Ben Volin a.k.a MCI: Give credit to Dallas....they did a good job of slowing down our offense

DefenseRules said:

LOL does he really do that?

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Looks like he's just realizing he forgot to turn on the crock pot before he left the house this morning. If that's his "death stare", well... he's coming up a little light, putting it nicely.

blueberryicedcoffee said:

Jason Garrett never says anything negative, he just stares at players when he's angry at them and they immediately feel their soul slipping away.

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I thought Garrett always clapped no matter what.

Reckedtrek said:

Looks like he's just realizing he forgot to turn on the crock pot before he left the house this morning. If that's his "death stare", well... he's coming up a little light, putting it nicely.

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I respectfully disagree. Not all coaches throw temper tantrums. If I was a bubble player that got that look, I would put my house up for rent and start looking at other teams.

zydecochris said:

I respectfully disagree. Not all coaches throw temper tantrums. If I was a bubble player that got that look, I would put my house up for rent and start looking at other teams.

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Reckedtrek said:

Looks like he's just realizing he forgot to turn on the crock pot before he left the house this morning. If that's his "death stare", well... he's coming up a little light, putting it nicely.

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Unless something awesome happens, he's very stoic. If he's happy he smiles, claps and gives you a slap on the rear. But if he's really upset, the stare comes out. And the players do not like the stare.

As stoic as he is on the sidelines, if you screw something up, something tells me you do NOT want to have a one-on-one conversation with him the next day. It would be like having a conversation with football Raymond Reddington that's not a criminal mastermind or bald or as good of an actor.

But the players love him. They love playing for him. That's the most underrated aspect of him as a coach - he brings out the best in his players

The MCI is bad, but his real awfulness is on Twitter, not in articles.

Well the Patriots offense can be slowed if you can get pressure in under 2 seconds. Hardy and others for Dallas were able to do this for a while. With doing that you need to crowd the line an eliminate the short throw as much as possible by jamming WRs and allowing the over the top throw if they have time.

This is the only way to deal with this Patriots offense but it has down sides the most obvious being if your pass rush fails to get there you are in trouble.

The way the Patriots attacked this is they decided to run a little more and then when from their usual 3 steps quick drop to a 1 step quick drop. Basically they went even faster than the pass rush could get there. This has down sides too. It makes your offense very predictable (Brady almost got picked 6'd cause of that behind the line pass to Edelman) and you are depending on your first read to get open and it has little hope to gain you much.

It did help to take a little someone out of the pass rush though and they were able to return to their usually 3 step drop after they got a little momentum going.

That said, it's a bad article.

Yes, the Cowboys gave the Patriots trouble. Then the Patriots adjusted (and not just at halftime, as MCI lazily claims). So there's not necessarily a blueprint there -- or, if there is, he needs to argue what it is.

Further, it's not even a new plan -- rush a few, flood the field with defenders, and hope your few rushers eventually get to Brady has been tried multiple times in the past, with some success.

Fencer said:

That said, it's a bad article.

Yes, the Cowboys gave the Patriots trouble. Then the Patriots adjusted (and not just at halftime, as MCI lazily claims). So there's not necessarily a blueprint there -- or, if there is, he needs to argue what it is.

Further, it's not even a new plan -- rush a few, flood the field with defenders, and hope your few rushers eventually get to Brady has been tried multiple times in the past, with some success.

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"Trouble"

They gave up 400+ yards and 30 points.

This is what the BSM is reduced to. Complaining that they didn't blow out a team on the road by enough, or fast enough.

And to those who said Volin was being "sarcastic"? No. The MCI does not understand sarcasm. Only Google.

TommyD4207 said:

"Trouble"

They gave up 400+ yards and 30 points.

This is what the BSM is reduced to. Complaining that they didn't blow out a team on the road by enough, or fast enough.

And to those who said Volin was being "sarcastic"? No. The MCI does not understand sarcasm. Only Google.

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Hilarious...but I think many experts were expecting the Pats to score more points. There's no question that the offense needed time to find its footing, especially given that Brady got sacked five times (!) in the first half.

Unlike Volin, Mike Reiss disputes the notion that the Cowboys somehow provided the "blueprint" for defeating the Patriots offense

http://espn.go.com/blog/new-england...id-cowboys-provide-blueprint-to-slow-patriots

Reiss: I’ve fallen into the "blueprint" trap before, ECF, so I think we need to be careful here. I think about how many times in the past we’ve seen a performance like that, talked about a "blueprint" to slow the Patriots down (e.g. 2007), and then they come back and win big the next week because maybe that week’s opponent doesn’t have the same type of personnel to execute that plan. So I’d start with that context. At the same time, the NFL is a copycat league and the Cowboys put some good stuff on film for other teams to study. Essentially what they did was play most of the game in a lighter box (3-2-6 dime), dared the Patriots to run, and created pass-protection issues for them in the process. Rex Ryan once did something similar with the Jets and had success (e.g. 2010 playoffs). In the end, let’s not forget the Patriots still put up 30 points against the Cowboys, but it was a struggle at times, and a reminder that other coaching staffs are sharp and other teams have talented players, too. So I wouldn’t read too much into it, other than the NFL is a competitive league and you have to be ready for the unexpected each week. That’s my biggest takeaway.