Breer 8/12/07 notes

[PromisedLand]

Re: Breer's tale of the tape

http://news.bostonherald.com/blogs/patriots/

quite interesting..i find breer quite good in terms of techincal stuff compared to even reiss.

I agree - the man seems to know his football.

 

[RayClay]

Re: Breer's tale of the tape

Agreed - Breer knows football and the Patriots - I find myself seeking out his articles every morning now when I get up.

Haven't noticed, but that's a nice trend. Maybe we're moving out the old guard (Borges, Felcher, who wasn't good enough to get worse anyway).

 

[Box_O_Rocks]

Re: Breer's tale of the tape

I will agree that Breer is a very good resource. Amazingly enough, in just the past couple years Boston FB coverage has gone from ungodly horrible to excellent. And it did this seemingly without much notice.

I saw this play differently. It looked to me that Brady's throw was lofted a little too much due to pressure and Welker had to cut back to catch the ball.

That was how I saw the play in 'real time,' I haven't looked at it again on Tivo, but AllWorldTE did and called it an adjustment to the ball - he noted the problem was Light & Mankins being driven back into Brady preventing him from stepping into the throw, a little blocking issue to iron out.

I love Albert's work, though I do have some disagreements with his perspective:

I didn't notice Rashad Moore playing much until near the end of the game, I thought he was pushing too hard, similar to Kareem Brown, without the excuse of no background in this D.

I need to watch the first half on Tivo to see Adalius's game, but it sounds like the same stuff Lua was doing. Beisel, and to a lesser extent Chad Brown were that way in 2005.

Reche was an excellent blocker last season.

In early 2005 Wilfork was trying too hard and taking himself out of plays - which is what I saw from LeKevin Smith tonight. If LeKevin can get more reps this season we may suddenly see him plugging things up inside the way Vince does - before the end of the season.

 

[PatsSteve1]

Re: Breer's tale of the tape

Excellent analysis. Breer is worth reading for stuff that's not obvious. I think he might have gone to Lincoln-Sudbury HS with my daughter.

I have a joke here I'll keep to myself. Just curious but does anyone know what kind of background Breer has in football if any?

 

[PatsSteve1]

Re: Breer's tale of the tape

I will agree that Breer is a very good resource. Amazingly enough, in just the past couple years Boston FB coverage has gone from ungodly horrible to excellent. And it did this seemingly without much notice.

I saw this play differently. It looked to me that Brady's throw was lofted a little too much due to pressure and Welker had to cut back to catch the ball.

Didn't Tom say this himself?

 

[Rob0729]

Re: Breer's tale of the tape

In early 2005 Wilfork was trying too hard and taking himself out of plays - which is what I saw from LeKevin Smith tonight. If LeKevin can get more reps this season we may suddenly see him plugging things up inside the way Vince does - before the end of the season.

I thought Wilfork's problem in early 2005 was that he was playing too close to the line of scrimmage and he couldn't see the play develop. The coaching staff started to have him line up farther off the line of scrimage and his play got better overnight. Maybe this is the case with Le Kevin.

 

[Box_O_Rocks]

Re: Breer's tale of the tape

I thought Wilfork's problem in early 2005 was that he was playing too close to the line of scrimmage and he couldn't see the play develop. The coaching staff started to have him line up farther off the line of scrimage and his play got better overnight. Maybe this is the case with Le Kevin.

LeKevin is lining up about a yard off the ball, Vince used to be a cat's whisker from encroachment before they backed him off. One of the things the coaches eventually did to improve the D-line play was move all the DL back further and force the uncovered O-linemen to have to take an extra step to engage - it bought the DL a little extra time to get set for the double-teams. I recall reading/hearing where Vince himself discussed how he was overplaying the position - I wish I had a link to refer you to for those comments - when I watched Tivo you could see Vince straining to reach the RB instead of steering his blockers to close rush lanes. There was a gradual improvement from about week 6 leading up to about week 10 or 12, then it's like the light came on and the exit doors slammed shut.

