Here is my assessment. No predictions here, just an educated guess. I have been wrong plenty of times, but I love contemplating strategy.
1) I see us using 4-2-5 base with cover 3 to contain Keller. We go to nickel the entire game if not most of it. That;s exactly what I was thinking.
2) I see Merriweather having a very busy day. He will do a lot of motion and I daresay we see him as SS/LB hybrid who motions down on run plays to key. I completely agree. I think it would be cool if they have him spy Washington especially. Just to switch things up and confuse the Jests, they could have Meriweather and Guyton alternate on who gets the Running back.
I do not see us going 3-4.
Why? Simply this: Ryan is one of the greatest when it comes to the 3-4.. he will be coaching Sanchez on what to look out for. Many people forget that Sanchez does have a high football IQ. He is good at reading blitz and moving in the pocket. Rushing and blitzing from the 3-4 does give him some time. His mechanics is ahead of the curve, and he did not have a weakness entering the draft, that was not correctable. He does have some issue with his knee (dislocated kneecap) and can shift unnaturally if the pocket shrinks too fast. The only reason he was not drafted #1 was he decided to enter a year earlier than he was expected to, otherwise he would have gone at #1 in 2010.
I wasn't as high on Sanchez as you are. I don't even think that last week's game against Houston was enough to validate him. The Jests superior O-Line and depth at Running back took most of the pressure off of Sanchez. When you add in his safety blanket, Keller, there's not much that Shanchez had to do for himself. He wasn't consistently pressured so he had time to make his decisions; the Texans linebackers were to worried about the Jests running backs and Keller to blitz every down; and the Texans secondary played poorly.
If we blitz from the outside and have Vilfork force Mangold to back up, Sanchez will start to unravel. I don't believe the hype. I think Sanchez supporting cast is what makes him. If we can beat their O-line, shut down their running and screen game, and marginalize the Jests tight ends, Sanchez will be forced to attack our corners one on one. With help over the top (most likely a cover 3 shell), he won't be able to go deep. The Jests don't have any burners and Ellis Hobbs III no longer plays on this team (just kidding fellas), so we can play bump and run all game if we like.
3) I see Pryor and Brace putting in extensive time on 4 men front.
I'm looking forward to it.
4) If we open up a lead.. we probably shift back to 4-3 and go conservative. Why do I say this? Because Ryan has a bad habit of getting emotionally involved in the game.. if he starts to get behind and get into a hole, he tends to start throwing the house at you (think double or nothing) and that plays into our hands.
You make be on to something. If he Ryan gets emotionally involved in the game, how do you think his team will respond to him if he loses. He's already gone all in as billing this match up as the Super Bowl. A defeat at him will sting. Also, all of those New Jersey fans that came to this, at his request, might start booing if things get ugly.
If they lose to us, then they have to face Tennessee, New Orleans, and Miami. All of those are losable games. I'm just saying.