3rd Down and 4,Saunders read Brady,Great Play - New England Patriots Forums

italia44 · 01-22-2007, 06:55 PM

Everyone is focused on the Pats drive with 2 plus minutes left.I looked at it a few times and this key play was not so much Brady and Troy Brown,being on the same page,but a great read by Bob Sanders.

The Pats ran the wideout thru the deep middle,hoping
to influence the safety into the deeper route.

Troy Brown in the slot,faked a shallow cross and sat in the zone,just beyond the 1st down line.

He was wide open with the nickel back about a yard behind him.........This is when things went bad.

Brady did not look off the Safety effectively,and also was late in seeing Brown open.

Bob Sanders,who was almost in the MLB position did not follow Caldwell,who crossed behind him,instead reading Brady's eyes,he broke in front of Brown,almost intercepting the pass.

A great read by Sanders.

Brady was late in getting the ball off and Troy Brown,didn't help matters by not drifting slightly to the outside to give TB a better angle on the throw.

This type of "sit-down" route is a staple of OC Mcdaniel's.The problem is that they like to have this ball thrown low,so the DB can't get to the ball.We do this both with the TE's and Receivers.

The thing is other teams know it's one of our favorite routes.Also Brady has to take something off the ball,to make this low throw.

Neither TB or Brown saw Bob Sanders sitting on this route,I think they just assumed he would either come up to support the run or go towards the crossing wideout.Bad mistake.

Regardless,Sanders made a game-changing play.

The Patriots just run this too often......If only they would roll Brady to the right and threaten the DB with the run.This would have allowed Brown to move deeper or block the Safety.

Too slow....Too often.....That was the name of the game,here