Jets vs. Patriots: Breakdown/Analysis

[zoostation]

Hell, I survived the blizzard of '78 and even had fun digging out our front door. Sanchez is just going to have to grow a northeastern layer of winter fat and get used to it.

Maybe Wrecks can lend him a few layers???

 

[HowardRoark]

Am I not thinking of the right play? Greene runs into line, gets stood up, carried backwards, and while failing, the ball is stripped out? My interpretation of that is that the play was blown dead due to forward progress and therefore the fumble never happened, it was a simple run. I would imagine that became a point-of-emphasis after the Ravens-Bills game where the entire Ravens defense hoisted a Bills player into the air and stripped him. I'm not trying to be cute when I say I don't understand the need for additional explanation in that case.

A perfect lateral is a hand-off, not a forward pass. Laterals and hand-offs predate the forward pass in the game of football, so rulings of lateral usually take precedence.

Yes, this is what I thought- the play was whistled dead before the Mayo rip.

 

[unoriginal]

I'm confused about all this uncertainty about lateral vs. forward pass. I thought the distinction and defition was simply based on direction. If it is sideways ("lateral") or backwards, it is a lateral, counts as a run, and is a live ball if dropped. If it is forward, it is a pass, and is a dead ball if dropped.

Brady's connection to Woodhead was forward, so it was a pass. It makes no difference if it is overhand or underhand.

Am I wrong?

No, you are completely correct. In fact, it doesn't even have to be a what we normally call a "pass." If you hand the ball to a player forward of the current possessor of the ball, that also counts as a forward pass. That rule wrinkle comes up every now and again when QBs try to hand the ball to an offensive lineman to avoid a sack; if they hand it forward, as is usually the case, that counts as illegal touching of a forward pass by an ineligible receiver.

 

[Patspsycho]

Family intruded into my day, so I didn't get any time to watch the DVR, but here's links to a breakdown of the first half which you might enjoy:

AllWorldTE's Analysis 1 of 3
AllWorldTE's Analysis 2 of 3
AllWorldTE's Analysis 3 of 3

BOR thanks for that link- very informative. His breakdowns are on another level. Makes mine look bad and downright shabby. :scared:

 

[BradyManny]

BOR thanks for that link- very informative. His breakdowns are on another level. Makes mine look bad and downright shabby. :scared:

Don't sell yourself short, both you & AWTE are really insightful and provide great stuff for patsfans & patriotsplanet, respectively. I always look forward to your breakdowns & like with AWTE, its way ahead of anything we can get from the local blogs - I will say Rodak's offering are very good, admittedly he has to water things down for a general public, and he's quite good at finding balance.

 

[Patspsycho]

Looking at the Branch TD play.

We see Brady get the defense to tip its hand with a delayed count after motioning Woodhead to the slot to convert to empty set, trips right. We see Smith rolled up for the slot blitz, and it looks like Brady modified the call, or changed the play, after he reads rush- he taps his ears and this is something I have seen every now and then and believe that it has to do with modifying routes for the receivers split wide (because you see Welker repeats the gesture, in the bottom still) and is probably a quick option such as a slant or in route, and I don't know what he shouts, but I bet it is a weakside/strongside option, with a play at one end and a seal on the other.

Jets motion with 7 man rush but it ends up 5 man inside rush with the rest dropping into man with the exception of Harris who is in robber, and you see that weakside pick play set by Woodhead that frees up Branch with Smith caught at a bad angle to the play.

Revis is again just all over the field, and this time picks up Woodhead off the slot and gets jammed and rendered useless. Brady hits Branch on the under just perfect. Kudos to Woodhead for finishing strong on the play- he chips Cromartie to delay the pursuit, and Branch is off to the EZ.

 

[SVN]

Looking at the Branch TD play.

We see Brady get the defense to tip its hand with a delayed count after motioning Woodhead to the slot to convert to empty set, trips right. We see Smith rolled up for the slot blitz, and it looks like Brady modified the call, or changed the play, after he reads rush- he taps his ears and this is something I have seen every now and then and believe that it has to do with modifying routes for the receivers split wide (because you see Welker repeats the gesture, in the bottom still) and is probably a quick option such as a slant or in route, and I don't know what he shouts, but I bet it is a weakside/strongside option, with a play at one end and a seal on the other.

