3-3-5

[shmessy]

Jarrad Page was ready to go against the Lions. He's back. 3 Safeties - - Assign him Keller.

McCourty - - Holmes

Arrington (w/ help on top from Merriwether) - - Edwards

I'm not too worried about Cotchery - - that groin pull looked bad and he didn't sound all that confident about it on the radio Tuesday with Joe Beningo on WFAN.

Guyton - - Shadow Sanchize to prevent him from scrambling. If Brad Smith is in, then slide to him.

I know, I know the Pats D is usually zone - - but if they do some man, I like the looks of this.

Now, let me have it and tell me how stupid this is.

 

[GrogansHeros]

What about LT out of the backfield???

 

[Metaphors]

Not stupid at all, except you don't want to give the same defensive looks from series to series...much less for the whole game.

The key is keeping the San-grenade off schedule. Stop the run, quick routes and checkdowns (but keep a safety deep since he likes to take the occasional shot downfield on 1st down) and put the Jets in 2nd-n-long. The Jets tend to struggle and make mistakes when you get them off the 2nd-n-5, 3rd-n-1 cadence.

The San-grenade seems to be a creature of habit, which is what I think you are picking at. He needs Tomlinson to get in rhythm, relies on Keller for easy middle throws, looks to Holmes when situations are tough and uses Edwards for kill shots when things are going well. If you can disguise coverages and play these tendencies, you should be able to bait him into mistakes.

BTW...the extra prep time should serve the Pats well in defending the Jets. Their offense does seem to have a predictable nature and there are down/distance/formation "tells" that should help the Pats defend them effectively.

 

[aluminum seats]

Jarrad Page was ready to go against the Lions. He's back. 3 Safeties - - Assign him Keller.

McCourty - - Holmes

Arrington (w/ help on top from Merriwether) - - Edwards

I'm not too worried about Cotchery - - that groin pull looked bad and he didn't sound all that confident about it on the radio Tuesday with Joe Beningo on WFAN.

Guyton - - Shadow Sanchize to prevent him from scrambling. If Brad Smith is in, then slide to him.

I know, I know the Pats D is usually zone - - but if they do some man, I like the looks of this.

Now, let me have it and tell me how stupid this is.

I don't know that it's stupid, although more advanced football minds than mine might say so. I like the idea of using more radical schemes at times.

The two things that jump out to me would be a) putting Page on the field at the expense of somebody else, and b) the inexperience/talent level of the Pats front 7, or in this case, 6. Just worry that the Jets would be able to exploit deficiencies there and run hogwild, even if you're just suggesting this as a 3rd down package.

 

[PatsWickedPissah]

What about LT out of the backfield???

I'd assign a different Patriot to do an imitation of Merriperson's 'sack dance' after every play. LaDy T will get so wicked pissed that she'll be totally distracted and take herself out of the game mentally.

 

[aluminum seats]

Oh, and somewhat OT but it fits here as well as anywhere. From what I've seen, Sanchez tends to throw either short, checkdown passes or he goes for the deep ball. Doesn't seem as though he throws a lot of passes in the intermediate range.

Don't know how that would necessarily affect coverages, just an observation.

 

[shmessy]

Great points, folks - - we do have to mix it up and we do have to keep cognizant of LT.

What I was putting forth is one of many looks I hope the Pats deploy to keep Sanchez off balance Monday night.

Ragarding their running game, I know D. Woody has been sitting out the first two practices this week with what is being termed "MCL". Slausson, while not the stiff many people here have termed him, is still not a great player. The rest of their OL is top notch, but LT and Greene have been trending down as the season unfolds. Our run D has been much improved (outside of the Peyton Hillis destruction) and I'm more worried about LT on short passes at this point. Plus that Brad Smith needs to be planned for.

Histroically, BB's gameplans have always been to take away an opponent's strengths. To me that isn't Sanchez - - it is his WR corps and Keller. I do see him as a below average QB who is very, very fortunate to have those WR's and TE. Without Holmes, Edwards, Keller and Cotchery I think we're looking at Chad Henne/Jason Campbell.

