5 Biggest Difference Makers For the 2014 Patriots

Steve Balestrieri

Dec 30, 2014 at 8:59am ET

Follow @SteveB7SFG

Dont'a Hightower has given the Patriots an outstanding 2014 at LB. (USA TODAY Images)

The 12-4 Patriots have home field advantage throughout the playoffs and won’t have to travel again unless they make it to Glendale, Arizona. With the season in the books, it is time to take a look at 5 of the Biggest Difference Makers for the 2014 season.

Putting this list together started two weeks ago and was difficult as there are many worthy candidates to be on the slate. So we’ll start at the #5 position and work forward.

#5 Dont’a Hightower:
Right around the mid-point of 2013, many were calling the big 6’3, 270 linebacker from Alabama a bust. Not anymore. Hightower unfairly was singled out last season for poor play but was solid, especially down the stretch for the Patriots as they advanced to the AFC Championship Game.

The 2014 season has been a big success for Hightower as everything has really come together in his third season. Once again Jerod Mayo went down with a season ending injury at MLB forcing Hightower to assume not only Mayo’s spot in the middle but becoming the quarterback of the defense and calling all of the plays while wearing the “green dot” helmet with the communication device.

This season, not only has Hightower filled in, but excelled. No longer trying to process all of the information for the defense, it has become second nature and he’s been much more instinctive. At 270 pounds once Hightower gets moving, he’s a physical, downhill presence in the running game, able to disrupt things at the point of attack.

And his coverage skills, not his strongest suit, have improved. Hightower has also become a skilled blitzer, something he did more of at Alabama as he and Jamie Collins have become quite adept at the A-Gap pressure up the middle. The Patriots defense is much improved in 2014 and Hightower has played at a Pro-Bowl level.

Julian Edelman remains Tom Brady's go-to guy and the Patriots movable piece on offense. (USA TODAY Images)

Edelman remains Tom Brady’s go-to guy and his favorite receiver in 2014. Despite sitting out the last two games with assorted thigh and concussion ailments, Edelman turned in some outstanding numbers, 92 receptions, 972 yards with four touchdowns. He also added in 25 punt returns for 299 yards with one touchdown with a long of 84 yards. But in reality, Edelman, who rarely calls for a fair catch is a threat to take it to the house on every return.

Edelman is always the guy doing the dirty work, the short crossing routes, the wide receiver screens, the occasional Jet sweep out of the backfield and while far from the biggest guy at 5’10, 200, he’s taken some tremendous shots but keeps coming back for more.

Unfairly labeled as a slot receiver, because he’s white, not tremendously fast nor the biggest guy, Edelman is much more. The Patriots have moved him around the field in a variety of positions this season. As an “X”, “Z”, as well as the slot and in the backfield, Edelman is a lynchpin for success for the New England offense.

The Patriots were the #4 scoring offense in the NFL in 2014 with 468 points, prior to Edelman sitting out, they were right at the top of the heap. With him healthy and rested going into the divisional round of the playoffs, the team is ready to take off.

Tom Brady silenced the critics with a Pro Bowl and a possible MVP type 2014 season. (USA TODAY Images)

We all remember the nightmare of 2013, Wes Welker and Brandon Lloyd gone, Gronk hurt and the man that shall not be named resting in jail on murder charges just about six weeks before training camp started.

Did the offense and Brady struggle with three rookie receivers (Aaron Dobson, Kenbrell Thompkins and TE Zach Sudfeld), on the field? Of course they did, but Brady willed them to bye and the AFC Championship Game while throwing to an old, beat-up Austin Collie and Matthew Mulligan as well as STs player Matthew Slater.

Brady heard the “in decline” nonsense and grew to a crescendo when the team got off to a 2-2 start and suffered a blowout in KC on Monday Night Football. But that’s when the team and Brady rallied, won 10 of their next 11 and started lighting up the rest of the league.

Brady’s numbers in 2014, 373 – 582, 4109 yards, 33 touchdowns, nine INTs and a QB rating of 97.4. And along the way, the team ran a second half gauntlet of tough games where they went 5-1 and blew out Indy, Denver and Detroit. Hardly the stuff of a QB in decline.

The Patriots offense ended up as the #4 scoring unit in the NFL and this was despite not having the usual, solid ground game in 2014. The team’s leading ground gainer, Jonas Gray had 402 yards rushing. Brady shouldered the load and worked a lot of new faces into the Patriots offense.

Through it all, #12 has held down the fort and he’s ready to have a big post season as the team plays from the friendly confines of Gillette Stadium. Now reports have surfaced thru Adam Schefter of ESPN that Brady and the Patriots have re-worked his contract to give the team more access to $24 million in funds that can be used for free agency. Ever the team player, and for the 17^th highest paid QB (based on average salary) Brady remains a true bargain.