The first series of the second half allows folks with Tivo or slow motion capability on their VCR to see the development stages of one gap DL converting to the two gap method: in Seymour's normal spot is Santonio Thomas taking part in his third Patriots' Training Camp and fresh off two full years of the Practice Squad. In Vince's shoes is LeKevin Smith, a second year camper who spent most of last season inactive on the roster, and finally in Ty's slot is rookie Kareem Brown, fresh from being a sack monster at Miami.
- You will see Santonio penetrate the backfield, but usually by walking the blocker back or defeating the block, he pretty consistently occupies the same volume of space on the LOS, guarding "his" gaps.
- LeKevin Smith can be seen trying to bull his way towards the ball carrier, and often winding up out of position. For his best play he stood up the C, stayed home in the middle, and only after the RB committed to a rush lane went to meet him. He didn't make the tackle, but he and Santonio together slammed closed the lane and force the RB to make a spin move in the backfield to change direction and avoid their waiting embrace. The RB was held to a one yd gain by Oscar Lua who was in the wrong place at the right time (he allowed the LG to meet him upfield and open the lane the RB was trying to use - when the RB had to spin out and cut back, he was in the cut back lane through a combination of LG blocking and shedding the block, "dumb luck that" - a Raising Arizona reference for movie buffs). If you look at LeKevin on some of the plays that went for 5-7 yds, you see him struggling towards the RB and being steered away by the blocker(s) instead of him steering the blocker(s) to the play.
- Kareem Brown can be seen trying to shoot a gap and being blown out of position - the RT took him 10 yds upfield on one play (there is a similar play on a later series going the other way, the RB gets turned back and Santonio flattens him, you hear Cross and Criqui (sp?) talking about the discipline to play your assignment, instead of being 10 yds upfield Santonio was camped in a cut back lane waiting for the play to come to him).

 

[RayClay]

Re: Breer's tale of the tape

LeKevin is lining up about a yard off the ball, Vince used to be a cat's whisker from encroachment before they backed him off. One of the things the coaches eventually did to improve the D-line play was move all the DL back further and force the uncovered O-linemen to have to take an extra step to engage - it bought the DL a little extra time to get set for the double-teams. I recall reading/hearing where Vince himself discussed how he was overplaying the position - I wish I had a link to refer you to for those comments - when I watched Tivo you could see Vince straining to reach the RB instead of steering his blockers to close rush lanes. There was a gradual improvement from about week 6 leading up to about week 10 or 12, then it's like the light came on and the exit doors slammed shut.

The first series of the second half allows folks with Tivo or slow motion capability on their VCR to see the development stages of one gap DL converting to the two gap method: in Seymour's normal spot is Santonio Thomas taking part in his third Patriots' Training Camp and fresh off two full years of the Practice Squad. In Vince's shoes is LeKevin Smith, a second year camper who spent most of last season inactive on the roster, and finally in Ty's slot is rookie Kareem Brown, fresh from being a sack monster at Miami.
- You will see Santonio penetrate the backfield, but usually by walking the blocker back or defeating the block, he pretty consistently occupies the same volume of space on the LOS, guarding "his" gaps.
- LeKevin Smith can be seen trying to bull his way towards the ball carrier, and often winding up out of position. For his best play he stood up the C, stayed home in the middle, and only after the RB committed to a rush lane went to meet him. He didn't make the tackle, but he and Santonio together slammed closed the lane and force the RB to make a spin move in the backfield to change direction and avoid their waiting embrace. The RB was held to a one yd gain by Oscar Lua who was in the wrong place at the right time (he allowed the LG to meet him upfield and open the lane the RB was trying to use - when the RB had to spin out and cut back, he was in the cut back lane through a combination of LG blocking and shedding the block, "dumb luck that" - a Raising Arizona reference for movie buffs). If you look at LeKevin on some of the plays that went for 5-7 yds, you see him struggling towards the RB and being steered away by the blocker(s) instead of him steering the blocker(s) to the play.
- Kareem Brown can be seen trying to shoot a gap and being blown out of position - the RT took him 10 yds upfield on one play (there is a similar play on a later series going the other way, the RB gets turned back and Santonio flattens him, you hear Cross and Criqui (sp?) talking about the discipline to play your assignment, instead of being 10 yds upfield Santonio was camped in a cut back lane waiting for the play to come to him).

