How do the Pats stop the wildcat?

[atomdomb]

Miami gashed a real good jets D last night. The jet line and backers could not and did not get off their blocks. Ronnie is perfect in finding the hole and he rarely gets less than 6 yards when running out the wildcat. I have hope for our D. Our D-line has to step up.

I think that the jet linebackers as a unit are the best in the conference, maybe the league, but their line is average. Jenkins is a monster but outside of him are they really that good? Wilfork and Jenkins are even. Jenkins plays the pass better, Wilfork the run. After that we have Warren, Green, Pryor, Brace, and Wright. Also, a huge gap filler in Sands hopefully. The jets have Ellis, Douglas, Pouha, Devito, Pitoitua. Both teams have monsters but we are slightly bigger in the second unit and I think we have an edge in talent.

So can we stop the wildcat? Please don't reference last year because this is a different phins O-line. They didn't man handle anyone last year (except for us in game one) like they did last night.

 

[ausbacker]

You obviously didn't watch the game in Miami last season?

 

[weswelker#83]

You obviously didn't watch the game in Miami last season?

That was the first thing that came to my mind .

 

[letekro]

If they're still in contention at that point, I fully expect them to break out a significant Pat White package for the Pats game. I'm a little worried about that possibility.

 

[ForThoseAboutToRock]

Agree with you that the Miami rush attack out of the wildcat formation was pretty spectacular. It's smart of them to just take the QB off the field entirely to provide for an extra blocker. Also looked like their fullback is one of the biggest reasons they could pull off 5+ yards per attempt... he seemed to blow up whomever was assigned to that particular gap and let the RB get into the second level of the defense.

There were a lot of really impressive offensive plays by both teams in last night's 4th quarter. It was very enjoyable to watch. Sanchez seems to throw a very accurate deep ball, and Henne wasn't shabby at all either. Seeing those 2 hit receivers effectively when they've got like 7-8 starts between them makes me even more frustrated every time I hear someone on the Patriots offense complain about not being "on the same page." That's certainly the catchphrase copout of the season thus far...

 

[Garbanza]

Agree with you that the Miami rush attack out of the wildcat formation was pretty spectacular. It's smart of them to just take the QB off the field entirely to provide for an extra blocker. Also looked like their fullback is one of the biggest reasons they could pull off 5+ yards per attempt... he seemed to blow up whomever was assigned to that particular gap and let the RB get into the second level of the defense.

There were a lot of really impressive offensive plays by both teams in last night's 4th quarter. It was very enjoyable to watch. Sanchez seems to throw a very accurate deep ball, and Henne wasn't shabby at all either. Seeing those 2 hit receivers effectively when they've got like 7-8 starts between them makes me even more frustrated every time I hear someone on the Patriots offense complain about not being "on the same page." That's certainly the catchphrase copout of the season thus far...

We have BINGO!!!

Btw, Henne was 20 of 26 and Sanches was 12 of 24. Henne 'aint no slouch and does not have the pressure that "Sanchize" has.

 

[weswelker#83]

Miami Dolphins vs. New England Patriots 11-23-08
YouTube - Miami Dolphins vs. New England Patriots Brawl..11-23-08..

 

[ForThoseAboutToRock]

We have BINGO!!!

Btw, Henne was 20 of 26 and Sanches was 12 of 24. Henne 'aint no slouch and does not have the pressure that "Sanchize" has.

Glad you agree... not being on the same page has to be coaching, right? Playcalling? Inaccurate throws?

I'm sorry, I don't mean to threadjack.

On topic: I think the Dolphins showed last night that their use of the wildcat really stunts a lot of the things that make the Ryan defense effective: the players in motion and the blitz.

 

[SVN]

more than the wildcat now the fins have a real qb who can throw the deep ball. so its more of a challege. best way to stop the wildcat would be to score fast ,get ahead and see how they handle it. miami was never down by more than a FG last night i think

 

[SHOWTIME15]

Miami gashed a real good jets D last night. The jet line and backers could not and did not get off their blocks. Ronnie is perfect in finding the hole and he rarely gets less than 6 yards when running out the wildcat. I have hope for our D. Our D-line has to step up.

I think that the jet linebackers as a unit are the best in the conference, maybe the league, but their line is average. Jenkins is a monster but outside of him are they really that good? Wilfork and Jenkins are even. Jenkins plays the pass better, Wilfork the run. After that we have Warren, Green, Pryor, Brace, and Wright. Also, a huge gap filler in Sands hopefully. The jets have Ellis, Douglas, Pouha, Devito, Pitoitua. Both teams have monsters but we are slightly bigger in the second unit and I think we have an edge in talent.