 

[IllegalContact]

the OLB's need to keep check on sanchez.
the ILB's need to take care of the RB's

I would scheme the pass pressure to keep sanchez in the pocket

holmes and cotchery are the only real concerns after the routes break down.

I would have the OLB's do a willie mcginest imitation and have them put LT on his butt every time he tries to release.

sanchez is like a ticking timebomb.......if he spends enough time in the pocket, he implodes pressure or not.......running from the pocket is when he stops the ticking

make the jets run as little as possible.

 

[nabwong]

I expect Fletcher to have more playing time as a zone/spy guy. So far he's done well against pass catching RBs.

 

[DarrylS]

At one time BB was criticized for collecting and drafting TE's, now he seems to be leaning towards a lot of safeties...

Not that it means much, but BB figured out how to use Lawrence Taylor, maybe he has something in mind for this crew..

 

[DaBruinz]

I'll be honest. I think that Sergio Brown or Pat Chung might be better to put in coverage on Keller.

I think that the Pats should use a similar scheme to control Sanchez as they did to control Roethlingsberger and Wallace even prior to Ward going down.

As mentioned, you have to keep Sanchez in the pocket. If you can do that and limit him to seeing only the middle of the field, then the Pats should be able to force a lot of mistakes.

I would not be surprised to see a variety of looks from the Pats. Including a change up in the 2-4-5 where we see Fletcher and Guyton on the field with Mayo and Spikes.

A lot is going to depend on whether or not they get Wright back. If they do, then we'll see a lot of the 3-3-5. If they don't, then the 2-4-5 is what will be prevalent.

 

[shmessy]

I'll be honest. I think that Sergio Brown or Pat Chung might be better to put in coverage on Keller.

I dunno. Chung is a GREAT run defense safety. For this job, though he seems short to me with short arms. In this case against a big, tall guy like Keller, I'd rather have taller, faster guys like Page or even Merriwether who can climb the ladder and who have longer arms.

Chung I want more out there laying the wood to the RB's and being the second level spy holding Sanchez from the big scramble gains. I see Merriwether complimenting Chung the same way Guyton compliments Mayo - - one is the coverage guy, one is the run stopper/tackler.

 

[DaBruinz]

I dunno. Chung is a GREAT run defense safety. For this job, though he seems short to me with short arms. In this case against a big, tall guy like Keller, I'd rather have taller, faster guys like Page or even Merriwether who can climb the ladder and who have longer arms.

Chung I want more out there laying the wood to the RB's and being the second level spy holding Sanchez from the big scramble gains. I see Merriwether complimenting Chung the same way Guyton compliments Mayo - - one is the coverage guy, one is the run stopper/tackler.

With Chung "in coverage" on Keller, then you have him in the Box to help with the run or able to drop back as Keller moves out. Page is actually more of a "SS" than he is a FS.

Page is 6'0 and3/8" while Chung is 5'11 and 1/4. The big difference between them is that Page is around 240 while Chung is around 215..

Let's agree on this. The Pats need to have someone lining up on Keller to help shut him down. Whether it's Fletcher, Guyton, Page, Meriweather, or Chung. One of them has to jam Keller and throw off the timing of the routes.

 

[jays52]

If I were going with a 33, 3 safety nickel, I would want my big uglies up front because the Jets would try to run on that all day long otherwise. I'd want my best press backer over the TE and have him mug the guy all day long with a safety with good ball skills in back of him. If they flex the TE to take this away rotate your press safety down and give him the ball skills pass off. I want Sanders in there over Brown because they are formation crazy and will move people around. I want a heads up safety out there making sure nothing fools them. I'm confident that McCourty can matchup on Holmes, and I like Arrington a lot more than Butler against Edwards. I'd have my backside safety alert to the double move and if Edwards runs a deep pattern to separate him both from the ball and his conciousness. I question Edwards' heart and think you can hit him into submission. It's a good sub against what the Jets do.

