Womens Phillip Dorsett Jersey , the New England Patriots play their fourth and final game of the season against an AFC South opponent. In order for the team to improve its record against the division to 3-1, both sides of the football need to play a disciplined game against a Tennessee Titans team that fields one of the best defenses in the NFL and an offense that may not sit atop the statistical leaderboards but has still helped win four games so far this season.Let’s find out what the Patriots have to do to beat them.Be disciplined in the front sevenTennessee has one of the NFL’s most balanced offensive attacks: led by running backs Dion Lewis and Derrick Henry as well and quarterback Marcus Mariota, the team has not shied away from turning to its ground game to get the offense going — and the Patriots need to be ready for it as well today. Being disciplined up front in terms of technique and gap integrity therefore has to be a key for New England: the team can neither allow Lewis and company to get to the perimeter nor to open up lanes for Mariota to exploit as a ball carrier. If that happens and the Titans have to turn primarily to their inconsistent passing game to generate yards, the Patriots’ chances of winning should look good. Don’t be afraid to go for the home runEven though safety Kevin Byard is one of the better players in the NFL at his position, New England should not be afraid to challenge Tennessee deep — especially on the side of the field where Malcolm Butler is lining up. While Butler is not as bad a player this year as his statistics suggest, the Patriots knows his weaknesses as well as anybody and should use this knowledge to their advantage. Trying to get a physically imposing player like Josh Gordon in one-on-one situations against Butler should be a goal for the team, and one that could field results.Win in the red zoneTennessee’s offense is one of the least productive in the NFL when it comes to scoring points, but it has still found some success in the red zone this season. Meanwhile, the team’s defense is arguably the best in the league at keeping teams from scoring touchdowns when backed up. Safe to say that the red area will therefore be a deciding factor of today’s game: if the Patriots offense can overcome its inconsistencies in this part of the field and the defense can continue following its bend-don’t-break principles, the team will have a successful day. I’ve noticed a lot of hand-wringing in the comment section as the Patriots over-looked Rob Gronkowski’s successor in the 2019 NFL Draft.Simply put Youth Dont’a Hightower Jersey , Rob Gronkowski is a generational talent and no..."WhitePatriots News Opinion and Analysis Contribute! FanPostsFanShotsAbout the Site List of Patriots Twitter AccountsWrite For Pats Pulpit!New User Welcome and Commenting GuideCommunity GuidelinesMastheadTopics Patriots Off-Season CoveragePatriots Opinion/AnalysisPatriots NewsPatriots Draft CoverageSportfolio ManagementPatriots Opinion/AnalysisThe New England Patriots Will Never Have a Tight End Like Rob Gronkowski New,45commentsEDTShareTweetShareShareThe New England Patriots Will Never Have a Tight End Like Rob Gronkowski I’ve noticed a lot of hand-wringing in the comment section as the Patriots over-looked Rob Gronkowski’s successor in the 2019 NFL Draft.Simply put, Rob Gronkowski is a generational talent and no one will ever replace what he did for this franchise.Here is a list of everyone I could find that has lined up at Tight End for the Patriots since 2000.The guys that Bill Belichick has chosen to be good enough for his team.One name I omitted, Cameron Fleming, was an offensive tackle that spent a good deal of time as a blocking TE when Rob Gronkowski was injured.Also there have been other O-linemen like Nate Solder that have taken snaps at the position.I’m also leaving out LB Mike Vrabel even if it pains me to do so, because he wasn’t here as a Tight End.He was just damned good at it.Patriots TEsNameStartEndGGSGS/GmTargetTgt/GmRecRec/GmCatch%YardsY/CLongTDTD/GmNameStartEndGGSGS/GmTargetTgt/GmRecRec/GmCatch%YardsY/CLongTDTD/GmIgnoring the sheer bulk of snaps in which Rob Gronkowski shadows all others, you can simply look at contributions based on games played.Gronkowski stands head and shoulders above the rest.Not that starting games means much under Bill Belichick, but Gronk was on the field for the first offensive snap 87% of the time.The next closest TE was Daniel Graham at 78%.Gronk was targeted 6.90 times per game on average.The next closest TE was Aaron Hernandez at 6.84 times.Again Hernandez and Gronkowskit top the most receptions per game at 4.61 and 4.53 respectively.When you look at yards per catch, the top name is Daniel Fells with only 4 receptions at 21.3 YPC.Number 2 is Rob Gronkowski at 15.1 YPC.Finally, looking at TDs per game Dont’a Hightower Jersey Stitched , Rob Gronkowski is at a 69% rate (of course he is), and the next closest is again Aaron Hernandez at 47%.Before Gronk and Hernandez, here is what an average Patriots Tight End had for production:Patriots TEs BG (Before Gronk)GGSGS/GmTargetTgt/GmRecRec/GmCatch%YardsY/CLongTDTD/GmGGSGS/GmTargetTgt/GmRecRec/GmCatch%YardsY/CLongTDTD/GmThe Patriots have averaged 3 Tight Ends per year on the roster, so each was targeted an average of 2 times for 6 TE targets.That’s below Gronks target average alone.Those three TEs, would average 48% TD/Gm, which is also below Gronk’s average.In addition those TE’s would average 11.2 YPC, which is almost 4 yards less than Gronk’s average.So let’s look at TEs that were concurrent with Gronk and Hernandez (where applicable).Patriots TEs IGA (In Gronk Era)GGSTargetTgt/GmRecRec/GmCatch%YardsY/CLongTDTD/GmGGSTargetTgt/GmRecRec/GmCatch%YardsY/CLongTDTD/GmAgain Patriots averaged 3 Tight Ends per year on the roster, but Gronk and Hernandez were two of them for a time.You notice the targets for the other TEs only dropped 0.7 per game.The receptions per game only dropped 0.4 per game.Catch percentage went up 3%, YPC went up 0.6 yards, likely because Gronk was the bigger target for the defense.Also the TD’s per game went down 6% as Gronk saw the bulk of those targets.The Patriots never had a Tight End remotely close to Gronk before Gronk Youth Donald Trump Jerseys , and the only one to come close to matching his production was concurrent with Gronk.Could Aaron Hernandez have put up his numbers without Gronk on the field?We’ll never know.In all likelihood, the New England Patriots will never have a Tight End like Rob Gronkowski again.Considering he was the best Tight End in the NFL, neither will anyone else.And that’s ok.The Patriots will change their offense like they’ve always done to put the best 11 players on the field at one time.One of those players will not be Rob Gronkowski, and we’ll learn to live with that as we see what the 2019 Patriots Offense looks like.It might be scary good or scary bad.We don’t know, and uncertainty sucks.All I know is during the Belichick years, the Patriots are 4-1 in Super Bowls without Gronkowski and 2-2 in Super Bowls with him.They’ll find a way, but it looks like that won’t be by cloning Rob Gronkowski.More likely it will be moving the offense in a different direction entirely.I guess we’ll have to watch on Sundays and see exactly what that means.