Patriots Rookie Pierre Strong: Special Teams Snafu Became Costly Lesson
FOXBORO — Few teams, if any, in the National Football League place a greater premium on special teams than the New England Patriots.
Therefore, when a Patriot commits a mistake in the game’s all-important third phase, its reverberation is felt from the northern tip of Aroostook County, Maine to the southern shores of Westerly, Rhode Island.
Following a crucial stop on 3rd and 14 early in the fourth quarter of their Thanksgiving night matchup with the Minnesota Vikings, Pats rookie Pierre Strong, Jr. assertively attempted to block the kick from Vikings’ punter Ryan Wright on 4th and 3. However, Strong made contact with Wright’s right leg and drew a penalty for running into the kicker.
The infraction advanced Minnesota five yards, and provided them with a fresh set of downs. Three plays later, Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins found wide receiver Adam Theilen for the go-ahead scoring strike, securing a 33-26 victory over the Pats at U.S. Bank Stadium.
Though labeling Strong's penalty as the make-or-break moment of Thursday night’s game may be a bit melodramatic, it certainly had a big impact on its outcome.
Shortly after the game’s conclusion, Strong addressed held himself accountable for the miscue on the attempted block
“Bad play by me,” he said. “I’ve got to learn from it and grow from it. So it’s on me.”
While Strong’s admission shows a degree of maturity, the blame should not be placed entirely on his shoulders. The decision to aggressively rush the punter on a short-yardage fourth down is inherently risky. When considering that reigning Specials Teams Player of the Week Marcus Jones was back to field it, along with the fact that the Patriots offense had moved the ball well throughout the game, assigning Strong to a pressure role becomes a bit more presumptuous than audacious.
Still, Patriots special teams’ coach Cam Achord is standing by his ‘strike first’ approach to calling the plays for his coverage teams.
"We never want to be too conservative,” Achord told reporters on Saturday via video conference. “ I tell our guys all the time, I'm not ever going to call the game to just go out there and be another phase ... they know they're out there to make plays. They're not just out there to get the ball back."
In this instance, however, aggression took both the ball, and the control away from New England.
Strong’s penalty was merely the curdled icing on the dry cake-like performance by the unit. A handful of hasty missed tackles and blocks allowed Vikings’ returner Kene Nwangwu to make a cut to the outside and down the sideline for a 97-yard kickoff return-for-touchdown. As a result, Minnesota tied the game within mere seconds after the Pats had taken a 23-16 lead to open the third quarter.
Much like Strong’s mistake, Nwangwu’s scoring return significantly swung the pendulum of momentum in Minnesota’s favor.
With a pivotal showdown against the Buffalo Bills set for Thursday, Dec. 1, New England must attempt to find the proper balance between being proactive and level-headed. The 8-3 Bills are among the most complete teams in the NFL. As a result, field position will be crucial in determining the game’s outcome. Special teams captain Matthew Slater stressed the importance of remaining stabilized in the team’s approach to practice this week.
“We feel like we let the team down with our performance,” Slater said after the game. “I always tell guys, ‘You’ve got to stay here’ when things are going well. That you can’t get too far ahead of yourself and start celebrating. And then when you have nights like tonight, you have to try to keep moving forward and not get too down. We’ve got a big one coming up this week, and we have to be ready.”
The Pats and Bills are set for an 8:15 p.m. ET kickoff from Gillette Stadium.
Follow Mike D’Abate on Twitter @mdabateNFL and Listen/Subscribe to his daily podcast: Locked On Patriots
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