So can we stop the wildcat? Please don't reference last year because this is a different phins O-line. They didn't man handle anyone last year (except for us in game one) like they did last night.

load up the box.

 

[102 Pat]

I think if you get out to a large enough lead, you try to force Miami to abandon the wildcat...seems like the fake punt is becoming the thing to do this year...

 

[WhiZa]

load up the box.

sums it up nicely. Force Ronnie Brown to throw the ball. Being a lefty you know he won't throw it when running to his right. Probably the hardest play to stop would be the one where Williams runs full speed east to west and the D has to figure out who has the ball on the hand off.

 

[pencilneckgeek]

Miami Dolphins vs. New England Patriots 11-23-08
YouTube - Miami Dolphins vs. New England Patriots Brawl..11-23-08..

OT - 3:57 - Has Faulk lost a step or has he just not had a chance like that yet this year? He looked Fast.

 

[Wolfpack]

I think you just plan for it like any other running play. I half-watched last night's game so I may have missed some stuff, but I only remember one pass from Ronnie Brown. IIRC he threw quite the duck, although the play worked for a decent gain. Still his arm shouldn't inspire fear into out secondary.

 

[Kontradiction]

The Dolphins would be idiotic to take the QB out of the wildcat altogether. Having the QB on the field means that we have to assign a defender to cover him. Keep in mind that the QB can always run across the LOS and get the ball back for a deep heave either to Ginn or Cobbs. If they take the QB off the field, that's another receiving threat that the Dolphins have taken away from them.

As for the Jest, I would disagree. I would say that their D-Line is fine and that it's their linebackers that are overrated. Bart Scott hits hard but he is easy to displace in coverage. Miami sealed off Kris Jenkins last night and Jake Long shut down his man. I said a couple of weeks ago that this Jets defense was good, but vastly overrated and can be had. When asked how I would beat them, I said that I would seal off Jenkins then run RIGHT at him. When passing, I would make the Jets pay with quick dump offs in the flats that would constantly force the secondary to move up and make the tackle as the LBs are in the middle of the blitz. After a while, the secondary would have to cheat forward to the LOS to prevent this, and that's when I would burn them with something deep. The Dolphins did EXACTLY that last night and look at the result. Jenkins was on the sideline half the time, sucking wind, they gashed them with the run, used quick dump offs to their advantage, then burned the Jets' secondary with a deep throw to Ginn who had beaten three people.

Now I can't wait to face the Dolphins.

 

[signbabybrady]

For us I think it is all in discipline. Don't get out of position and we should be ok vs it. I think that was the big differnce in the first Mia game last year to the second one. In the first game it caught us off guard and I think a lot of guys tried to do to much to stop it and were out of position in the second I think we played in position much better. I hope JR is up to speed and Mayo is fully healthy because I think the 3-4 is better suited to stop it.

 

[jmt57]

Some ideas on how to stop the wildcat here: Not just a wild idea, Wildcat may be here to stay

Get pressure up the middle and disrupt the mesh point:

Use the strong safety as a spy on the RB taking the snap:

Bring the CB that is covering the QB lined up at WR in on a corner blitz, as they seldom (if ever) pass to the QB. In addition the CB could be responsible for contain on the outside, allowing for more defensive players on the inside; where Ronnie Brown hurt the Pats lasy year was on quick off-tackle plays.

 

[BritPat]

The way to stop the Wildcat is gap control - as we showed in Miami last season, and the Ravens showed in the Playoffs.

 

[jmt57]

Here's another article on stopping the Wildcat from, of all places, the New York Times. Maybe Rex Ryan's local newspaper of choice is the Post.

Jets at Dolphins: How the Wildcat Works - The Fifth Down Blog - NYTimes.com

But how do you stop the base Wildcat series of jet sweep, power and counter? If you want any shot at it, you have to have a good plan that is second nature to your team; you win the first battle by making very simple adjustments to it, without a lot of scrambling or disarray. From there, your run defense must be well coordinated, which means you must have players who know their roles on each play: Every defense, from high school to the NFL, has a coordinated run force. (This is distinct from the idea of “gap control,” which is best left to a different article.) There are four roles:

The article continues on with specifics of those roles and some decent diagrams of those plays. The article was written by Chris Brown, who runs SmartFootball.com

 

[BradyBranch39]

Miami Dolphins vs. New England Patriots 11-23-08
YouTube - Miami Dolphins vs. New England Patriots Brawl..11-23-08..

4:40 = Edwards last night.