Dolphins vs. Patriots breakdown/analysis

[Patspsycho]

Pats D opened with man to man over the top, with Arrington on Marshall, and LB in coverage. As posters here have discussed, Wilfork was put in as LDE and the defense was aligned to draw a strongside run that they could push out.

On that 3rd and 3 long completion 13:21 1st Q. The D was in cover 1 underneath (Mayo) with an athletic linemen lineup (Cunningham, Pryor, and Wright). Both OLB dropped back to cover the curl/flat and backfield was still in man to man, with the exception of Sanders who was in a strongside cover 2 (for the run). At the snap weakside was cover 0, but Meriweather dropped back to become cover 2. When you first see the play breakdown, it's easy to either blame Guyton (who fell down after running into Hartline) or Chung, because as the SS it's easy to presume it's his responsibility to fall back, but the culprit here is Mayo because he is in zone coverage and should have picked up Fasano on the seam. Instead he doubles up on Hartline, unaware that Chung is already shadowing him.

However, you could make the argument that it was easier for Chung to hand off Hartline to Mayo and just drop back with Fasano, simply on recognition. This is something that can only be worked out through experience, in terms of feeling the play develop and to know when to freelance and when to follow the assignment.

In the first still, you see Mayo in coverage, and in the second you see him pick up and move with Hartline while Chung is doing the same behind him (shadowing).

 

[SuperPatsFan]

Clearly Fasano belonged to Chung, as Mayo's behavior demonstrates.

And Sanders and Meriweather were in a cover 2 shell, 25-freaking-yards deep on a 3rd and short. That opens up a huge space behind the LB'ers, with Mayo 7 yards deep in zone. That's an 18-yard hole. Why?

 

[Patspsycho]

On the one snap that Miami went to the wildcat. Meriweather was rolled up to the box to spy on Ronnie Brown, and you can see the Pats were ready for this with a well-designed scheme that anticipated the counter option, going with two linemen. They ignored the bunch look, which allowed Cunningham to go in unchecked because the RT assumed he would cover the bunch, and so went to double-team Wright, leaving the lane open for Cunningham who played perfect 2 gap here and did not bite on the Williams fake and instead stayed in contain. Brown makes off with the counter option but sees Meriweather shoot the gap, and tries to cut back, but Cunningham has taken away the lane, and that split second of deliberation cost Brown the big loss.

 

[Patspsycho]

Clearly Fasano belonged to Chung, as Mayo's behavior demonstrates.

And Sanders and Meriweather were in a cover 2 shell, 25-freaking-yards deep on a 3rd and short. That opens up a huge space behind the LB'ers, with Mayo 7 yards deep in zone. That's an 18-yard hole. Why?

It's a play where the safeties split to double up on the flankers. You can see how they are already going down and out to help the corners.

 

[Patspsycho]

On our first offensive series, it is easy to see the run-blocking is much better. This line clearly loves to block for BJGE, because they know he won't quit. They know he's a banger so they're willing to put themselves on the line as well.

We scouted the Dolphins well, but they were watching us as well. They saw our empty set vs the Bills, so when we first show empty set, they just rushed two linemen and dropped the rest. This one is all on Brady for being in such a hurry to get rid of the ball when the two rushing linemen each get double- and triple-teamed.

 

[SuperPatsFan]

If the Pats pull their safeties 20-25 yards off the line in a cover 2, that's gotta open huge holes. Perhaps part of the reason the Pats secondary struggles against the pass isn't the "10-yard cushion" the corners give; it's the "25-yard cushion" the safeties give.

 

[strngplyr]

If the Pats pull their safeties 20-25 yards off the line in a cover 2, that's gotta open huge holes. Perhaps part of the reason the Pats secondary struggles against the pass isn't the "10-yard cushion" the corners give; it's the "25-yard cushion" the safeties give.

We always seem to have one corner on the field who can't make the first tackle, I think thats the biggest problem. Or we just face receivers good at making the first guy miss.

Either way the defense is close to being something though, but not there just yet. We face a lot of young QB's in our division, and we have 5 picks on 2 of them, hopefully we keep taking advantage of their mental errors.

 

[Patspsycho]

If the Pats pull their safeties 20-25 yards off the line in a cover 2, that's gotta open huge holes. Perhaps part of the reason the Pats secondary struggles against the pass isn't the "10-yard cushion" the corners give; it's the "25-yard cushion" the safeties give.