Out of that set, I want Guyton as my Will. He doesn't match up great against the TE, but he is great at covering backs. I want him on Tomlinson, and I want my safeties coming in like heat seeking missiles to blowup screens. I want to make sure that no matter what my backers don't get beat to the outside unless I have my safeties rolled up, in which case the playside OLB is the playmaker and the safety assumes turn-in duties.

I assign my ends to bullrush Sanchez into the pocket and force long progressions. I would bring some delay blitzes and mix in creative over defenses that bring anything from backers to corners down. When they run bunch, I bring a DB and roll into the curl that Sanchez is going to be looking for. There's a good chance for a big play against that set, although if Smith is in the game, I check out of the blitz and alert screen or end around. If they bring Smith into motion, I alert the deep post away from the motion, as they're going to be looking to draw the interior safeties up to respect the end around and belly against that defense.

Cool topic.

 

[Gwedd]

Despite what folks have said about Sanchez and check-downs, my own, limited, examination of his style is that he is still staring down receivers, and tends to fix on his target for far too long.

Sanchez has in his head where he's going, and tends to telegraph that to the defense, if they can keep an eye on him. He's still learning how to look off coverage before coming back to his intended target, but sometimes (actually, often) seems to spend too long when he DOES try to do that, then panics.

 

[NYCPatsFan]

...and we do have to keep cognizant of LT.

.

Humble request - can you call Mr. Classy anything other than LT please?

I like LaDy T.

 

[cstjohn17]

If I were going with a 33, 3 safety nickel, I would want my big uglies up front because the Jets would try to run on that all day long otherwise. I'd want my best press backer over the TE and have him mug the guy all day long with a safety with good ball skills in back of him. If they flex the TE to take this away rotate your press safety down and give him the ball skills pass off. I want Sanders in there over Brown because they are formation crazy and will move people around. I want a heads up safety out there making sure nothing fools them. I'm confident that McCourty can matchup on Holmes, and I like Arrington a lot more than Butler against Edwards. I'd have my backside safety alert to the double move and if Edwards runs a deep pattern to separate him both from the ball and his conciousness. I question Edwards' heart and think you can hit him into submission. It's a good sub against what the Jets do.

Out of that set, I want Guyton as my Will. He doesn't match up great against the TE, but he is great at covering backs. I want him on Tomlinson, and I want my safeties coming in like heat seeking missiles to blowup screens. I want to make sure that no matter what my backers don't get beat to the outside unless I have my safeties rolled up, in which case the playside OLB is the playmaker and the safety assumes turn-in duties.

I assign my ends to bullrush Sanchez into the pocket and force long progressions. I would bring some delay blitzes and mix in creative over defenses that bring anything from backers to corners down. When they run bunch, I bring a DB and roll into the curl that Sanchez is going to be looking for. There's a good chance for a big play against that set, although if Smith is in the game, I check out of the blitz and alert screen or end around. If they bring Smith into motion, I alert the deep post away from the motion, as they're going to be looking to draw the interior safeties up to respect the end around and belly against that defense.

Cool topic.

I agree, if the Jets see a 3-3-5 they won't throw the ball at all. They would ens up with 60 rushes for > 250 yards. This formation may be used if the Patriots are able to get ahead by 10-14 points. I also agree about Guyton, I don't think Spikes will get a lot of reps because he can't match up against Keller or LT out of the backfield.

More than anything I want to see that punk LT fumble the ball on the final drive. Hell 2-3 fumbles would even be better.

 

[blackglass3]

As long as Kyle Arrington is one of our DE's, all will be right in the world.

 

[RoughingthePasser]

I'd assign a different Patriot to do an imitation of Merriperson's 'sack dance' after every play. LaDy T will get so wicked pissed that she'll be totally distracted and take herself out of the game mentally.

That's awesome..."Merriperson" I wish he hit as hard as Rodney or Chung and McGowan.
LaD T....even better!
"she'll take herself outta the game!" with a busted pinky.