Attack the slow footed Flacco

[patsfanincleveland]

Well, he did exactly that against us last year in the AFCGC.

I say blitz and play the ball. He will chuck it up.

When exactly did that happen?

Baltimore scored 3 off the Woodhead fumble already in FG range.

Baltimore scored 7 off the first Brady INT off of a fairly short field.

That's 10 points off sustained drives.

How this gets extrapolated to some sort of offensive blitzkreig is interesting.

Flacco didn't "outplay" Brady. TB really underplayed Flacco.

The reality is the Denver needed to avoid a historic safety blunder and realize Champ shouldn't man on Smith to win.

 

[PlainOldEd]

BB should break out one of his defensive gameplans back when he would play Drew Bledsoe. Flacco IMO is the exact same guy. Tall, strong arm, slow feet, and slow thinker..

See 1994 playoff game against the browns. If I remember it right.....the Browns sent the entire defense up the middle on every down.

Hey, I know Drew Bledsoe, and believe me Joe Flacco, you ain't no Drew Bledsoe.....

 

[Luke Skywelker]

The guy may not throw picks, but he does take sacks and fumbles consistently. If you go three years out, he's at the top of the league in both categories.

NFL Football Player Stats & Stats Leaders - Sacked

He's not a quick read kind of guy, kind of a slow twitch gray matter type and needs some time to survey to be effective. He will fold quick if he feels pressure, isn't the kind of guy that tries to escape and often loses site of what's going on around him if he's winding up. So there is that split second that matters on whether he folds or delivers. If he gets time, he has a cannon. He's a low completion % guy, but can complete the long pass and has the weapons.


Anyway you slice it, it will likely be a tale of two halves. My guess it the Pats figure they score in this one, play it safe and run contain/give Flacco the intermediate throws and see if they can take advantage of the low % first. They read and make adjustments at half time depending on score and put some heat on him in 2nd half if needed.

Basic question here is how high risk high reward do they want to play given defensive personnel/confidence in offense and how much risk is needed to win this game. They could go high risk/reward, see Flacco fold and win comfortably or torch them to some quick easy scores. Or they can play conservative, match them score for score, and see who wins the chess match in the 4th quarter.

I would HAVE to think, BB protects against anything beyond the safeties in this one.

 

[Ring 6]

Pats have to stay aggressive against Flacco. Rushing only four is playing right into his hands. His feet are slow and his ability to react is slow if you watch him. Interior ILB blitzes and other schemed 5 and 6 man rushes will be tremendous strategy to force him into quick decisions which he struggles with.

A basic four man rush plays right into his hands. He will find all the seam and soft parts of the zone with Pitta, ****son and Boldin. It's critical for us to attack him with 5 and 6.

Actually since they only seem to be effective throwing the deep ball, keeping men in coverage may be wisest

 

[Ring 6]

If we consistently blow up with middle by sending either (Mayo, Spikes or Hightower) one or two of them at Flacco, you make Mr. Methodical Flacco even more slower. He'll cave. The key is to send more than 4, he'll fold up like a tent.

Baltimores OL is very good at picking up blitzes. Your play will often leave us with less men in coverage and no more pressure.

 

[Nunchucks]

Baltimores OL is very good at picking up blitzes. Your play will often leave us with less men in coverage and no more pressure.

I kind of disagree. This is a new OL, guys playing different positions. Challenge their blocking scheme rules and take advantage of their newness to the role.

 

[The_Riddler]

Actually since they only seem to be effective throwing the deep ball, keeping men in coverage may be wisest

You're missing point. Flacco, as mentioned earlier, is "slow" to react. Not only with his footwork, but also with his brain. He's not the quickest jet out on the tarmac. For him to be effective, rushing 4 plays right into his hands. That's what he wants, he wants that additional time to make those long throws, because he can do it and make the correct reads even with more men back in coverage.

The idea is to attack his weakness. Clearly his weakness is his ability to move, his ability to process the pressure around him. If you hit him quick and things start to collapse early around him, as mentioned, he'll fold up like a tent and take the sack and/or put the ball on the carpet. Again, a consistent 5/6 at him all game or in a disguised fashion will cause nightmares for Slow Joe.

 

[Deus Irae]

You're missing point. Flacco, as mentioned earlier, is "slow" to react. Not on ly with his foot work, but also with his brain. He's not the quickest jet out on the tarmac. For him to be effective, rushing 4 plays right into his hands. That's what he wants, he wants that additional time to make those long throws, because he can do it and make the correct reads even with more men back in coverage.

The idea is to attack his weakness. Clearly his weakness is his ability to move, his ability to process the pressure around him. If you hit him quick and things start to collapse early around him, as mentioned, he'll fold up like a tent and take the sack and/or put the ball on the carpet. Again, a consistent 5/6 at him all game or in a disguised fashion will cause nightmares for Slow Joe.

Actually, if his strength is throwing the long ball, you attack this by denying him the long ball, and you force him to win in another manner. That's generally the Bill Belichick way.

 

[The_Riddler]

Actually, if his strength is throwing the long ball, you attack this by denying him the long ball, and you force him to win in another manner. That's generally the Bill Belichick way.

Joe isn't only about the long ball, he can make those seam and intermediate throws also to Pitta and Boldin, not all about the deep stuff. Again, he needs to be pressured. Denver rushed 4 alot in the game and got burnt. Denver made the foolish mistake of relying on their DE's to get all the pressure with a basic 4 man rush for most of the game and they got no where near Flacco and he made them pay.

Let's not make that same mistake. If he has time, Flacco can really hurt us.