Darrelle Revis transformed the New England secondary and was among the best cornerbacks in the NFL in 2014. (USA TODAY Images)

Revis turned heads right away at training camp, his mechanics, footwork and work ethic have always been tip-top and he stepped right in and provided blanket coverage from the first day that the pads came on.

But even more so, he integrated himself into the team, there wasn’t any diva attitude of putting himself above the rest of the players. He’s been talked about as a model teammate, showing that during the long rehab of Rob Gronkowski.

As the Gronk slowly worked his way back into shape, he’d work on the side with Tom Brady running routes all alone as rehabbed his knee. It wasn’t long before Revis, slid over and started working with the two of them….providing soft coverage but giving Gronkowski a defender to work against, all the while encouraging him as he caught Brady’s soft lobs during the early days of camp.

It didn’t seem like a big deal, but it was. The other players would frequently watch the goings on and Revis became one of the boys. Team building to Bill Belichick is as important as any stat.  Revis brought the technical skills and Browner brought the physical presence made famous from the “Legion of Boom” in Seattle.

Revis was frequently placed on the opposing team’s best wide receiver and he quickly proved his worth, facing the likes of A.J. Green, Mike Wallace, T.Y. Hilton, Brandon Marshall, Emmanuel Sanders, and more, he was more than up to the challenge.

Jeff Howe from the Boston Herald posted some fantastic stats in a piece he wrote about Revis earlier this week. “Quarterbacks targeting Revis in the regular season were 33 of 76 (43.4 percent) for 523 yards, two touchdowns, four interceptions (two for Revis) and a 53.8 rating. Since Week 8, Revis has held quarterbacks to 15 of 45 (33.3 percent) for 240 yards, one touchdown, three interceptions (one for Revis) and a 31.7 passer rating.”

He’s already been successful against three of the AFC’s playoff teams in Cincinnati, Indianapolis and Denver. The Patriots haven’t faced either the Steelers or the Ravens and each has some fantastic weapons in the passing game.

But whoever the Patriots do face on January 10, they’ll have to realize that their top option in the passing game may be taken away, ….to “Revis Island.”

Rob Gronkowski had a tremendous comeback season for the Patriots and remains the best overall tight end in the game today. (USA TODAY Images)

Gronkowski had a nightmarish two seasons during the 2012-2013 campaigns. A broken arm forced numerous surgeries, and then off-season back surgery last year derailed the start of the season. But even with the rookie faces in the receiving core, the offense took off once he made it back into the lineup. But then a low-hit resulted in a blown out ACL in December and the Patriots were left without him for the playoffs and floundered.

This season started slowly, the team took the safe approach with Gronkowski and he didn’t face contact until the last session in training camp and didn’t play in any of the pre-season games.

As the season got underway, Gronkowski’s snap counts gradually increased, and once he reached full health after the KC game, he and the offense took off. Starting with the Cincinnati game, he was like his old self and he began a tear that brought him to a season total of 82 receptions, 1124 yards and 12 touchdowns.

But Gronkowski brings much more than a simple Fantasy Football numbers guy, he is a true “Force Multiplier”. He makes all the other players on the field with him better and more productive. In many games this season, his presence coming across the middle of the field drew at times three defenders in the red zone, allowing Brady to hit another receiver or simply hand-off to running backs for easy touchdowns where the defenders aren’t even looking back towards the play. That is the respect he draws from opponents.

He is a physical freak, a huge 6’6, 265 target that is too big for safeties to cover 1-on-1 and too fast for linebackers to keep up with. He’s not like other tight ends that are just basically big wide receivers. He’s a devastatingly effective run blocker that can line up in-line or outside and is a mismatch for Brady and the offense to employ.

A fascinating stat on his effect on the Patriots offense stands out: In the four Patriots games where Gronkowski logs 40 or less snaps, the team is 1-3 and averages 18 points per game. In the 12 games where Gronk plays in 40+ snaps, the Patriots are an impressive 11-1 and average 33 points per game.

This will be the first time the team will have a healthy Gronkowski in the playoffs in three years. The 2011 Super Bowl he was hobbled by a bad ankle and was nothing more than a decoy. He missed the playoffs entirely in 2012, and 2013. This season he’s healthy and rested.

It speaks volumes to how valuable the team looks at Gronkowski when he was the only healthy scratch for the regular season finale against Buffalo. He’s the team’s MVP this season and he’s entering the playoffs, healthy, and rested. If you’re the rest of the AFC Playoff teams, be aware that this isn’t going to be the Patriots playoff offense the past few years. The Big Man is back and he’s ready to make his mark in the post-season.

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