Idle thoughts - the football talk edition.

I tend to think that these threads at times border on the unreasonably homer side of things but, I have to say, this one was a breath of fresh air. I have a few reports to do at work, then I'll respond in more detail.

dannydyn said:

It's a neutral site but the Seahawks fanbase travels well, as he put it. As an example, you can look at last year's superbowl which was held all the way out on the east coast, and yet the 12th man was in full force. Manning had to operate in silent mode from the first snap (which ended up in a safety).

Glendale is a dome, things might be even worse for us than they were for the Broncos last year. In that aspect, the Pats are about the face the worst possible fanbase.

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Don't think that BB would overlook something that Fox overlooked last year. Fox did not practice for a noisy stadium and paid dearly for it.

Pats fans who go to the game better rest their voices so they can yell as loud as Seattle fans

Great post.

I think setting the tone is massive in this game. Can't wait to see the play calls on the opening drive. Very intriguing match up indeed.

Momentum comes and goes in the Super Bowl (apart from last years when it was all Seattle) but starting with it always breathes confidence into a team and puts doubt in the minds of the opposition. Games are often won and lost in the mind.

Hopefully McDaniels and the rest of the Offensive staff are looking closely at the tape from the NFCCG to see what GB was doing that made Seattle D jump offsides 2-3 times. I mean they were playing at home. Doesn't Seattle lead the league in causing false starts?

Suppose we win the toss, defer, manage to get Seattle to go 3 and out, or at least not score any points, would you have the Pats come out in the hurry-up? I am nervous about relying on Blount to start things up. He doesn't get any yardage early (at least in my perception) and often just runs into the D line for little or no gain. In fact, if Seattle manages to score any points on the first drive, I think I might go hurry up.

Speaking of the toss, does Seattle always defer? take the ball? mix it up? If they won it against the Pats I assume they would defer in order to screw us up.

Thoughts?

PatsDeb said:

Suppose we win the toss, defer, manage to get Seattle to go 3 and out, or at least not score any points, would you have the Pats come out in the hurry-up? I am nervous about relying on Blount to start things up. He doesn't get any yardage early (at least in my perception) and often just runs into the D line for little or no gain. In fact, if Seattle manages to score any points on the first drive, I think I might go hurry up.

Speaking of the toss, does Seattle always defer? take the ball? mix it up? If they won it against the Pats I assume they would defer in order to screw us up.

Thoughts?

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Well, for me it is easy. I love the no-huddle, especially against teams that use a lot of sub-packages. The problem is you can only use it effectively for a limited universe of plays. But it puts a lot of pressure on the defense and is exhausting to defend.

Seattle usually defers, like they did against the Packers.

the only thing I'm sort of in disagreement is the interior DL of the seahawks. No Mebane, No Jordan Hill.....based on their snap count, they're spending most of the time with only one true DT on the field since kevin williams and tony mcdaniel were at about 40% of the snaps and Cohen got 20%....couple that with the fact that against the packers, 7 of their defenders played better than 90% of the snaps, and 2 of those guys (thomas and sherman) are hurting a bit. If anything, I would try to dictate an uptempo pace and try to catch the seahawks in certain personnel groupings and keep them there. I don't think they have the manpower to survive a high snapcount game.

I think guys like edelman and amendola can get their DB's to bite on something and get open deeper.....with thomas hurting, a combo of those guys and gronk down the middle should provide some openings. I also think that lafell will get open in the middle.

defensively for the pats it will be about discipline and staying with the pass catchers through to the end of the play....especially the broken ones. try to keep wilson in the pocket.....my biggest concern is that both ninkovich and jones seem to get behind the QB alot and that's a nono against wilson.

PatsDeb said:

Suppose we win the toss, defer, manage to get Seattle to go 3 and out, or at least not score any points, would you have the Pats come out in the hurry-up? I am nervous about relying on Blount to start things up. He doesn't get any yardage early (at least in my perception) and often just runs into the D line for little or no gain. In fact, if Seattle manages to score any points on the first drive, I think I might go hurry up.

Speaking of the toss, does Seattle always defer? take the ball? mix it up? If they won it against the Pats I assume they would defer in order to screw us up.

Thoughts?

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hurry up would work.......2 years ago brady moved the ball at will on these guys in the hurry up

I just think that this seahawks team interior rushing defense would be suspect. williams and mcdaniel can't hold up for an entire game....I don't believe they can get big enough to hold up against the 6 OL's the pats deploy.......that config could give the hawks a huge headache

PP2 said:

Don't think that BB would overlook something that Fox overlooked last year. Fox did not practice for a noisy stadium and paid dearly for it.

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How you could think the Super Bowl will not be loud, no matter who is playing, is beyond me.

IllegalContact said:

the only thing I'm sort of in disagreement is the interior DL of the seahawks. No Mebane, No Jordan Hill.....based on their snap count, they're spending most of the time with only one true DT on the field since kevin williams and tony mcdaniel were at about 40% of the snaps and Cohen got 20%....couple that with the fact that against the packers, 7 of their defenders played better than 90% of the snaps, and 2 of those guys (thomas and sherman) are hurting a bit. If anything, I would try to dictate an uptempo pace and try to catch the seahawks in certain personnel groupings and keep them there. I don't think they have the manpower to survive a high snapcount game.

