Denver Broncos at New England Patriots Preview

[PatsFans.com Article]

Denver Broncos at New England Patriots Preview
By: John Morgan

Think back to when Dan Koppen was the center with the Pats: his biggest problem was when he had to face big 3-4 nose tackles who overpowered him. The Pats may now be using a 4-3 rather than a 3-4, but they still have the prototype 3-4 NT: Vince Wilfork. I...

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[Brohemoth]

Broncos fan here. How much of an influence do you think Koppen will make in this game, having spent so much time in your offense? Also, will Wilfork have his way with him? I think we'll see plenty of double-teaming on the big guy. Clady and Franklin can hold their own on the edges.

 

[italia44]

Broncos fan here. How much of an influence do you think Koppen will make in this game, having spent so much time in your offense? Also, will Wilfork have his way with him? I think we'll see plenty of double-teaming on the big guy. Clady and Franklin can hold their own on the edges.

Welcome to the Board......Clady and Franklin are excellent,however,Denver likes to run McGahee inside the tackles and this is New England's strength.

Wilfork and Love are more than a match for a "smaller" center,like Koppen,Also,I expect the Patriots to rotate Cunningham to the interior rush to pressure Manning,up the middle.

If Hightower plays,New England's linebackers are big.....I mean really BIG.....It's tough to run up the middle against Wilfork,Spikes and Mayo.

Denver's strength is Manning(lol,stating the obvious).......The patriots want to move him off his spot and make him checkdown.Manning and the Denver offense will have a tough time on a wet field.They are faster,but New England is bigger and their front 7,tackle really well.

On the defensive side,Von Miller and the cornerbacks are excellent,but are a bad match-up against the Patriot's huge Ol and Tight Ends.They will immediately identify Miller,put Gronkowski or Fells on him.....and run right at him.....Denver had no answer for the Te's,last year and they won't,this year.....Especially with the addition of Ridley and Bolden,in the backfield.The Pats can....and will,run 30 or more times in this game,especially on a wet field.

The X-factor,of course,is Peyton Manning....Give him turnovers and field position and this is a whole different ballgame.

Funny,but I have the feeling that the punters and FG kickers are going to determine this game,not the vaunted,Brady vs Manning matchup.

Could go either way,imo,but I'll take New England in the rain and Denver in the dry

 

[BananaRepublican]

Audio interview, Jaws on the QBs (Brady - Manning)

Good interview here Ron Jaworski, NFL - ESPN covering Brady-Manning, the Patriots offense, how the Broncos will probably improve, the decline of Sanchez, his revised Big Board of QB rankings, on Mike and Mike.

 

[jmt57]

Broncos fan here. How much of an influence do you think Koppen will make in this game, having spent so much time in your offense? Also, will Wilfork have his way with him? I think we'll see plenty of double-teaming on the big guy. Clady and Franklin can hold their own on the edges.

More on that here: http://www.patsfans.com/new-england...match-up-pats-dl-vs-dan-koppen-denver-ol.html

I just read where old friend Dan Koppen is going to be the starting C for the Broncos this Sunday and I'm wondering if that's going to change our defensive philosophy for this weekend.

We have been pretty much all 4-3 so far this season, but Koppen presents a match up that BB might not be able to pass up. He had always been susceptible when facing big powerful nose men, and it seemed he'd fallen even further during TC before he was released. The question is should the Pats force Koppen to play with someone right on his head, or should they give him a free pass and play to his strength by leaving him uncovered in a straight 4-3.

When uncovered Koppen was one of the better run blocking C's. Someone who has historically been effectively able to get to the 2nd level, and is a smart pass blocker who will always get his OL into right protection and help the right guy when uncovered. So the question is will the Pats continue to run the 4-3 or will they run some kind of a 4-3 0ver to get a man head on Koppen.

Something to look for when we face Denver

Actually there is a scheme that I'd love to try this week against the Broncos. Since there's no way to do x's and O's I'll have to describe it. What I'd like to do is cover the interior 3 OLmen with DLmen, with a man over the C and a man each on the outside shoulder of the OGs And then put your DE on the outside shoulder of the strong side OT. I'd have one OL align outside the weakside OT and the other 2 LBs somewhere inside the Tackle box depending on the formation and motions

By alignment you'd force the Denver running game wide, making it difficult to get quick hits. You'd also have at least one LB running free. Your pass rush will also push from the middle out. That's the best way to rush Peyton. You rarely get to him from the outside anyway, but pressure up the middle at worst forces him off his spot and makes him tend to throw off his back foot, further weakening his already suspect arm.

Remember the key to rushing Peyton is to force him off his spot. Force him to check down to his 2nd choice. Make him move his feet. You have to do this quickly and the fastest way to get his attention is right up the middle

Now with all three interior OLmen covered, Koppen is isolated with no help ready to be beaten up by Love and Wilfolk, and later outquicked by Jones and Cunningham. Also the potential stunts you can run from this alignment are tough to defend. Rushng the DTs right up the GT gap. The nose man on the C and a LB in one of the inside gaps is unstoppable giving the LB an immediate free run at the QB or at worse leaving a RB on Spikes one on one with a running start.

Just a thought.

:welcome: