The Pats know they have to go through the Colts, Steelers and (should be) Chargers eventually. The big nickel with Meriweather, McGowan and Chung (when ready) is the best way to attack these teams. With Mayo and Guyton also in the middle, that is a fast-n-flexible five that can do it all:
- Support the run: McGowan and Chung are both comfortable in the box. Mayo is a tackling machine and Guyton has the speed to go sideline to sideline.
- Cover: Meriweather has already stepped up his game and McGowan seems to have the instincts. Chung has struggled a bit in coverage and may have to give way to another corner in certain situations. Mayo and Guyton have the skills to cover the slot, as long as there is deep help and some QB pressure.
- Rush: This is the key. It is pretty obvious that traditional 3-4 or 4-3 pressure isn't going to rattle the QBs on these teams (Goober, Dopey and Grumpy, respectively). Pressure is going to have to come from the middle and all 5 (even Chung) have shown a knack for getting into the backfield quickly.
So I don't think that the 2-4-5 formation you mention is a fluke or even unplanned. I think it is an effort to get chess pieces that can be placed all over the board. Manning throws a lot of timing routes based on pre-snap reads, Roethlisberger forces a good amount of throws downfield and Rivers struggles when forced off his primary targets. Common thread...you beat them with schemes and confusion and not just winning individual battles.
Wilfork and the rest of the DL is still vitally important because you still need to eat up blockers. If the OL is free to release you will get killed with draws and delayed screens. I really like the makeup of the defense to take on the passing attacks that all the elite teams can generate. It has taken a while to get the pieces in place, but now the Chess Master has the board set and some tough opponents coming up.