.
And one of the things I appreciate the most about this video is it points out his shortcomings. He’s not Superman. He’s not Larry Fitzgerald. OK, he can get jammed. Contested passes aren’t a strong suit. We can all live with that because they have guys who defeat those things like it’s their job. (Is.)
So I have no regrets I’m posting this today of all days. Because Brandin Cooks gives everyone in New England one more thing to thank their country for this 4th of July. God shed His grace on thee.