Socci's Notebook: Patriots Got The Wright Stuff In The Red Zone
BOSTON (CBS) - Sunday's last waft of hope for the Bears had already dissipated, drifting away along with the smoke created by Gillette Stadium's End Zone Militia, about a minute before Jay Cutler aired it out one last time in the opening half.
The 20 or so minutemen reenactors who fire their muskets after Patriots touchdowns had just discharged their weapons three times in a 57-second span. The last of which followed Rob Ninkovich's fumble return with 0:55 left on the second-quarter clock to put the Patriots ahead, 38-7.
A few plays later, Cutler's throw landed deep downfield in the arms of New England's Darrelle Revis as time expired on the opening half. Midway through their Week 8 encounter, for all intents and purposes, the contest was over.
Not that you'd know it, by all Patriot appearances, when play resumed.
That's when New England, in starting the second half with possession, emptied its backfield, eschewed the huddle and hurried 80 yards in six plays. Though Rob Gronkowski covered the final 46 of those yards on a single play, the Pats drove with precision and purpose.
And even in a lopsided game, a sense of urgency.
In the moment -- or more to the point, in those 2 minutes, 18 seconds -- they were taking nothing for granted.
"I think you've got to still be aggressive," quarterback Tom Brady said in his post-game press conference. "There was a lot of football left. We want to go out and establish some rhythm (ourselves) and we did that on the first drive – it was a great drive."
By tightening the screws on the Bears, it also seemed the Patriots were sharpening their focus.
"Yeah, I think the players did a good job of that," head coach Bill Belichick said the following morning on a media conference call. "We hadn't run a whole lot of empty in the first half. It was something we went into the game with, we thought that it might be a good time to sprinkle it in there and probably something they weren't talking about too much at halftime.
"Really, especially in situations like that, I don't think you focus on the score. You just focus on the next play; just try to play good football, do your assignment, do a good job on each play."
In a sense, the score becomes irrelevant. Execution, of each job on every play, is the objective.
"The message was, 'Don't worry about the score. Just go out there and do your job and play good football,'" Belichick added. "They did a good job. That was a good drive for us."
There's risk in making too much of any single series. Especially considering the Pats punted after four plays on their next possession, before netting field goals on their final two full series.
But from this vantage point in the radio booth, the drive demonstrated several important qualities moving forward. Among the obvious is the ability to spread the field, pick up the pace and prove productive. Particularly with two tight ends, Gronk and Tim Wright, out there. Wright had three catches for 20 yards on the series.
It also revealed -- be forewarned, a cliche coming -- the kind of "killer instinct" and high level of concentration that the best teams possess and many teams lack. En route to a lopsided win, 51-23, it signifies a team clearly on the right track.
WRIGHT STUFF IN RED ZONE
As an NFL rookie with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers last year, Tim Wright counted five touchdowns among his 54 receptions. Since being traded to the Patriots late this preseason, he's recorded three scores in 17 catches.
Each of Wright's touchdowns with New England resulted from a red zone throw by Tom Brady. He's caught a 19-yard strike vs. Cincinnati and a 1-yard toss against both Buffalo and Chicago.
Naturally, the 6-foot-4, 220-pound Wright has physical attributes that make him an attractive end zone target.
"I think Tim's got a lot of things going for him as a receiver," says Belichick. "[He] just gives the quarterback a bigger target. He's got length, he's got good hands, can catch the ball away from his body. He's got quickness and can separate."
Which isn't easy in the tightly-compacted area deep in the opponent's territory.
"The spacing in the red zone for any skilled player certainly is limited, and we try to do a good job of explaining to our players that we're obviously working in a confined area," offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels explained during a Tuesday conference call. "The defense doesn't have as much room to cover. They don't have to worry about the ball being thrown over their head 40, 50 yards down the field, so the safeties are tighter, the coverage is tighter, [and] the windows are smaller."
"[Tim] doesn't need a lot of space to get open," Belichick continues. "[He] doesn't need to build up his speed and all that; he can get in and out of breaks pretty quickly."
There's more to what Wright does with his body. He also has the mind for a role that requires exploiting small openings that don't last long.
"He's a smart guy and he has a good understanding of the passing game," Belichick adds.
"Things happen fast in the red zone," Wright says. "Coaches call great plays and we know that on a particular play there's a particular detail you have to do real fast because it's the red zone. Especially inside the five (yard line), because everybody's crossing or whatever.
"The margin of error is critical. If it's one split-second off, the whole play can shift, just like that."
Therefore, attention to the tiniest details, learned through experience, makes all the difference between scoring a touchdown and settling for a field goal.
"Our execution and our attention to detail and our readiness for the ball in the passing game, if it's a receiver running a pass route, need to be that much better," McDaniels says. "Our execution down there really determines the results."
Wright's recent execution has resulted from extra time invested in the many variations of the offense -- both the Patriots' and their upcoming opponent's.
"Tim works hard. He's always one of the first guys in, works hard on the practice field, takes a lot of scout team reps and that's been good for him, too," Belichick said, before pointing out that Wright also benefits greatly from his frequent work in practice simulating opposing tight ends.
"I take a lot of pride in doing a lot of extra work on my own," Wright says. "Especially since I'm new here. [Learning] the different details [we] have to offer in each route, it just takes repetition."
Bob Socci is the radio play-by-play voice of the New England Patriots. You can follow him on Twitter @BobSocci.
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