Football Outsiders on Martellus Bennett

signbabybrady said:

Flood the middle and Brady can eat it up by throwing in the flat or the wheel to Dion Lewis.

Or just flex the TE out wide and line the little guys in the slots and let them flood the middle.

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All that is still the middle of the field...

AndyJohnson said:

We run as many receivers on deep routes to clear out as any other team does.

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Running slot receivers on those routes doesn't really threaten the defense. You have to have a WR that's capable of converting those plays down the field.

Brady_to_Moss said:

Bennett at his best is a top 5 TE IMO

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Ok, so we now have 2 of the top 5 TE's in football...that doesn't suck

Marqui said:

Honestly a team can just shut that down but flooding the middle of the field as usual. A team with a lot of good man 2 man players will be able to stop us if we have no outside downfield presence at WR.

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If the injury bug on O hadn't hit us particularly hard last season (it happens even to the best of them), I'm convinced the seemingly lesser receiving target rich environment and OL as it stood of 2016 would have hoisted the Lombardi (IMO). Prior to the injury bug we were embarrassing most opponents to the point that by the 4th quarter the potential for losing games was only from complacency/sitting on leads.

If this revamped 2016 bunch can stay measurably healthier than last year and Dante will fix some of the OL issues? Bring on your suggested defense. I look forward to seeing teams put it into action.
Btw, one might notice the whole 'bunching of the middle defense' success frequently goes hand in hand with an OL that turns in a poor pass protection game. So if the 'bunching of the middle defense' defines middle as the area 2 feet from Brady's face then I think you are onto something.

Marqui said:

All that is still the middle of the field...

Running slot receivers on those routes doesn't really threaten the defense. You have to have a WR that's capable of converting those plays down the field.

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They have to cover the deep route if you run it. Do you really think that against us they call a defense that says if Edelman or Amendola go deep just ignore them because they aren't a deep threat?

AndyJohnson said:

People often make suggestions to stop our offense that includes 6 defenders playing zone and 5 more playing man.

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You're forgetting the 7 man rush as well.

If Dante gets the lineman in shape, all we need is an "average" runner. (As in bigger than Lewis)

strngplyr said:

You're forgetting the 7 man rush as well.

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I believe they refer to those as "Exotic Blitzes".

Marqui said:

Honestly a team can just shut that down but flooding the middle of the field as usual. A team with a lot of good man 2 man players will be able to stop us if we have no outside downfield presence at WR.

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And they added Hogan & Washington almost at the same time. Coincidence?

AndyJohnson said:

They have to cover the deep route if you run it. Do you really think that against us they call a defense that says if Edelman or Amendola go deep just ignore them because they aren't a deep threat?

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It's not about if they're defending it, it's about how. Are they keeping 2 safeties back or just one? Are the DBs jamming at the line or playing 7 yards off the receivers? In zone are LBs dropping back deep or staying lurking underneath to take away crossing routes like when Wagner picked off Brady in the SB?

Rhodey said:

And they added Hogan & Washington almost at the same time. Coincidence?

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Hopefully that works out. Hogan has a lot to prove in that regard.

If the OL blocks the offense is going to be very good. For all the doom and gloom about the OL there is plenty of reason to be hopefully. A lot of 2nd year jumps incoming along with an upgrade at coaching. We should call him the "OL whisperer".

I am not counting on Lewis to be healthy for 16 games but if he is healthy for the 3 playoff games i will be very happy.

Gronk/Bennett are going to be very hard to stop and after this year it will most likely be very hard for us fans to let Bennett go. It is going to be Revis all over again. the difference is maybe the Pats actually keep Bennett cause TEs tend to be a bargain no matter what.

AndyJohnson said:

They have to cover the deep route if you run it. Do you really think that against us they call a defense that says if Edelman or Amendola go deep just ignore them because they aren't a deep threat?

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Amen brother! Gronkowski is a beast in the deep seam and that leaves a lb on Bennett.

If Brady has time, he will pick apart the opposing defense all game long.

The only way to stop us is if a team had two big safties that can single cover the two tight ends and no team currently has that.

Marqui said:

It's not about if they're defending it, it's about how. Are they keeping 2 safeties back or just one? Are the DBs jamming at the line or playing 7 yards off the receivers? In zone are LBs dropping back deep or staying lurking underneath to take away crossing routes like when Wagner picked off Brady in the SB?

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They have to cover the field. We throw deep as often as most teams. We do it successfully as often as most teams. If our strength is getting rid of the ball quickly then of course defenses will try to take that away, but this idea that we are greatly suffering by not having a guy who catches 5 deep passes all season is just wrong.

Marqui said:

All that is still the middle of the field...

Running slot receivers on those routes doesn't really threaten the defense. You have to have a WR that's capable of converting those plays down the field.

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I don't disagree with your general premise, and Washington may not be the answer. However, one thing to think about is what having Bennett the TE does for Gronk the "WR". Bennett should be able to do what Chandler was not, which is to draw that extra defender to the middle, leaving Gronk in a much better position on the outside.

One radio personality I was casually listening to described the Bennett acquisition to the effect of there being 2 of them: Martellus Bennet & Maty B. He went on to say that if Marty B show us, he'll make Gronk look sane!

Marqui said:

It's not about if they're defending it, it's about how.

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Eh. The only difference really is a double team..so yeah, if you got a guy who demands that, it's a plus. But running any guy deep achieves the result of drawing a defender.

A deep threat is an overstated asset. Give us an effective O-line and a couple of quick-twitch options with these tight ends, we'll be gold.

aluminum seats said:

A deep threat is an overstated asset.

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It's not, and that's pretty clear to see with even a cursory check at NFL history. People here on Patsfans.com like to ignore the reality that the Brady Patriots are the exception, not the rule.

AndyJohnson said:

We throw deep as often as most teams. We do it successfully as often as most teams.

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I don't know if that's true...

AndyJohnson said:

but this idea that we are greatly suffering by not having a guy who catches 5 deep passes all season is just wrong.

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I never said it's "suffering greatly", just that adding a legitimate explosive threat at WR would eliminate any potential weakness in their offense.

Deus Irae said:

I don't disagree with your general premise, and Washington may not be the answer. However, one thing to think about is what having Bennett the TE does for Gronk the "WR". Bennett should be able to do what Chandler was not, which is to draw that extra defender to the middle, leaving Gronk in a much better position on the outside.

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Yeah, the funny thing is this time Gronk will be the Hernandez type receiving TE, while Bennett will be the more traditional TE which Gronk use to be. They both can do everything though.

AndyJohnson said:

We run as many receivers on deep routes to clear out as any other team does. We throw as many or more of them as most teams. People talk like defenses won't have anyone cover the deep part of the field against us, but that's crazy. They may bring a safety up a little more frequently, but talking like there are 7 defenders within 10 yards of the los is just ill-informed

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I think he is throwing out his precursor argument to the sign "Megatron".

Deus Irae said:

It's not, and that's pretty clear to see with even a cursory check at NFL history. People here on Patsfans.com like to ignore the reality that the Brady Patriots are the exception, not the rule.

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Yeah, I was talking about the Pats.

With such a loaded offence - everybody is a deep threat.

and then theres always the old TB to JE to DA ...