Great stuff, Box.

 

[unoriginal]

Re: Breer's tale of the tape

This is the 3rd and 4 from the first offensive series of the game. We'll see if anybody likes the illustrated version.

Adjustments were made at the line to deal with the blitz before Welker went in motion. When wide receivers look down the LOS and see the protection maxed out like this they know to make their routes shorter and sweeter than normal.

Gaffney clears out the area Welker is running his quick out in, but Barber has him in man and jams him at the sticks. This is a problem because Welker take time to beat the jam, while Hovan beats Mankins cleanly to his outside shoulder.

Hovan hits Brady right when he releases. Welker makes his cut right at the sticks because of the jam. Normally you'd like to see the quick out cut finish two yards beyond the sticks, because its supposed to hook back at the end in order to make it harder for the corner to jump in front and pick six. However, there's a blitz on, so Welker cuts straight to the sticks and hopes Brady puts it high on the sideline.

It's on the sideline, but its two yards short, and Welker has to come back for it. Welker did nothing wrong, Brady did fine, and Mankins probably felt like punching someone in the balls. Barber and Hovan are the heroes for the Bucs.

 

[Box_O_Rocks]

Re: Breer's tale of the tape

This is the 3rd and 4 from the first offensive series of the game. We'll see if anybody likes the illustrated version.

Adjustments were made at the line to deal with the blitz before Welker went in motion. When wide receivers look down the LOS and see the protection maxed out like this they know to make their routes shorter and sweeter than normal.

Gaffney clears out the area Welker is running his quick out in, but Barber has him in man and jams him at the sticks. This is a problem because Welker take time to beat the jam, while Hovan beats Mankins cleanly to his outside shoulder.

Hovan hits Brady right when he releases. Welker makes his cut right at the sticks because of the jam. Normally you'd like to see the quick out cut finish two yards beyond the sticks, because its supposed to hook back at the end in order to make it harder for the corner to jump in front and pick six. However, there's a blitz on, so Welker cuts straight to the sticks and hopes Brady puts it high on the sideline.

It's on the sideline, but its two yards short, and Welker has to come back for it. Welker did nothing wrong, Brady did fine, and Mankins probably felt like punching someone in the balls. Barber and Hovan are the heroes for the Bucs.

Harumph, I even cut and pasted the image URL into a new browser tab and it still didn't come up, it's time to bring back typewriters and scrap this newfangled interstuff thingy! :bricks:

 

[Mike the Brit]

Re: Breer's tale of the tape

Terrific stuff, Unoriginal. Thanks for the lesson -- much appreciated!

 

[shakadave]

Re: Breer's tale of the tape

This is the 3rd and 4 from the first offensive series of the game. We'll see if anybody likes the illustrated version.

Adjustments were made at the line to deal with the blitz before Welker went in motion. When wide receivers look down the LOS and see the protection maxed out like this they know to make their routes shorter and sweeter than normal.

Gaffney clears out the area Welker is running his quick out in, but Barber has him in man and jams him at the sticks. This is a problem because Welker take time to beat the jam, while Hovan beats Mankins cleanly to his outside shoulder.

Hovan hits Brady right when he releases. Welker makes his cut right at the sticks because of the jam. Normally you'd like to see the quick out cut finish two yards beyond the sticks, because its supposed to hook back at the end in order to make it harder for the corner to jump in front and pick six. However, there's a blitz on, so Welker cuts straight to the sticks and hopes Brady puts it high on the sideline.

It's on the sideline, but its two yards short, and Welker has to come back for it. Welker did nothing wrong, Brady did fine, and Mankins probably felt like punching someone in the balls. Barber and Hovan are the heroes for the Bucs.

More quality education here. Any time you do this again, feel free to barge into other threads and advertise --- I'd hate to miss one!