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Yes, I discussed this in the "Who's A-Feared of the Hawks" thread. They are only carrying 3 DTs. If they go to a front with only one DT that seems pretty inviting.

IllegalContact said:

I think guys like edelman and amendola can get their DB's to bite on something and get open deeper.....with
thomas hurting, a combo of those guys and gronk down the middle should provide some openings. I also think that lafell will get open in the middle.

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Targeting Thomas makes sense, but you still need to worry about Chancellor and Wagner.

IllegalContact said:

defensively for the pats it will be about discipline and staying with the pass catchers through to the end of the play....especially the broken ones. try to keep wilson in the pocket.....my biggest concern is that both ninkovich and jones seem to get behind the QB alot and that's a nono against wilson.

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I think the Pats did a good job of this against the Packers (staying with their assignment). Agree about avoiding getting caught behind Wilson.

The Brandon Five said:

Hopefully McDaniels and the rest of the Offensive staff are looking closely at the tape from the NFCCG to see what GB was doing that made Seattle D jump offsides 2-3 times. I mean they were playing at home. Doesn't Seattle lead the league in causing false starts?

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McD and the O need to concentrate on not crapping the bed like they did in SB42

moejr said:

McD and the O need to concentrate on not crapping the bed like they did in SB42

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IIRC, when they did their walkthrough the Giants' DL were "smacking their lips" at the turf in Univ. of Phoenix stadium. Given that the Seattle pass-rush is more speed-based that could be a factor. Need to be prepared for the possibility that they will be even more explosive than usual. At least they will have plenty of tape on them playing on that field because the Cards are in their division.

I agree that it is going to be a fantastic matchup of the two best teams currently in the NFL.

Here are the points that I would emphasize.

1. Turnovers and Points off turnovers. We cannot make mistakes with the football or it will really haunt us. Same goes double for Seattle, which doesn't feature a really potent offense. They will have trouble catching up if they fall behind early. Russell Wilson can be fooled into turning the ball over, if we can get a couple that would be HUGE.

2. Balanced offense. Blount or whoever we put out there has to keep the defense honest respecting the run. If it works, play action and everything else opens up. If we get stuffed repeatedly on running plays and it goes out of our arsenal I think we are in trouble because Seattle has a ballhawking defense.

3. X-factor. Jamie Collins. I think he will be our most influential defensive player aside from Darrell Revis. If Collins can be his usually disruptive self in all phases of the game, the Seahawks offense will not find any room to operate.

4. Seattle's key begins with Marshawn Lynch. Contain him, and the Hawks will struggle. If we keep him under 100 and make Wilson beat us with his arm, I really like our chances.

5. Coaching, coaching, coaching. This is it for all the marbles! I hope that BB and Josh McD and the rest of the coaches have come up with a genius gameplan with all sorts of wrinkles to confuse and befuddle Seattle. For Carroll this is his chance to triumph over the club that dumped him and show that his 'football' is the better way. He doesn't have anything to prove, he already has a ring, but if he can beat BB head to head on the biggest stage, that would really boost his credentials.

I have trust in our coaching staff, our players, and our organization. Let's just kick ass on Super Sunday and forget all the distractions. They can't Kill our Joy! Go Pats!!

The Brandon Five said:

Yes, I discussed this in the "Who's A-Feared of the Hawks" thread. They are only carrying 3 DTs. If they go to a front with only one DT that seems pretty inviting.



Targeting Thomas makes sense, but you still need to worry about Chancellor and Wagner.



I think the Pats did a good job of this against the Packers (staying with their assignment). Agree about avoiding getting caught behind Wilson.

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When it comes to chancellor and Wagner, play action gets em both to bite......neither is that know for being good deep

I want to see a formation with everyone except Gronk on the side opposite of Sherman just to see what happens.

Also I'd like to see a normal run by Blount with Gronk or LaFell or somebody blocking Sherman to see if that injury is real. If it is, the receiver blocks the safety and Blount goes 1 on 1 with a one armed Sherman.

The Brandon Five said:

I think part of that was people rooting against the Broncos, no?

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And you believe we will be everybody's darling?

patfanken said:

Arm tackles are NOT an option

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Gang tackle, gang tackle, gang tackle! I want two LBs, a S, and all three DLs (all 800+lbs of them) falling on top of him every time so that the "wear and tear" is mutual. Interestingly, I would think this would be one of those games where you might NOT emphasize stripping the ball as it occupies that hands and prevents wrap up form tackling.

Run the damn ball!

I just wanted to thank the few people who took time off from the "deflategate" hysteria to post some thoughts on.....I, don't know......the up coming football game. I woke this morning to find this thread, along with any other thread remotely attempting to discuss some actual football, relegated to the 2nd page. THAT is how far we've gone off on all this.

Again, for those of you who actually made a attempt, I appreciated it and later on in the day will address some of the posts......if I can still find the thread.