Well it was a play where our D was not in MOFC (middle of field closed). Henne correctly read MOFO (middle of field open) and adjusted accordingly. Fasano was not his first read, Bess was, but then he saw the MOFO.

 

[Patspsycho]

That completion to Bess that left Arrington in the dust is not his fault, he was the victim of a pick play with Marshall on a 9 route and Bess sweeping underneath on a drag, timing it so that Arrington would run into Marshall. Arrington did not run into Marshall, but it was enough for him to lose a step.

Sorry about the size of the files.. have managed to shrink the screen captures.

 

[SuperPatsFan]

It was a great pick by the Phins, but Arrington lacks the experience and vision to anticipate the pick and adjust beforehand, IMHO.

 

[shirtsleeve]

If the Pats pull their safeties 20-25 yards off the line in a cover 2, that's gotta open huge holes. Perhaps part of the reason the Pats secondary struggles against the pass isn't the "10-yard cushion" the corners give; it's the "25-yard cushion" the safeties give.

The Pats opened in 2-man, with the corners in man coverage up, and the safeties in a cover two shell, then rolled to the flankers on the snap, as was pointed out.

And it is tough to call out Chung on that third down. He was in his assignment. My question is , why did Merriweather have cement in his shoes after the snap?

 

[Synovia]

If the Pats pull their safeties 20-25 yards off the line in a cover 2, that's gotta open huge holes. Perhaps part of the reason the Pats secondary struggles against the pass isn't the "10-yard cushion" the corners give; it's the "25-yard cushion" the safeties give.

Part of them being so far back is that its a lot quicker to move forward to cover, than it is to move back. Its the less risky coverage, and with how inexperienced the CBs are, you have to assume someone might get beat. Giving up a first down on 3rd and short isn't a huge deal, giving up a TD is.

 

[Patspsycho]

It was a great pick by the Phins, but Arrington lacks the experience and vision to anticipate the pick and adjust beforehand, IMHO.

The way to avoid a pick is to flip coverage, and this is something that, again, only comes with experience. Ideally Arrington would have seen the pick coming and yell, then veer off to pick up Marshall while Chung would stay inside on Bess and have the inside leverage.

 

[shirtsleeve]

Ya know, looking at that still again, I think I see Ninko far behind the play and his responsibility to cover the flat on that side, forcing Merriweather to freeze and hold his position, and not letting him come up.

If that is correct, it was obvious the coaches pulled him aside and instructed him in his assignments, resulting in his two picks...

 

[SuperPatsFan]

Fortunately, the Pats will devote some practice time to handling picks and we won't see them get burned on the same type of pick play again.

Right?

RIGHT?

 

[Patspsycho]

Fortunately, the Pats will devote some practice time to handling picks and we won't see them get burned on the same type of pick play again.

Right?

This again means they have to stop relying on athleticism, and trust their technique and trust each other. It's easy to practice this on a practice field and much harder to put it into play on Monday Night Football in front of 80,000 screaming fans.

It's just a matter of remaining cool under pressure, and they are getting there. I see a lot of positives out of the D in this game. They are buying into the coaching now.

 

[Patspsycho]

On the Bess TD, he is in a jerk route where you lead your man to think you are heading to the zone hole to sit there but cut out for the outside shoulder gain. I don't think Chung necessarily bit on that as much as he was never set prior to the snap. He was still telling McCourty to get out of press because of the stack look (think pick) and just gets caught flat foot at the snap, and you can see from the awful deep stance he is in, that he will not recover.

 

[Patspsycho]

However the other problem is if McCourty had exhibited proper technique he would know where the ball is at all time and would have known immediately to forget about his man and come to meet Bess. He had more than enough time to do that, because as you can see, he never looked, yet had the speed to get there once he saw his man quit the play.

The other guilty party is Sanders picking an extremely bad angle. Not sure why- can not see where he is coming from.

EDIT: woohoo, "all 22" shots coming up!

 

[Patspsycho]

Ok- it was not a jerk route, just a 9 and 3 out. Here you can see that Bess is .5 of a second from catching the ball, and if McCourty had kept his head on a swivel, he could have disengaged from his man and stayed right there to contain a broken coverage play.

The reason Sanders has such a bad angle is because Chung is supposed to funnel Bess into Sanders (what a cover 2 shell does). However since Chung was caught flat footed, he does not maintain outside leverage and is unable to shade properly.

 

[PatsFan37]

Great stuff as always, psycho. Curious how you snap the images. Do you send your DVR feed to the PC?

Don't know enough to comment on who should be doing what, but I enjoy reading the analyses.