Bedard's weekly grades

[jays52]

Bedard is awesome. He's changed my opinion a few times this season after reading his very well presented cases. Not only does he clearly put a lot of time into watching the game, he understands it at a level that enables him to articulate some at times complicated things in a fairly simple manner. That's probably the truest sign of someone who really gets football.

Agreed on Slater only capable of playing deep, and that being an easy tell. He doesn't have the hips nor footwork to play near the line. That's where the quicker players live and while Slater is certainly fast, he's not quick. Special teams skill set.

I also think McCourty is mistakenly thrown under the bus (not by Greg, but fans) in the Washington game. A lot of corner technique revolves around the arms and shoulders, be it hand checking, getting the hips around, closing on the play, or playing the ball. I think that his shoulder is really limiting both his agility and his ability to play his trail and close game.

I think that some of the issues in the running game stem from Gronk's import in the passing game. He is now the focus of all defensive gameplans, and nearly always has a man responsible for a press. Gronk is a very important part of the running game as he is functionally used to do fullback through the motion based blocking game. With so much focus placed on his location pre-snap by the defense, it's already placing a defender in the right place when they "do fullback". I'm not a fan of zone runs, but I think that by mixing in more zone runs they will gash a few backside on the cutback.

 

[BradyFTW!]

Thanks for the kind words, everyone. And I'm definitely up for constructive criticism.

To be accurate, I don't go every week week to NFL Films. I go once or twice a season. I went after the Eagles game this year.

My analysis comes from hours (8-10 for a game) of studying the TV copy and analysis on various spreadsheets.

I try to base everything I write on some sort of tangible evidence -- as much as possible in football.

I don't know where you got the last part from. I was the only Packers writer to pick the Packers to win the Super Bowl before the season.

I was tough but fair. McCarthy thought as much. Yes, of course, I had criticisms of him and Ted at times, but nothing that proved to be blatantly untrue and made me look silly. And nothing had anything to do with their tight-lipped-ness. That's not even close to being true. And I don't really care what Bill does or doesn't say. Doesn't affect my job. I'm not a beat writer.

At the time that I left GB, the Packers had just beaten the Vikings but lost at WAS and at home to Miami before that. All I said was I wasn't sure whether they would be able to put it together.

They went onto to lose to DET and barely made the playoffs at 10-6. It's not like they were a juggernaut or anything until the postseason.

In short, I firmly stand behind my entire body of work in GB and would be happy to field any questions about it.

If anybody has any questions or comments, feel free to email me anytime at [email protected].

All the best,
GB

Thanks for all of the work that you do, Greg. You're by far my favorite Patriots writer out there.

 

[RayClay]

I'm not an X and Os guy and really appreciate Mr. Bedard and Jays chipping in with real football knowledge, but I don't understand what's in this video as being a misplay by one person in a cover 3 defense, unless i misunderstand what that is.

Three players dividing the field deep? I don't see but one player on the east half of the field, and behind, or in front, there's a 50 yard pass guaranteed. Happy not to have a touchdown, there was nothing but air to the goal line.

Just an observation, am I missing something?

vid clip at link

Donte' Stallworth, WR for the Washington Redskins at NFL.com

(second view best)

 

[jal]

Mankins' play has dropped so far this season from both my casual observation, Bedard's comments, and general commentary from other sources that look at the tape. It may be that he's needed to help out the center more often and that has taken his attention, but it also seems just as likely that he is simply playing poorly. We need him to get his head together, as when the offense is disrupted it's almost always the interior of the offensive line getting collapsed as opposed to the edges.

 

[jays52]

I'm not an X and Os guy and really appreciate Mr. Bedard and Jays chipping in with real football knowledge, but I don't understand what's in this video as being a misplay by one person in a cover 3 defense, unless i misunderstand what that is.

Three players dividing the field deep? I don't see but one player on the east half of the field, and behind, or in front, there's a 50 yard pass guaranteed. Happy not to have a touchdown, there was nothing but air to the goal line.

Just an observation, am I missing something?

vid clip at link

Donte' Stallworth, WR for the Washington Redskins at NFL.com

(second view best)

The first few seconds of that video tells you a lot of what you need to know, amigo! It's a three man front, what appears to be a 32 dime. Note Ihedigbo coming down as an edge rusher. Ok, that's fine, they call still run a "cover-3" as the design of the cover-3 is to place a safety low. It's not always a coverage you want to blitz out of, but you still can maintain a cover-3 zone with a 3 down lineman look and a safety blitz. 4 rushers=zone potential. Ok, so it could go either way, but it looks like a 4 man rush is going to come from somewhere. Now watch the slot motion. Edelman runs with his guy. That's indicative of man coverage, and usually that motion is used to get a pre-snap read. Edelman, now set on the top of the screen, is seen at the snap to be blitzing past the clean release of the slot receiver. The linebackers both fan into the hook to curl zone, which, I think gives the illusion of a zone to the reader, but is likely designed as a precaution for a late release or a hot as they both fan to replace blitzing players. While the situation has both Arrington and McCourty walked well off the line, note how McCourty allows Stallworth to reach his level quite quickly. This looks to me like a man technique. If he were in a classic cover-3 type coverage I think he would be driving harder to create that upper shell and not allow Stallworth to catch him so quickly. I think he was probably keying on the 10 or 15 yard out, and accordingly was playing a more aggressive technique than zone. Further, if you look at the top of the frame as Slater is trying to close, you can see Arrington running in his guy's hip as well. That play looked an awful lot like cover-1 to me, which is a very common man coverage and usually mandated by blitzing. Grossman read 1 on 1 man with no help as Stallworth was riding the numbers and Ihedigbo was sent.