Jets motion with 7 man rush but it ends up 5 man inside rush with the rest dropping into man with the exception of Harris who is in robber, and you see that weakside pick play set by Woodhead that frees up Branch with Smith caught at a bad angle to the play.

Revis is again just all over the field, and this time picks up Woodhead off the slot and gets jammed and rendered useless. Brady hits Branch on the under just perfect. Kudos to Woodhead for finishing strong on the play- he chips Cromartie to delay the pursuit, and Branch is off to the EZ.

breer said this is big miss by the refs in not calling a penalty on woodhead for pick/interference. do you see that ?

 

[BradyManny]

breer said this is big miss by the refs in not calling a penalty on woodhead for pick/interference. do you see that ?

Well, Breer has slowly become the Tommy Heinsohn for the Jets, so I wouldn't take his word for it. This coming from a guy who defended him in the past.

 

[Patspsycho]

breer said this is big miss by the refs in not calling a penalty on woodhead for pick/interference. do you see that ?

It is legal and it is pretty smart. Revis jams him within the five yard contact zone off the line and Woodhead "occupies" him instead of fighting it off or cutting, and this conveniently becomes a pick.

Anyway it is not a "big miss" because both teams ran a couple of picks in the game. The Jets ran one with Keller earlier if I remember correctly.

 

[Patspsycho]

Jets on Pats 28, 2nd quarter 1st and 10.

Another example of how the shifting wrinkle continues to be a game-changer.

Excess motion and shifting of the DL is taking it's toll on the Jets, particularly their OL. They are just looking overmatched. Jets start at trips right, TE fakes weakside motion and comes inside for the inside zone block (obvious run). Pats are in their run-stopping 3-4 with cover 1 over the top (Meriweather). At the last minute, there is another strongside shift by the line, and this puts Wilfork in an one on one matchup with Mangold (they were not looking for that, and I say this because they end up (because of the zone call?) double-teaming Warren who is the weakside DE). Wilfork bulldozes inside and disrupts Greene's run and he is easily met by Chung and McCourty.

This is the start of a 3 and out that ends with the only FG for the Jets.

 

[Patspsycho]

This is just a great, great play- and I think this is a very specific play designed to play off Harris in robber coverage.

PA with Woodhead who we shoot up the B gap to draw in Harris (see the bottom still where you can see Harris coming in to meet Woodhead and seal the lane). Harris gets caught in a pick set by Welker who is being spied by Revis in the backfield in man coverage. Woodhead cleans himself with the pick and shoots strongside (upper still) where the field is clean, and you know the rest.

My question here is why the heck Jets would drop Devito in zone? How is he going to chase down anyone, much less Woodhead? Why don't they switch coverage on the pick? Either it's a lapse on Ryan's part or the defense is just sloppy in this down. Perhaps Unoriginal could answer this.

My apologies for uploading the stills in the wrong order.

 

[Box_O_Rocks]

BOR thanks for that link- very informative. His breakdowns are on another level. Makes mine look bad and downright shabby. :scared:

He does get paid for knowing his stuff, so don't pet the sweaty stuff. You do good work and I know exactly how much time it takes and how hard it is to parse a TV recording. Stay the course! :rocker:

 

[jmt57]

Five stars is nowhere near enough for this thread.

I know it has to take a very long time to break all that down. And thanks for the link to AllWorldTE's analysis too. Threads like these have increased my understanding of the game 100x over the years, yet I'm still light years away from where you guys are at. Don't ever think for a moment these break downs are unnoticed or unappreciated. There's not really much that the vast majority of us can comment on other than to say thank you.

Just wanted Patspsycho, BOR, unoriginal, AWTE and all the others here (and there) that take so much of their time for these reviews to know how much we all are grateful for your efforts.

 

[Deus Irae]

Family intruded into my day, so I didn't get any time to watch the DVR, but here's links to a breakdown of the first half which you might enjoy:

AllWorldTE's Analysis 1 of 3
AllWorldTE's Analysis 2 of 3
AllWorldTE's Analysis 3 of 3

Thanks for these. AWTEs work is always appreciated.

