Rodney Harrison: "You can't play zone defense against Brady."

[Shockt327]

I'm so glad to see Rodney Harrison just confirm something I've long suspected: you really shouldn't play zone against the Patriots. Their routes and philosophy are designed to take advantage of it. Not to mention Brady will just keep throwing underneath the coverage all day long if he has to, and the receivers are built for YAC.

You just have to man-up against NE. Make sure to blitz sparingly, but enough to make it an omni-present threat and hope to make Brady's protection calls at the line a bit murky (easier said than done). Put one safety deep and the other possibly in robber, where he can read Brady's eyes and hope for the best. Ravens have done this before. The Jets have previously, but as RH pointed out they played too much zone last time out. It's no mistake that the Ravens and Eagles almost beat NE in the reg season back in 2007 - both man coverage teams that blitzed enough (in Philly's case, too much).

Also, I'd say the exact opposite holds true for the Colts. Possibly why Brady consistently dominates the Steelers where-as Manning has sometimes not looked so hot against them. The reverse is true for the Colts against Rex Ryan's teams, as last years playoffs saw....

 

[ausbacker]

Putting out a defense against the Patriots right now is pointless given the quality of our team's offensive play at the moment.

 

[Marqui]

To be fair, the Bears had a few good opportunities to pick Brady off.

 

[SVN]

To be fair, the Bears had a few good opportunities to pick Brady off.

every dropped INT ,they paid with a TD a play or two later

 

[NEPats1]

Don't give away our secrets Rodney!

 

[Uncle Rico]

Don't the Jets play man?

 

[Modest]

Putting out a defense against the Patriots right now is pointless given the quality of our team's offensive play at the moment.

I wonder if the Giants had that attitude in Superbowl 42. :beatingcoming:

 

[ausbacker]

I wonder if the Giants had that attitude in Superbowl 42. :beatingcoming:

2010 isn't 2007. I would argue this team is coming into form where that side was declining in form toward the end of the season.

Brady is playing the best football of his career against some of the best defenses football has to offer.

 

[SVN]

Don't give away our secrets Rodney!

he actually DID say "i dont want to give away too many secrets"

 

[RobertWeathers]

I wonder if the Giants had that attitude in Superbowl 42. :beatingcoming:

No. It was to hit TB again, again and again - and pray for a miracle.

No need to cover this ground again!!

 

[R_T26]

The jets had the best personal to play man and got beat down. They are just a matchup nightmare right now.

 

[Shockt327]

To be fair, the Bears had a few good opportunities to pick Brady off.

Agreed. But this was because one of Brady more than anything, IMO. One of his near INTs was almost identical to the one Sanchez threw to Brandon Spikes. That's on Brady.

But he was near flawless in the 2nd half.

 

[Shockt327]

Don't the Jets play man?

To my unprofessional eye, it usually appears so. But....

The jets had the best personal to play man and got beat down. They are just a matchup nightmare right now.

....as Rodney pointed out, the Jets played too much zone in that game.

 

[RodThePat]

Agreed. But this was because one of Brady more than anything, IMO. One of his near INTs was almost identical to the one Sanchez threw to Brandon Spikes. That's on Brady.

But he was near flawless in the 2nd half.

It wasn't anywhere near similar. Sanchez got out of the play-fake and immediately threw the ball to the receiver he thought was going to be open without reading the play. Brady saw Gronk open down the seam and threw a crappy ball. His read was correct, that was either an underthrow or an underestimation of Urlacher's athletic ability.

 

[jsull87]

i wouldn't be to high and mighty just yet... obviously brady is killing it but don't forget Urlacher in zone almost picked brady off twice.

He was good but still some things to work on

 

[RodThePat]

i wouldn't be to high and mighty just yet... obviously brady is killing it but don't forget Urlacher in zone almost picked brady off twice.

He was good but still some things to work on

Brady has eaten up zone coverage throughout his career, and two near picks won't change that. Most of his struggles have come against teams who play a higher percentage of man coverage. This is a simple statement, a FACT. No one is being "high and mighty" about anything here.