slam

Anyone care to guess on what offensive and defensive gameday wrinkles the Patriots will come up with on Sunday? Here's one guess for each side for me.

On defense, I think we might see a surprising amount of two man rushes, 9 men in coverage looks to frustrate Manning and make him hold the ball. This might drive us, the viewer, nuts to see him hold the ball for an eternity with seemingly no pass rush, but I think it could test the patience of the Giants who want to be a quick strike team and cause some bad decisions.

On offense, I think we might see a run-based no-huddle offense when the Patriots identify a DL grouping they think is favorable. The Giants rotate 7 down linemen, and occasionally have 4 DE on the field at the same time. If the Pats have identified a specific grouping they feel can't defend the run well, they may go to the no huddle with mostly run plays to keep them on the field.

robbomango

BB talked about having the OL make cleaner passing lanes for TB. Not exactly sure how that's accomplished with the Giants ability to rush a few and drop everyone else back in coverage.

Dropping 9 into coverage sounds interesting, not sure I've seen much of that unless it's a late game prevent.

NEGoldenAge

I think that if we try to cover with 9 guys, there will be some guys with really poor coverage skills out there. I don't think that is worth taking away the D's biggest strength, rushing the passer. With all the weapons the Giants have back on offense, I doubt BB does as much man coverage as last time. He'll rush four most of the time, but I wouldn't be surprised to see some corner blitzes. Although Eli has thrown very few interceptions recently, he's had a lot of INTs dropped. With conistent pressure and 7 guys in coverage, I expect Eli to throw a couple of INTs.

With McDaniels having a few more weeks under his belt, I wouldn't be surpised to see a flea flicker and/ or other gadget plays. Slowing down the Giant's pass rush will be a priority, so expect some screens, 3 TE sets (if Vollmer is healthy), and maybe some shovel passes or designed roll outs. The Giants will try to disrupt the timing by hitting the receivers and will try to take away the middle of the field. To counter this, you may see more use of the RBs in the passing game, a healthy dose of play action, some fake WR screens, working the sideline with Branch/Ocho, some passes to Solder, and if the Giants are in man, some running from Brady. If the Pats are successful running early, expect to see a lot of it, with plenty of play action coming from those 3 TE sets.

xmarkd400x

Offensive wrinkle: Brady running with the ball. I think that a good way to contain the Giants' pass rush would be to scramble a little earlier than usual and force the NYG to keep their lanes when rushing. This would prevent them from just pinning their ears back when they read pass.

supafly

I agree about your defensive scheme.

As far as offense goes, I'm not sure about the flea-flicker, due to lack of time; but I would expect some types of misdirections and screens to try and combat their pass rush. I agree about using the RB's in the pass game a bit.

We will use 3 TE's regardless of Vollmer's condition, as Cannon has been stepping into the RT role when Solder lines up as a 3rd TE.

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