Finally ! The Blitz has been implemented

I don't think it's something we'll see more. Unfortunately, I just think that it was in the game plan for this game. I don't think the game against the Rams really means much going forward as far as blitzing is concerned. I hope I'm wrong.

jmt57 said:

You're right; Belichick has such a long history of doing things and making decision based on fan polls, media reactions, PR advice and whatever else the popular sentiment is at the moment.

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don't forget espn and those geniuses.

Serious question- why is blitzing with the linebackers considered risky vs the pass when all of the big plays happen way down the field where our lbs are not active anyway?

Cassanova792 said:

Playing a safe and conservative defense is absolutely asinine especially with our style of offense. When you play the conservative bend but dont break defense like we have been doing for quite some time, what you essentially do is keep Brady and our explosive offense off the field because opposing QB's can easily find the first downs due to soft coverage.

The mantra of our defensive philosophy should be the complete opposite. Make it extremely hard for them to get first downs due to constant pressure. Knowing that we have such a high octane offense means we can keep up with any team offensively. Defensively speaking, we can afford to take more risks even if that means giving up the big play!

The true enemy is, allowing opposing offenses to eat precious clock time with the hopes that they make mistakes as opposed to US creating them. In effect what you see are easy to read vanilla yet safe schemes. Yes we do risk the chance of getting beat with the big plays (but heck we have been getting beat with them regardless) but our offense has more than enough weapons to trade blow by blow if need to and more importantly the time to do it!

Bottom line: We need to effin blitz the crap out of every team here on out!! :rocker:

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Had to quote this because it deserves to be said more than once. This is exactly how I've felt the first few weeks. From a strategic standpoint, this in my mind is clearly what needs to be pursued especially when the "safe" strategy has continually been beaten as evidenced by the fact that the Pats have given up the most 20+ yard pass plays in the league by far.

AndyJohnson said:

When you blitz and have fewer defenders in coverage you expand the area each defender must cover, increasing the chance of misplaying a route. Wilson had him inside and to the corner, and guessed wrong. Making him guess was a fucntion of the blitz.

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Uh! Even with the blitz, the Patriots had both safeties deep on the play. I'm not sure there are many times when even the too-conservative Pats D play 3 deep.

VJCPatriot said:

Chung did not play in that game. Neither did Gregory. Our secondary play also looked remarkably improved. Coincidence?

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Chung and Gregory were both out in the Jets game too.

Observer said:

Serious question- why is blitzing with the linebackers considered risky vs the pass when all of the big plays happen way down the field where our lbs are not active anyway?

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Leaves open underneath routes?

Brady eats those for breakfast.

randomk1 said:

Leaves open underneath routes?

Brady eats those for breakfast.

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Lunch and dinner too.

The blitz, as has been mentioned, was gameplan specific. The Rams O-Line has been borderline awful in pass protection.

AndyJohnson said:

You do realize we blitzed in the first 7 games and were often burned when we did, right?

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Yes, but when haven't we been burned?

The point is that I think its better to atleast try and get some pressure by the blitz rather than let these dopey defensive backs sit there and get scorched all season.

randomk1 said:

Leaves open underneath routes?

Brady eats those for breakfast.

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But underneath routes are not what we are having trouble with. For example the rams touchdown was on a deep pass. I don't understand what harm the blitz itself caused on that particular play( and other deep plays).

I posted this query on Ken's thread but this is also a good one to check: how much did Josh's familiarity with his former team help us in putting up such a commanding performance? (If you think zero, think about how Gruden and the Bucs demolished his former team, Raiders, in the SB a few years back; some Raiders mentioned that it was as if the Bucs knew every single play the second it was called out.)

Thanks!

NYCPatsFan said:

I posted this query on Ken's thread but this is also a good one to check: how much did Josh's familiarity with his former team help us in putting up such a commanding performance? (If you think zero, think about how Gruden and the Bucs demolished his former team, Raiders, in the SB a few years back; some Raiders mentioned that it was as if the Bucs knew every single play the second it was called out.)

Thanks!

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Or, even more recently, what the Pats did to the Broncos in the 2011 Divisional round.

Observer said:

But underneath routes are not what we are having trouble with. For example the rams touchdown was on a deep pass. I don't understand what harm the blitz itself caused on that particular play( and other deep plays).

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Well...since the underneath routes are more vulnerable i'm guessing that leaves more responsibilities on the safeties and also less help for the CBs on the outside because of it.

That is my understanding of the to blitz or not to blitz argument.

Kid~Brady said:

Yes, but when haven't we been burned?

The point is that I think its better to atleast try and get some pressure by the blitz rather than let these dopey defensive backs sit there and get scorched all season.

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Belichick disagrees with you, and he's right to do so. The problem isn't the scheme. The problem is that the DBs haven't even been able to handle something as basic as "don't let anyone get deeper than you".

