Idle thoughts – the pregame edition.

[everlong]

I’m not worried about the Seattle pass rush. I believe our OL is better than GB’s and GB did a good job of protecting an immobile Rodgers for most of the game. I’m confident that their 4 man rush is not going to get to Brady, especially when they won’t have the advantage playing in Seattle has to that pass rush. I’m sure it won’t be perfect either. But what I don’t expect is the constant siege kind of look we saw Brady under early in the year. A couple of sacks won’t bother me a bit as long as they are isolated incidents rather than constant pressure.

I disagree especially at guard. Connolly and Wendell are going to have to be solid. If Bennett has a Tuck type game they're in trouble. If the Patriots are going to lose this game it's going to start with the OL not being able to do their job and then it's going to translate into Brady throwing some picks. Tom was amazing in 07 against the Giants considering he was sacked 5 times and drilled on nearly every play and yet never threw a pick. If he sees pressure we need that type of patience. For all the talk of "seeing ghosts" and other BS he doesn't get nearly enough credit for his toughness seen in that game. Manning didn't see nearly that pressure against NO or Seattle and threw awful pick 6's.

On offense I also think we'll see the Pats split out Gronk and Vereen wide to get Chancellor and Wright\Wagner out of the box. I can see them using Vereen and Blount on the field at the same time and forcing the Hawks to choose the box or the receivers. Bruce Arians was on TV last night and he was very neutral and insightful. He thinks if Gronk goes in the slot Chancellor will cover him but if they put Gronk out wide it will be Earl Thomas. I hadn't considered them using Thomas in this manner and if he's correct I think that's a great advantage of the Pats to exploit. It takes Thomas out against the run and as a center fielder vs the pass opening up the intermediate middle which is where the battle between our O and their D will be decided.

 

[everlong]

I think they will come out a bit heavier in a basic 4-3 with Ninko Hightower and Collins at LB. The Pats will go a bit bigger with Jones Wilfolk Branch and Jones/Siliga as the DL. Let the Seahawks try to run through that to start the game.

Then as they get more comfortable with stopping the run, they will drop Ninko back to the DE, and add Arrington to the secondary. At that point they my want to drop Browner more on the inside to work on the TE and help in the run.

I couldn't agree more but I'd also include Ayers into the equation. The one issue with going big is whoever plays the LDE isn't going to have the wheels to stay with Wilson on their play action bootlegs. Even if Nink is there he's going to have a hard time setting the edge against Lynch and still containing Wilson against the option or play action bootleg. I feel they will go 4-3 like you but I wonder if Ayers will be given contain on that side allowing Hightower and Collins to stay in the roles they've had.

 

[YOUGOTMOSSED]

If the commissioner keeps his grubby hands off the game,

That's my biggest concern about this game. Jolly Roger is NOT going to want to be handing the Lombardi to Kraft and Belichick.

 

[ashley]

Great analysis, I am a little more concerned though about our line. I remember too many games this year where Brady didn't have any time to throw(Jets, Bills, Ravens's first half), but if we can give him time, I believe we will be able to move the ball.

 

[SVN]

Great analysis, I am a little more concerned though about our line. I remember too many games this year where Brady didn't have any time to throw(Jets, Bills, Ravens's first half), but if we can give him time, I believe we will be able to move the ball.

Wont be surprised if this game looks like the chargers game. that defense gave us a lot of fits and we might have made a record of 3 and outs in that game. Thankfully our defense kept us in the game and hopefully they do the same here.

 

[Gronkowski123]

Great analysis, I am a little more concerned though about our line. I remember too many games this year where Brady didn't have any time to throw(Jets, Bills, Ravens's first half), but if we can give him time, I believe we will be able to move the ball.

pretty simple. whoever wins the line of scrimmage wins...at times, our D line has struggled against the run. not a good day for that to happen. lol

 

[SammyBlueCat]

Nice work & nice thread.

I hope this is not viewed as too picky but Seattle did not play Miami.

 

[Patriot Missile]

This game is going to be about execution and turnovers. If Amendola and Edelman can win the slides and rubs their chances are going to be excellent in this game. I'm dying to see how the Seahawks handle the Flemming formation. I'm really interested to see how Sherman and co will be in run support against Blount if he can get into the 2nd level.

I'm very excited to play against a team that really doesn't change things up too much. Here it is, come and beat us is the type of game plan BB excels at. Remembering the Steelers used to play this way and the Pats had mucho success against it. Hoping for the same results.

In a nutshell.

Stop the run and the read. Don't give him 10 seconds to throw in the pocket or the results won't be good.

Run the ball effectively, secure the ball after the catch and go. That means no deflected balls that go up for grabs that change field position drastically. It's not rocket science here. Out execute your opponent in as many fashions as you can.

 

[SVN]

Bill Vinovich usually lets them play in terms of the secondary(the revis penalty not withstanding in the ravens game). This might favor seattle if they hold on to the WRs .

 

[ralmat55]

When not wondering how stupid and shameful media whores can be, I've spent the last two weeks thinking about how the Patriots offense might go after the Seattle defense. At first, to my chagrin, I thought it would be pass happy as it was when the teams last played in 2012. Then, I remembered a press story I saw when the pats acquired Tim Wright saying he had his best game in 2013 against the Seahawks.

So, I looked up the box score of that game played in week 9 last year when the awful Bucs coached by Greg Schiano took the would-be champs to overtime in Seattle before losing. In that game, Bucs ran the ball 38 times for 205 yards. Given how close Schiano and Belichick are, I think we might see a heavy dose of L. Blount today.

By the way, Tim Wright had 4 catches for 58 yards and a touchdown in that game.

 

[SVN]

I wonder if the pats will employ the game plan they did vs the chiefs. We all thought we should be able to run on the chiefs and they even activated only 3 WRs but seemed to want to go uptempo a lot.