Lombardi: The Pats played left handed against the Jags and will this Sunday

[Rob0729]

Mike Lombardi told WEEI today while on his weekly interview segment that watching the game film that he saw the Pats playing left handed. He saw no real gameplanning and the Pats playing vanilla on both sides of the ball. He thinks Belichick went into the game with the expressed decision to not give anything away.

Also, he expects the same thing this weekend since the Dolphins' DC comes from the Mike Zimmer coaching tree and the Pats are likely to face Zimmer's Bengals' defense in the first week of the playoffs.

One thing I noticed on last Sunday was the Pats were rotating in a lot of depth guys in on the defense as if Belichick wanted to get them all experience.

 

[FCB02062]

Mike Lombardi told WEEI today while on his weekly interview segment that watching the game film that he saw the Pats playing left handed. He saw no real gameplanning and the Pats playing vanilla on both sides of the ball. He thinks Belichick went into the game with the expressed decision to not give anything away.

Also, he expects the same thing this weekend since the Dolphins' DC comes from the Mike Zimmer coaching tree and the Pats are likely to face Zimmer's Bengals' defense in the first week of the playoffs.

One thing I noticed on last Sunday was the Pats were rotating in a lot of depth guys in on the defense as if Belichick wanted to get them all experience.

Mike Zimmer has a coaching tree?????

 

[patsfaninpa]

You're missing an important point he made. If Houston wins at 1p, which he expects. Obviously, this all changes if Houston loses.

 

[patsinthesnow]

I can buy this, but what happens at 3:30 ET when the Colts are up 10 on the Texans in the fourth quarter?

"Oh Crap, uhhh pull out the old gameplan!"

 

[everlong]

One thing I noticed on last Sunday was the Pats were rotating in a lot of depth guys in on the defense as if Belichick wanted to get them all experience.

CB Devin McCourty – 80 of 80
CB Kyle Arrington – 78 of 80
S Steve Gregory – 78 of 80
LB Jerod Mayo – 76 of 80
DL Vince Wilfork – 74 of 80
DE/LB Rob Ninkovich – 73 of 80
S Patrick Chung – 61 of 80
CB Marquice Cole – 57 of 80
DE Chandler Jones – 48 of 80
DL Brandon Deaderick – 47 of 80
DE Justin Francis – 47 of 80
LB Dont’a Hightower – 37 of 80
LB Tracy White – 30 of 80
S Tavon Wilson – 30 of 80
DE Trevor Scott – 28 of 80
DL Kyle Love – 17 of 80
DB Derrick Martin – 10 of 80
CB Aqib Talib – 8 of 80

Considering Talib was limited and Dennard and Spikes out the snap count doesn't really show this to be true. Kyle Love is the only one that had a dramatic snap count loss but he could have been nicked up.

 

[Rob0729]

CB Devin McCourty – 80 of 80
CB Kyle Arrington – 78 of 80
S Steve Gregory – 78 of 80
LB Jerod Mayo – 76 of 80
DL Vince Wilfork – 74 of 80
DE/LB Rob Ninkovich – 73 of 80
S Patrick Chung – 61 of 80
CB Marquice Cole – 57 of 80
DE Chandler Jones – 48 of 80
DL Brandon Deaderick – 47 of 80
DE Justin Francis – 47 of 80
LB Dont’a Hightower – 37 of 80
LB Tracy White – 30 of 80
S Tavon Wilson – 30 of 80
DE Trevor Scott – 28 of 80
DL Kyle Love – 17 of 80
DB Derrick Martin – 10 of 80
CB Aqib Talib – 8 of 80

Considering Talib was limited and Dennard and Spikes out the snap count doesn't really show this to be true. Kyle Love is the only one that had a dramatic snap count loss but he could have been nicked up.

Derrick Martin with 10 snaps, Tracy White with 30 snaps, and Tavon Wilson with 30 snaps.

Don't forget that there were a lot of guys missing (Talib for most of the game, Dennard, Spikes, etc.) and guys like Ninkovich and McCourty played multiple positions. Hence you wouldn't see a big drop in snaps from the starters. It was the back up guys who saw a big increase. And most of it was earlier in the game before the Pats had to stabilize the defense meaning many of the deep back ups were put back in moth balls.

Also, considering Spikes was out, you don't think that Hightower played less than 50% of the snaps and only 7 snaps more than Tracy White isn't some kind of proof. With Spikes out, Hightower should have been on the field for most of the snaps, but he split time with White.

 

[MoLewisrocks]

I know Lombardi likes to think he knows whatever Bill knows, he's been playing that card for several years now in search of another FO shot... They miscalculated what Jacksonville was going to bring, admitted as much in the post game, didn't practice for what they faced. Kinda like SF. Had to adjust and adapt on the fly. Thing is against the JAGS vanilla would have probably worked if they simply executed better than they did. But they didn't and it had nothing to do with lefthandedness.

 

[Rob0729]

You're missing an important point he made. If Houston wins at 1p, which he expects. Obviously, this all changes if Houston loses.

I didn't hear him say that. I seriously doubt the Pats will spend all week gameplanning and then if the Texans win, scrap everything and go completely vanilla. If this is the strategy, Belichick is stupid (which obviously he isn't) and will almost guarantee a loss. No way is going into a game prepared with two completely different game plans even if one of them are vanilla. Especially with a young team, it will cause far too many mental errors on game day.

Lombardi even said that the Pats were good enough to beat both Jacksonville and Miami with vanilla game plans.

 

[Rob0729]

I know Lombardi likes to think he knows whatever Bill knows, he's been playing that card for several years now in search of another FO shot... They miscalculated what Jacksonville was going to bring, admitted as much in the post game, didn't practice for what they faced. Kinda like SF. Had to adjust and adapt on the fly. Thing is against the JAGS vanilla would have probably worked if they simply executed better than they did. But they didn't and it had nothing to do with lefthandedness.