That looks like a cover-1 read to me. I don't know, it's grainy as hell, and I very well could be wrong, but it sure as heck looks to be cover-1 from here.

 

[RayClay]

The first few seconds of that video tells you a lot of what you need to know, amigo! It's a three man front, what appears to be a 32 dime. Note Ihedigbo coming down as an edge rusher. Ok, that's fine, they call still run a "cover-3" as the design of the cover-3 is to place a safety low. It's not always a coverage you want to blitz out of, but you still can maintain a cover-3 zone with a 3 down lineman look and a safety blitz. 4 rushers=zone potential. Ok, so it could go either way, but it looks like a 4 man rush is going to come from somewhere. Now watch the slot motion. Edelman runs with his guy. That's indicative of man coverage, and usually that motion is used to get a pre-snap read. Edelman, now set on the top of the screen, is seen at the snap to be blitzing past the clean release of the slot receiver. The linebackers both fan into the hook to curl zone, which, I think gives the illusion of a zone to the reader, but is likely designed as a precaution for a late release or a hot as they both fan to replace blitzing players. While the situation has both Arrington and McCourty walked well off the line, note how McCourty allows Stallworth to reach his level quite quickly. This looks to me like a man technique. If he were in a classic cover-3 type coverage I think he would be driving harder to create that upper shell and not allow Stallworth to catch him so quickly. I think he was probably keying on the 10 or 15 yard out, and accordingly was playing a more aggressive technique than zone. Further, if you look at the top of the frame as Slater is trying to close, you can see Arrington running in his guy's hip as well. That play looked an awful lot like cover-1 to me, which is a very common man coverage and usually mandated by blitzing. Grossman read 1 on 1 man with no help as Stallworth was riding the numbers and Ihedigbo was sent.

That looks like a cover-1 read to me. I don't know, it's grainy as hell, and I very well could be wrong, but it sure as heck looks to be cover-1 from here.

I appreciate getting the lowdown once in a while, though you and Bedard seem to disagree (I think he's talking about the same play).

To my non technical eyes, it certainly seems like McCourty needs to play way more off the receiver, or Slater should have played it differently because there's nothing but crickets between Stallworth and the end zone there.

This looks to me like a man technique. If he were in a classic cover-3 type coverage I think he would be driving harder to create that upper shell and not allow Stallworth to catch him so quickly. I think he was probably keying on the 10 or 15 yard out, and accordingly was playing a more aggressive technique than zone.

Kind of my point. If he's playing this, wouldn't he have to have some backup? You don't mention Slater (18), but he is quite prominently moving away from that side of the field initially.

 

[jays52]

I appreciate getting the lowdown once in a while, though you and Bedard seem to disagree (I think he's talking about the same play).

To my non technical eyes, it certainly seems like McCourty needs to play way more off the receiver, or Slater should have played it differently because there's nothing but crickets between Stallworth and the end zone there.



Kind of my point. If he's playing this, wouldn't he have to have some backup? You don't mention Slater (18), but he is quite prominently moving away from that side of the field initially.

Yeah, and he's more likely right than myself. He's a pro who really knows his stuff, and likely has seen better quality tape of the same play. There's a few keys to that play that make me think man. The blitz tells me a lot as it's really hard and even more rare to play zone when you send five men. 80% of the time a team sends an extra rusher they are going to be in some derivation of cover-1. The second is that Edelman moved with the slot receiver on the motion. That's a man look. The third is that both McCourty and Arrington are playing man techniques right away, instead of driving aggressively to safety depth, which they would be in a cover-3. If it were just McCourty playing that way, I could see a coverage error on his part, but Arrington was playing the same way. The reason Slater appeared to be shading towards Arrington is that the play was coming from the near hash. For alignment purposes he needed to be centered on the formation, but with two receivers to the field and only one to the boundary, he needed to get centered on the field. The other thing is that Grossman's target was clearly a man coverage read. All of these are indicators of man coverage, and I can only base my opinion upon what I see.

I could be wrong, and probably am, but when you've got two deep routes in cover-1 with two corners playing man with a big cushion it can look a lot like cover-3. I'd welcome a lesson if I'm wrong, though

 

[RayClay]

Yeah, and he's more likely right than myself. He's a pro who really knows his stuff, and likely has seen better quality tape of the same play. There's a few keys to that play that make me think man. The blitz tells me a lot as it's really hard and even more rare to play zone when you send five men. 80% of the time a team sends an extra rusher they are going to be in some derivation of cover-1. The second is that Edelman moved with the slot receiver on the motion. That's a man look. The third is that both McCourty and Arrington are playing man techniques right away, instead of driving aggressively to safety depth, which they would be in a cover-3. If it were just McCourty playing that way, I could see a coverage error on his part, but Arrington was playing the same way. The reason Slater appeared to be shading towards Arrington is that the play was coming from the near hash. For alignment purposes he needed to be centered on the formation, but with two receivers to the field and only one to the boundary, he needed to get centered on the field. The other thing is that Grossman's target was clearly a man coverage read. All of these are indicators of man coverage, and I can only base my opinion upon what I see.

I could be wrong, and probably am, but when you've got two deep routes in cover-1 with two corners playing man with a big cushion it can look a lot like cover-3. I'd welcome a lesson if I'm wrong, though

You'll get no argument from me, because i really don't grasp the technical aspects (lol), but enjoy the games in my own way. Really enjoyed your podcasts (a few, haven't checked recently) and appreciate all the great x and o guys here at Patsfans. I'll always be a feel, big picture guy rather than details, but a little penetrates my thick skull once in a while.

By the way, (no reply needed), but I had no problem with Slater "centering up" it was more how he was running toward the line of scrimmage leaving nobody with a chance to cover anything deep, as can be shown when he tried, at full gallop.