Let me first say that, believe it or not, I’m not a defensive coordinator. As a matter of fact, I’m not a coach by any means. I’ve never coached anything related to football with the exception of standing on the sidelines of a few flag football games. Also, I’m quite the fantasy football manager. All that aside, I’d like to take issue with how teams seem to be “defending” the Patriots this year.
I’ve watched a few Pats games this year, including the Eagles and Ravens close calls in the past couple of weeks and I’ve noticed a few trends. First of all, no one can cover this team in the secondary. Just look at the personnel they are throwing on the field. Randy Moss (usually double-covered, Wes Welker (single-covered), Donte Stallworth (catches the deep ball occasionally), Ben Watson at TE, and Lawrence Maroney is a great receiving RB. How do you cover these guys. Stallworth was the Eagles #1 WR last year and no one could cover him then. Now he’s matched up with the Nickel-Back or worse when he lines up. So it’s obvious no one can cover their whole team when they execute well.
That being said, if you try to cover the whole team you leave only 3-4 guys rushing the QB against arguably the best offensive line in the game. Fat chance you get to him. As a matter of fact, most games look like an intermural flag football game where the defense is counting to 7 mississippi before they come in and if you give Tom Montana 7 seconds, one of these receivers will break free. So we have impossible coverage and no pass rush, good luck defense. I have a revolutionary idea on how to play effective defense against this team.
Blitz.
Blitz.
Blitz again.
If you can’t cover them anyway, and they score on most posessions, why not put some pressure on the rarely touched QB and force a mistake. If you can’t stop them anyway, why not force them to throw it quick, not allowing Moss and Stallworth to get downfield. If you can’t stop them anyway, why not mess up their timing and make Brady actually move his feet for once. I know your answer, “we might get burned deep”. News flash – YOU’RE GETTING BURNED DEEP ANYWAY, even with 8 guys in coverage.
If you watch these games, Brady doesn’t get hit much, and when he does he really doesn’t like it. He’s not like Favre who gives a defender a helmet-pat if they put a good lick on him. No, he whines to the officials usually. Oh, and usually it causes an incomplete short pass. Maybe even a complete short pass. But very rarely does it result in Brady standing all alone in the backfield waiting for a receiver to get open like a 12 year old in a 2-on-2 touch football game with an all-time QB who can’t run. Because in that situation, Randy Moss or Wes Welker will get open.
Another result here is press coverage, and everyone knows that Moss hates being roughed up at the line. It wears on him over the course of the game and he gets frustrated. When he gets frustrated, he starts taking plays off.
Of course, I really don’t know much about defense in football but the next time you watch a pats game, pay attention to how many guys are rushing the Quarterback and how that affects the results of the play. I bet you will be surprised, though not too surprised since I just told you what to expect.
day has come. Amazon MP3 has announced an agreement with Warner Music Group to make DRM free music available. Amazon has been DRM free from the beginning, but now they get this major label to spice things up a bit. Who’s included?
In response to Curt Schilling’s blog (www.38pitches.com) yesterday, I just wanted to add my 2 cents.
I’m shopping for a new car. The 2000 Ford Escort ZX2 that my wife and I have been driving around is…well…nice enough I guess, but we feel it’s time for an upgrade. Deciding factors on the type of car include price, practicality, appeal to us, gas mileage, size (needs to be big enough to hold things), and the stupid dog. How sad is it that a 40 pound 4-legged animal that wants nothing more than to eat itself sick is factoring into our decision?