Fencer

Sometimes, you get out-gameplanned. You'd like to be able to win anyway in the games where that happens.

One way to win is to have a simple offensive option you can turn to that is likely to work against most defenses. In the past, I've felt is if the shotgun/spread was that option for the Patriots. Is it really? Do they need a smashmouth option as well?

About the simplest offensive scheme I recall working in the modern era was the one Carolina rode to the Super Bowl -- pound the ball, and occasionally take shots deep. That doesn't seem to be a good match for the Patriots' personnel. Maybe a 3-TE alternative would work? I guess it would help if BJGE were a more compelling presence in the passing game, even as a poor man's Dillonesque blocker ...

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"To lose one parent may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose both looks like carelessness." -- Oscar Wilde

Snake Eyes

"No plan survives the first contact with the enemy" - some General in history

I would think that it makes sense to have multiple plans, the Army has plans for Canada invading the US, it's beyond unlikely to happen but it's a good intellectual exercise for students and if their ideas are good they're kept on file just in case.

In general I believe in having a team that's capable of adapting and doing what's needed based on the situation, but you also need to have personell to support that. I'd love to be able to go with smash-mouth football if needed but BB obviously doesn't believe in the FB position despite the success that players like Peyton Hillis and John Koon have had.

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"The secret of steel has always carried with it a mystery, you must learn it's riddle, Conan, you must learn its discipline, for no one in this world can you trust, not men, not women, not beasts...this you can trust"


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upstater1

First off, the Jets even talked about what they were going to do to the Patriots in the press.

They talked about hitting the receivers outside and funneling them inside.

I'm sure the Patriots heard it.

The problem was that the Patriots didn't execute the counter to the strategy, not that they didn't have the counter.

The way to beat a team that disrespects your running game is to run.

But when you give the opponent short fields and make huge blunders, suddenly you abandon the running game--and then what happens?