Kenneth Sims said:

Uh! Even with the blitz, the Patriots had both safeties deep on the play. I'm not sure there are many times when even the too-conservative Pats D play 3 deep.

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It think you missed the point. Being deep in 8 man coverage and being deep in 5 man coverage but totally different stress levels on the area you are assigned.

Every year there's some game where the Patriots blitz a lot and have success against a weak oline, and every year some fans get convinced that they've "turned the corner" and are suddenly going to be a blitz-heavy defense.

It's not happening. Like our offense, the defense operates on gameplans. I don't think we'll be seeing this much blitzing on a weekly basis.

I do agree that the Patriots should blitz more than they do. For a team that prides itself on adapting its system for its players, they sure don't seem to take advantage of the ability of guys like Mayo, Spikes, and Hightower when it comes to blitzing. All three of them are excellent downhill LBs, spikes and HT in particular.

Problem is, I don't think Belichick trusts this secondary (and he shouldn't). He's been looking for that right combination for a few seasons now.

Against a weak wideout corps, the McCourty/Wilson/Cole/Dennard combination looked solid. Throw Gregory in at safety and McCourty in at corner, with Cole playing the slot, and I think that's probably the best rotation we can get this season. Chung looks more and more like a base defense guy--he doesn't have the athleticism for subpackages. Moore shows playmaking potential at times, and looks lost at others. He should remain the dimeback for now, although he played a lot in Lond--will have to re-watch the game.

If that combo works out, maybe then BB gets a little more aggressive with these LBs--he should, because they're the strength of the defense.

If it's any consolation that we might see more of this as the year goes on, the Patriots secondary may not look a lot better, but they've improved tremendously in man-to-man coverage. They've most been getting exploited when running zone concepts. If they shore up the zone and continue to improve in man, you could very well see a more aggressive Pats D.

However they really need to stop giving up these deep plays. If they continue to do that, there's no way Belichick will call those aggressive defenses.

If you gave Russel Wilson, Kevin Kolb, or Joe Flacco a smaller pocket and less time to look for his receiving options, it is my opinion that they would not have had what looked like career games or close to career games against the Pats.

What could be worse that the Pats play "safe" and that the opponents complete all those 20+ yard throws? Oh wait, that actually happened and that's because of little pressure generated by 3 or 4 linemen giving those QB's 4+ seconds of time to wait for a receiver to get open. Most any NFL caliber QB with that large of a pocket and time to throw the ball will eventually find an open receiver.

Why blitzing should be "gameplan" specific is beyond me especially with how effective the Pats offense can answer an opponents scoring plays with touchdowns of their own. TB and company will win the majority of shootouts in the NFL even if a hot QB came in and burned an aggressive pats defense.

AndyJohnson said:

It think you missed the point. Being deep in 8 man coverage and being deep in 5 man coverage but totally different stress levels on the area you are assigned.

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Yes it is, but the biggest thing that determines zone stress levels and zone integrity is how long the quarterback has to throw the ball. To me, this play was more an indictment of zone defenses than blitzing. Inevitably, all coverage is man-to-man (the receiver going through the zone and the defender assigned to the zone). What the Rams did with that play, as the Seahawks did 2 weeks ago, was design and execute a play exploiting the 2-deep zone. Both outside receivers ran deep patterns occupying both safeties so what you ended up with was man-to-man coverage 50 yards down field against a rookie safety while the cornerback was defending grass or field turf at the 30 yard line.

I hope what we saw yesterday was not game-specific but a recognition that doing what they were doing is not what's best for their personnel and the realities of slowing NFL passing offenses in 2012. This pass defense can be better than average if they play like they mostly did yesterday: play good man-to-man with an improved pass rush from bringing a 5th rusher and the shell games you can play off it along with excellent tackling.

I just want to point something out here.....

For all the talk about how effective the blitz was, the reality is that the Rams were moving the ball up and down the field in the first half. The only time they got stopped is when they stopped themselves with a penalty and put themselves in a hole that they weren't able to dig out of. The injury to Givens was also a factor.

Drive 1: TD

Drive 2: Rams get ball on their 12, get 2 first downs and move the ball to their 42, then get a penalty for illegal touching on a play where the receiver made the catch for a 17 yard gain, putting them in 1st and 15.

Drive 3: Rams get ball on their 20, get a first down and then commit a false start, putting them in 1st and 15.

Drive 4: Rams get ball on their 29, get 2 first downs and move the ball to the NE 41, then commit holding penalty on a 6 yard run, putting them in 1st and 20.

Drive 5: snap to end half

So, the Rams offense shot itself in the foot on 3 of the 4 'real' possessions in the first half, while the Patriots scored 4 straight TDs and then opened the second half with another TD. The game was essentially over at that point.

I'm not saying that the blitzing didn't help, or that it did, just as I'm not saying that the secondary did a better job, or that it didn't. I'm saying that the Rams killed themselves when the game was still in reach. It'll take a serious look at the tape to really know the impact of the blitzes and the secondary.