It was pretty clear the Pats went into the game not going all out. The rotation on defense in the first quarter kinda proved that. They were throwing in scrubs at LB and in the secondary (Derrick Martin?).

I think Lombardi can be a Belichick butt kisser and has a tendency to overstate things to bolster Belichick and defend him when neccessary, but I think there is some evidence to back his claim.

 

[Kontradiction]

The offense still sucked the big one and I didn't see them do too much subbing. The subs on defense, for the most part, were pretty clearly due to injuries.

 

[everlong]

Derrick Martin with 10 snaps, Tracy White with 30 snaps, and Tavon Wilson with 30 snaps.

Also, considering Spikes was out, you don't think that Hightower played less than 50% of the snaps and only 7 snaps more than Tracy White isn't some kind of proof. With Spikes out, Hightower should have been on the field for most of the snaps, but he split time with White.

I look at Wilkfork and Mayo playing 90+% of the snaps and I don't see it adding up. Maybe Hightower was dinged or got yanked because he ole'd that tackle on the sidelines. I understand McCorty and the other players in the seconary needing to go the distance with injuries but if they were going to experiement and rest some players it would start with Vince and Mayo.

 

[Rob0729]

I look at Wilkfork and Mayo playing 90+% of the snaps and I don't see it adding up. Maybe Hightower was dinged or got yanked because he ole'd that tackle on the sidelines. I understand McCorty and the other players in the seconary needing to go the distance with injuries but if they were going to experiement and rest some players it would start with Vince and Mayo.

I never said that Belichick was resting players. Rotating in back up doesn't mean Belichick was resting players. You are looking at it the wrong way. He was still trying to win the game, but without showing his hand and while giving bench players some reps. That means you don't pull your best players. You need them so you don't completely fall apart.

But a lot of the subbing ended after the first quarter when the Jags destroyed the Pats' defense.

 

[Rob0729]

The offense still sucked the big one and I didn't see them do too much subbing. The subs on defense, for the most part, were pretty clearly due to injuries.

A lot of the subbing on defense was because of injuries. Some of it wasn't though. Never said it was all because of injuries. It isn't black and white. But there was far more subbing in the first quarter than there was after that because the subbing was a big cause for the offensive explosion by the Jags (they had over 200 yards of offense in the first quarter and averaged about 70 yards of offense in each of the other three).

I bet if the Pats truly thought they had a chance at the bye last week, that Spikes or Dennard or both would have played. Spikes has been playing on one leg for at least the 49ers game.

 

[everlong]

I didn't mean give them no snaps by resting them just less than normal. Give Hightower the green dot and see how the defense runs for a series or two should Mayo go down gor real as an example.

We can agree to disagree.

 

[Kontradiction]

A lot of the subbing on defense was because of injuries. Some of it wasn't though. Never said it was all because of injuries. It isn't black and white. But there was far more subbing in the first quarter than there was after that because the subbing was a big cause for the offensive explosion by the Jags (they had over 200 yards of offense in the first quarter and averaged about 70 yards of offense in each of the other three).

The subbing that I saw in the first quarter was Talib coming back in for a series or two before control of the game was lost. He came in holding his hip and still performed better than who was out there. But I agree that it wasn't all due to injuries.

 

[Rob0729]

The subbing that I saw in the first quarter was Talib coming back in for a series or two before control of the game was lost. He came in holding his hip and still performed better than who was out there. But I agree that it wasn't all due to injuries.

Talib came in one play in the first quarter and was quickly pulled. The guy played 8 snaps all game and seven of them were in the second half I think.

I saw a lot subbing going on at the LB position with White pulling out Hightower. I saw they putting in a lot of different combos in the secondary including a scrub like Derrick Martin.

 

[Rob0729]

I didn't mean give them no snaps by resting them just less than normal. Give Hightower the green dot and see how the defense runs for a series or two should Mayo go down gor real as an example.

We can agree to disagree.

But I don't think that was what Belichick was trying to accomplish. I think he wanted depth guys to get snaps to get some experience just in case they are needed in the playoffs. I don't know if he was doing major changes like giving Hightower experience calling plays.

 

[everlong]

But I don't think that was what Belichick was trying to accomplish. I think he wanted depth guys to get snaps to get some experience just in case they are needed in the playoffs. I don't know if he was doing major changes like giving Hightower experience calling plays.

It would be like Bill pulling Tom for two plays then bringing him back in in relation to giving Hightower the head set. I really think Hightower got yanked for short arming that tackle on the sideline. I can see why you think they were doing this I just don't agree. I think they were working guys in because of injuries and making changes because different players were not effective. So yes Martin got a shot but not because of an experiment.

 

[shmessy]

So why did they have all the OL starters (with 3 of them very banged up) in there all game long?

 

[Rob0729]

So why did they have all the OL starters (with 3 of them very banged up) in there all game long?

Doing a lot of rotation on the o-line is never a good thing. You have to leave people in there for an entire series or two. You don't rotate them in and out like you do on the defensive side.

Maybe since Brady was under tons of pressure right off the bat, they didn't want to risk him getting killed. If the Pats marched down the field on the first drive, they might have done more rotations.

Or maybe Belichick was more focused on the defense rotation because it is the defense where the Pats are more banged up and struggling more.

Hoomanawanui had the most snaps of his Pats' career during that game although his snaps increased quite a bit in the last three weeks. Kamar Aiken saw the field which he probably wouldn't if he was on the active roster in either of the two previous games. The fact he was activated for the game itself might have given a clue that Belichick was auditioning some players in this game.