I agree. Bellichick would not allow his team to lose 3 in a row and they haven't in a long, long time. I'm just happy that there are teams that still pose a thread to them, but the same is said about the Jets. The schedules are not easy for either team.
I think just doubling branch would have worked in Seattle. He is back in New England and happy to have the one quarterback that made him look like a superstar throwing to him again. He is re-energized and is playing better than he has played since he left for Seattle in what year was it 03? 04? either way, you can't do that anymore, he will make us pay.
[*I didn't read through this entire thread, so pardon me if someone already said this*] I think I know what you're saying, and if I interpreted correctly, then yeah I agree. If the plan is to blitz Brady, then we need to do it early and consistently. That doesn't necessarily mean we should blitz every pass-play, but we should do it early and enough that it unsettles Brady to prevent him from establishing any type of rhythm. In the past, this has worked as his discomfort has forced errant throws, his accuracy not as precise as it normally is for him. Furthermore, if we are gonna blitz him, then Rex & Pettine need to sell out and send the house on the blitzes -- none of this 4or5 man blitz because that hasn't been very effective against other Offenses and QBs, so Brady will carve it up. Send more blockers than the Pats can block and hurry him. I guess the danger in this are the screens and quick-passes-turned-big-plays in the open field since most of the Front 7 will be attacking. Not sure if it's a wise gamble, but maybe the only way we'll pressure and rattle Brady. In my daydreams for the past week, Rex has had some sort of crazy scheme that neither Belichick nor the League has seen yet, and his plan has been to unveil it in this game. I think he's too creative and has too much pride in his D that he would allow the NFL to dissect it this past Offseason and find a way to beat it. I'm really really hoping that he introduces something way out-of-the-box that totally stumps Brady and Belichick.
does anyone actually remember what happened last time we played the pats? We were heavy blitz in the 1st half and got burned, then we switched it up and didn't blitz nearly as much in the 2nd half (which we dominated). the key is giving him different looks, but we did very well dropping a few extra guys back on certain downs (usually by simulating pressure). It completely threw them out of their rhythm because they were expecting us to blitz constantly
Yeah, I remember. I assume if Revis was still in playing, we might have lost. Because he was out, we pretty much stopped the blitz and went zone (?). It worked and we should continue it against Brady. Though if its 3rd and long, go ahead and blitz.
Eh, I think this time around, if we sit back in zone and/or don't pressure Brady, then he'll just continually complete passes and move the chains by efficiently throwing to targets who aren't guarded by Revis and Cro.
Revis can cover anybody. I think Cro would have more trouble covering smurfs like Welker. Even Branch might be an issue for him. I see Wilson on Branch, and Cro on one of the TE's (Hernadez or Gronkowski).
I don't get the "Cro is limited!" take. He has his strengths, and those might argue for putting him in certain matchups. But he leads the team in interceptions, and more to the point has not looked bad for any games this year. Not saying they will not put him on a TE. I just think he's more likely to go on Branch.
Put Revis on Welker and Cro on Hernandez if they split him out wide/slot. I think a combination of Coleman and Wilson on old man Branch will suffice. Gronkioskwizckwky can easily get matched up with Scott, Leonhard or *gulp* Smith since he's not very fast. Our only problem I see is their backfield when they go 4-wide. That lil' fuck back there will get his yards. He won't beast it or win them the game, but he'll get his yards.
Cro gets burned on quick juke receivers. He's gotten better at it as the year's gone on, but there were some horrible plays when he got faked out of his Nike's on a double move. Welker would eat him alive. I'd rather see him on Hernandez than Welker. He's at least big enough to jam him at the line.
I think the Pats ability to run the ball is going to sneak up on a lot of you guys- the combo of Woodhead and BJGE seems like the best threat on the ground we've had since the days of Corey Dillon, so I wouldn't be surprised if the Pats really try to pound the ball and use a lot of draws to offset blitzes that are intended just to kill Brady as fast as possible. If the Patriots can continue to run as effectively as they have been the past month I think that helps a ton. Also, as weird as this sounds to you guys and as blindly biased as I sound, I really do think the Pats offense is harder to defend since Moss was let go. Moss actually killed the Patriots in week 2 even though all anyone remembers is his incredible one handed catch, but that whole game kind of summed up what is wrong with him. Unbelievable athleticism, very questionable competitiveness and consistency. He was targeted something like 10 times in the second half and 2 of those passes where picked while almost the rest were incompletions. By the end Moss was only running deep routes so effectively a defense always knew what was coming with him, whereas Branch is willing to run much more precise option routes. Since week 2 when Brady was picked off twice on deep balls where it appeared Moss gave up early, he's only thrown 2 picks with one being on a hail mary attempt. Getting pressure on any qb is always how you win, but this time I think the Pats can be more confident in running the ball and with a more precise, more innovate offense they might be in better shape to get the ball out to the open receiver more quickly. Don't forget that with the return of sociopath Logan Mankins the offensive line has been playing at a very high level too lately.
I don't doubt that any of this could happen, but we would actually welcome it. We're far better off playing the run than the pass. So if Beli wants to pull a Schotty...so be it.
I don't want to see anyone strictly covering a receiver/TE all game. I think Revis will be on welker mainly but I'm expecting a lot of zone or a shallow cover 2
Michael Kay just had Revis on and briefly asked him about what Rex had said the other day, which was that Revis will cover Hernandez on some plays. Revis confirmed it, saying he covered Gates on some of the plays against SD in the Playoffs last year. *edit* If that's going to happen, I don't understand why Rex would divulge that info?
I listened to the whole interview and I think you misunderstood something. The only thing Rex said was that Revis won't be covering Randy Moss. Then Kay brought up NWE's tight ends and how they're a big part of the offense, leading into whether or not we could/will see Revis on Hernandez or Gronk. Revis said he's done it before when covering Gates against the Chargers in the playoffs. Basically, he said he has the ability to cover them but if he will/won't people will find out on Monday night. Jets/Ryan haven't given out ANYTHING regarding the defensive scheme despite the constant prodding by the media. Unless I missed something.. going back to my point a few posts above, the Jets are probably keeping the defensive matchups under covers because they don't plan on locking specific DB/WR matchups. I reckon they'll be in zones or changing up the matchups throughout the game depending on the situation.
Oh, I thought Kay said that Rex said yesterday (or the day before) that Revis would be matched up on Hernandez, and then Kay asked Revis if that would be unusual, and then Revis gave that response. Maybe I heard it wrong. You're probably right.
