Why it’s so difficult to cover Wes Welker In this play Welker runs one of his patented inside / out routes. He is lined up outside of Gronkowski with Drayton Florence covering him 5 yards off the LOS. After the snap Gronkowski runs straight up the field taking two defenders with him. As he clears out the middle Welker runs what looks to be a quick crossing route. Florence jumps the route and Welker cuts back to the outside. Florence falls as he tries to change direction with Welker leaving Welker wide open. The two keys to the play are Gronkowski taking his two defenders up the field leaving Welker one on one. Welker then does what he does best by using his quickness to beat Florence. Things to note from the screen shots I took. First is the Bills rush 4 and drop 7 into coverage.
Nice. I think teams will decide to cover Welker better but hopefully for the Pats that means someone else will be open. Can't wait for Hernandez to get healthy.
That is a classic Zig out pattern, not crossing pattern. Gronk taking two out is of prime importance, but how he takes out the two defenders also dictates how Welker cuts. If one defender stays honest, sealing outside, then Welker has all of the inside for the taking. In here, Drayton bit hard on the Gronk inside, leaving Welker wide open in the outside. This only works if 1. the WR has the ungodly quickness (that Welker has, unfortunately) and 2. QB and WR on the same page throughout the entire play (and Brady and Welker are rarely off the mark, again unfortunately.)
I know that. I said he ran inside as if he was running a crossing pattern and that's what Florence bit on.
Welker wastes no time getting into his route. Against Oakland he was flying through their zone coverage into open space. Our OC should take a look at some of the routes Welker runs.
There's an answer to your question, and you yourself can answer it, if you just keep reading it over and over and realize what it is
Nice post.. Welker doens't stand out like a Calvin Johnson would, but he's such a perfectionist and sets defenses up so perfectly that he's just as effective. If the Jets don't just put Revis on him this week he will cause some major problems, obviously.
this guy is the biggest pain in the ass ever. revis needs to be on him 70% of the game, and perhaps put revis on gronk a bit.
"And then he said,' Our OC should take a look at some of the routes Welker runs.' Can you believe that shit?"
Is that true? (I mean, I assume it is). Perception is everything, so I just remember him making the Jets D look bad, and when you basically GAVE him to the fucking Pats, I was pissed.
Here's the Welker TD on their opening drive of the Oakland game First notice how far off the DB is from Welker. It's about 8 yards. Welker is going to run a quick out. Notice Ochocinco runs a quick slant causing interference. Brady after a 3 step drop gets rid of the ball quickly - even before Ochocinco runs interference. Welker catches the ball and uses his speed to get to the pylon before being knocked out of bounds. It's another example of how they work to get the ball to Welker in open space.
Huge game for Wilson this week. He is the key to stopping Welker not Revis. We might put Revis on him some of the time but I feel Revis will be covering Branch most of the game and Cro on Ochocinco. Its going to be up to Wilson Strick and our safeties/lbs to cover Welker. Got to try and hit him off the line and screw up his timing.
Really cool stuff. Wish I could watch every game with plays broken down like this, would be insanely enlightening.