 

[patsfanincleveland]

Joe isn't only about the long ball, he can make those seam and intermediate throws also to Pitta and Boldin, not all about the deep stuff. Again, he needs to be pressured. Denver rushed 4 alot in the game and got burnt. Denver made the foolish mistake of relying on their DE's to get all the pressure with a basic 4 man rush for most of the game and they got no where near Flacco and he made them pay.

Let's not make that same mistake. If he has time, Flacco can really hurt us.

The reality with Flacco (and any playoff QB) is a defense has to mix it up.

Make Flacco matriculate the ball down the field.

Also, providing Champ Bailey Island with a stowaway might be a good idea.

 

[Deus Irae]

Joe isn't only about the long ball, he can make those seam and intermediate throws also to Pitta and Boldin, not all about the deep stuff. Again, he needs to be pressured. Denver rushed 4 alot in the game and got burnt. Denver made the foolish mistake of relying on their DE's to get all the pressure with a basic 4 man rush for most of the game and they got no where near Flacco and he made them pay.

Let's not make that same mistake. If he has time, Flacco can really hurt us.

Denver didn't get burned. Denver played poorly, and came in as a wildly overrated team in the first place, yet still would have won if a safety hadn't completely screwed up a coverage. There's a big difference.

Your argument doesn't hold up under historical scrutiny, because the Patriots have beaten Flacco most of the time, and they've done so by keeping the long ball off the table more than by throwing themselves at the line.

BTW, not that I'm claiming it's definitive proof of the correctness of my position, but Wiggins is on the radio saying exactly what I've been posting.

 

[everlong]

I can't see the Pats pulling a Houston and blitzing 50+% of the time. It's just not Bill's way. I do think they'll selectively blitz and if they do somebody has to put Ray Rice on his @ss ala Marshall Faulk because he'll kill them in the screen game.

Nobody in the secondary can go one on one with Smith. I think they're better off putting Talib on Bolden and taking him out. Then put Dennard on Smith and give him help over the top. If you're going to blitz that still put Pita and Rice singled up and if you don't get there they're going to have lots of room to run with Bolden and Smith spreading the field. Bill will want either Mayo or Spikes hitting Rice on the way out and either Hightower or Ninkovich doing the same to Pita. They can't get free releases.

 

[jmt57]

Flacco is on the cover of Sports Illustrated this week.

Time for the fabled SI Jinx to strike.

 

[Brady_to_Moss]

in order to slow him..you need pressure....but lately it's hard to come by

 

[JackBauer]

BTW, not that I'm claiming it's definitive proof of the correctness of my position, but Wiggins is on the radio saying exactly what I've been posting.

That's probably a good thing.

 

[Ring 6]

You're missing point. Flacco, as mentioned earlier, is "slow" to react. Not only with his footwork, but also with his brain. He's not the quickest jet out on the tarmac. For him to be effective, rushing 4 plays right into his hands. That's what he wants, he wants that additional time to make those long throws, because he can do it and make the correct reads even with more men back in coverage.

The idea is to attack his weakness. Clearly his weakness is his ability to move, his ability to process the pressure around him. If you hit him quick and things start to collapse early around him, as mentioned, he'll fold up like a tent and take the sack and/or put the ball on the carpet. Again, a consistent 5/6 at him all game or in a disguised fashion will cause nightmares for Slow Joe.

I think we disagree on what is 'clear'.
However, even if we accept your exceedingly negative assessment of a QB who currently may have the 2nd best playoff resume in the NFL, you appear to be assuming that blitzing is a guaranteed success. If you rush 5 or 6 and leave only 5 or 6 in coverage, you allow him to overcome those deficencies by making the coverage easier to read and the receivers harder to cover.

 

[Deus Irae]

That's probably a good thing.

I agree. I was just noting the coincidence because of the timing.

 

[PATSYLICIOUS]

Flacco is on the cover of Sports Illustrated this week.

Time for the fabled SI Jinx to strike.

I also saw on NFLN a pro-Flacco graphic showing Brady vs Flacco's stats in this rivalry since 2010 where Flacco's happened to be much better. Also his agent went on record today saying that Flacco's proving right now that he is a top 5 QB. LOTS of pressure being put on him as opposed to last year when everyone was crapping on him after a couple poor games leading to the AFCC and not really expecting much.

It's nothing incredibly special to have one big performance like Flacco in the 2011 AFCC when nobody sees it coming. The true greats are the ones that don't just do it once, but come back and do it again with the added pressure and expectations. We're going to find out Sunday what Flacco is really made of.

 

[DocHoliday]

I don't know if Dennard is the right guy to be put on Smith, even with Safety help.

He's eventually gonna find himself on the island, and he's simply not tall enough.

Put Talib on him, Dennard on Boldin in base, Dennard on Jones when in the nickel, and Arrington on Boldin in the nickel.

And beat the snot out of Rice. Wish we'd see some physicality from one of our two FSs and have them nuke Rice when the inevitable pass to the flat comes.

 

[Luke Skywelker]

It you look at Flacco's 5-6 worst performance of the year(Philly, KC, Denver, San Diego, Pittsburgh, Houston), he was hit often and fumbled the ball in most of those games, whether the opposition recovered or not. Starting to think if you can jar the ball loose early, it gets into his skull and he gets skittish.

I might throw a couple blitzes at him early, take a couple gambles to see if they can get to him - if they can, it could have long term benefits in this game. NE has the offense to come back if they get burned once/twice. If they can't, they go contain/give him the short stuff and bring on as need basis later in game.