chris_in_sunnyvale

Talented and well-coached defenses like NYJ, Baltimore and (now, after Sunday's showing) Pittsburgh seem to have the "blueprint" on making Brady struggle: Disguise where the rush is coming from, don't blitz, play man-coverage and hope the confusion causes Brady to hold the ball longer and the rush to get to him, or have him rush his throws into coverage before the receivers can get separation. Teams need to have the talent to pull it off (the Jets might drop off this list as the Pats will counter by rushing the ball down their throats...opening up play-action), but I think this D is effective due to two Pats shortcomings:

1. The receivers don't have the talent to beat their defenders one-on-one in enough time for Brady to get an open throw off. Welker comes closest as he's shifty as heck, but if he's doubled (like Polamalu spent plenty of time doing) then the rest of the guys can be single-covered.

2. Brady is zero threat to run. Brady is disciplined to a fault in that he will move around in the pocket and wait...and wait...and wait...for someone to get open, or the blocking will finally break down and he'll have to hurry the throw or even get sacked. Sometimes he's facing only a 3-man rush, but the 8 guys in coverage are just giving him nowhere to throw. He doesn't require anyone to stay in a short zone to spy on him. The Jets, Ravens and Steelers use this to their advantage.

Since I'm not going to wait around for a set of receivers who can get separation within 2-3 seconds after the snap, I think the Pats should look at addressing the latter issue. I think Brady needs to start taking off downfield more to start pulling in those defenders who otherwise can focus on only the receivers. He doesn't need to turn into Mike Vick. He needs to do it just enough to keep the D honest, which should open up the passing game.

The Pats can even design plays to do this. Actually, they already had in 2008 when Cassel was thrust into the starting role. The Pats used to send Faulk on a pattern up the gut right to the MLB in coverage, then he'd veer off to the side and take the coverage with him. Once the LB moved out of the way, Cassel would sprint up the gut for good yardage. Brady and the Pats should give this play a shot.

The Pats are going to have to get past at least one of these teams in January and are going to have trouble unless they come up with something new to break that stifling man coverage scheme. This would be something new.

Regards,
Chris

alvinnf

Anecdote = Run the frikin ball!

Ron Sellers

I don't know, I'm a bit leery of the idea of Brady running with the ball.

chris_in_sunnyvale

I'm a big advocate of the liberal use of sliding feet-first.

Regards,
Chris

TommyBrady12

the way to beat it. without receivers who can't get much separation, is to have a good running game. unfortunately, the pats didn't have much of a running game against the ravens (laurence maroney) or jets, and the steelers are great at stopping the run. it worked against dallas because the cowboys aren't a great run stopping team like the steelers were. the giants are near the bottom of the league in this category as well.

you can also beat a team that plays good man-to-man coverage by employing the use of certain routes - crossing routes, etc. that will confuse the DBs. BOB should have adjusted right away to to this, but as we know from last year, he's only really good when the team has the lead.

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"He’s the greatest quarterback to ever play the game. He goes from being a rookie that nobody is expecting anything from, to taking over with people saying he can’t do it, to winning three Super Bowls....It should already be obvious he’s the greatest quarterback to ever have played. "

- Steelers S Troy Polamalu on Tom Brady

alvinnf

Pittsburgh hasn't been as adept at stopping the run this year. They have been better against the pass oddly enough. We Choseto run the ball only 11 times so go figure. I chock it up to organizational arrogance!

Brady_to_Moss

The way to beat it? Get 5+ yards per rush. The have to start to back off if you do this

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chris_in_sunnyvale

I think the Pats can run on the Jets this year. This is why I said the Jets might drop off the list of Ds that can shut down the Pats. The Ravens and Steelers are another issue, though. I'm confident the Pats will face one or both of these teams in January so they better have an answer other than "good running game"...although "enough of a running game" to use formations (RB behind Brady) to keep defenses honest would definitely help.

Do we have proof that they don't do this? I thought it's one of the tricks they do to get Welker open...not always obviously, but quite a bit. I'm curious how else they could better utilize this strategy.

Regards,
Chris

chris_in_sunnyvale

Let's assume vs. Baltimore and Pittsburgh you can't. Then what?

Regards,
Chris

AndyJohnson

I will never understand why after we own the Steelers who are a dominant football team, then lose once to them we 'struggle with teams like them'.
Do we really need to create threads discussing and lamenting the horrendous state of affairs where good teams play us tougher than bad teams?
Frankly, I don't understand why people waste the time.
It is very simple.
We have the best offense in football. If defenses play us honest, they have no chance other than the dumb luck of bad bounces or just catching us on a bad day.
So what happens? Teams create exotic, risky gameplans hoping to catch lightning in a bottle and give us something we never expected. A couple of times a year it works.
Do you really expect this team to never struggle when a team breaks every tendency against us and risks getting blown out (see Pitt last year, Jets 45-3) in order to gamble on it?

What follows is Patsfans crying and whining that they figured us out, then BB and Brady go out and prepare for that approach and beat it.

In 2007 supposedly the Giants had the blueprint. Since that game we have scored the 2nd most points in the NFL, (most if you dont count the year Brady missed) and won the most games.
In 2009 the Ravens figured us out, and we were done. Since then, we have scored the most points in the NFL and won the most games.
Last year the Jets had the blueprint. This year we lit them up.

It is a stupid standard to expect that the best offense in the NFL, the one DCs spent all offseason trying to figure out how to attack will never have a bad game when defenses create a gameplan that doesnt resemble anything they have done before, will never be caught by that and have a poor game.
Its also a stupid standard that every time it happens it last one game, but thats what is really happening.