 

[unoriginal]

This is just a great, great play- and I think this is a very specific play designed to play off Harris in robber coverage.

PA with Woodhead who we shoot up the B gap to draw in Harris (see the bottom still where you can see Harris coming in to meet Woodhead and seal the lane). Harris gets caught in a pick set by Welker who is being spied by Revis in the backfield in man coverage. Woodhead cleans himself with the pick and shoots strongside (upper still) where the field is clean, and you know the rest.

My question here is why the heck Jets would drop Devito in zone? How is he going to chase down anyone, much less Woodhead? Why don't they switch coverage on the pick? Either it's a lapse on Ryan's part or the defense is just sloppy in this down. Perhaps Unoriginal could answer this.

My apologies for uploading the stills in the wrong order.

Well, I'll take a stab at it.

First, I don't think this is zone coverage. I think those corners and backers are in man coverage, and playing uncharacteristic outside-in technique because their help (high free safety, zone dropping lineman) is inside. If you look at the Jets CB on Branch, he's basically at the line of scrimmage. Running a tight jam in a Cover 1 zone is almost incomprehensible, you need at least a Cover 2 to reach the fade. So I'm thinking this is a Cover 1 man, Harris *has* Woodhead at the snap and sees a HUGE clear read in front of him and so goes charging into the backfield.

That leaves Devito (the fire zone player) and Revis, whose man at the snap is Welker, who he dutifully follows weakside on Welker's rub route. Devito's zone drop is supposed to leave a Pats lineman blocking air and so put the Jets a man up on the play, but that extra lineman just ends up blocking the overaggressive Harris. This is also why Revis and Devito don't switch responsibilities; it's actually the Revis and Harris who would switch responsibilities (if allowed in the Jets scheme), and Harris is in no position to cover anybody.

Devito in coverage isn't supposed to actually cover any one, he's supposed to be big and tall and as deep as possible in order to screw up Brady's throwing lanes so Erik Smith, the deep safety, can stay over top. The thing the Jets don't want in that situation is a crossing route from one of the receivers. But because Harris is absentee and Devito takes a deep drop, Woodhead can get out of the backfield underneath the fire zone, and Brady doesn't have to throw over or around any 6'4" lineman to complete a crossing route into space.

 

[SpiritOf76]

It is worth noting that on the 3rd and 10, Jets were in their dime, and if Connolly hadn't been overpowered so easily, it is reasonable to assume that Branch would have had the first down because Coleman had bad leverage on him.

Perhaps...but you can see Branch stumbled early in his route, and therefore he wasn't at the spot Brady expected and threw to when he was hurried. I guess if Connolly doesn't get overpowered, Brady would've had time to wait to throw, since Branch was lagging compared to what would have been be his usual route on that play.

 

[Patspsycho]

it looks like Brady modified the call, or changed the play, after he reads rush- he taps his ears and this is something I have seen every now and then and believe that it has to do with modifying routes for the receivers split wide

Never mind this. This is completely erroneous.

 

[Patspsycho]

Well, I'll take a stab at it.

First, I don't think this is zone coverage. I think those corners and backers are in man coverage, and playing uncharacteristic outside-in technique because their help (high free safety, zone dropping lineman) is inside. If you look at the Jets CB on Branch, he's basically at the line of scrimmage. Running a tight jam in a Cover 1 zone is almost incomprehensible, you need at least a Cover 2 to reach the fade. So I'm thinking this is a Cover 1 man, Harris *has* Woodhead at the snap and sees a HUGE clear read in front of him and so goes charging into the backfield.

That leaves Devito (the fire zone player) and Revis, whose man at the snap is Welker, who he dutifully follows weakside on Welker's rub route. Devito's zone drop is supposed to leave a Pats lineman blocking air and so put the Jets a man up on the play, but that extra lineman just ends up blocking the overaggressive Harris. This is also why Revis and Devito don't switch responsibilities; it's actually the Revis and Harris who would switch responsibilities (if allowed in the Jets scheme), and Harris is in no position to cover anybody.

Devito in coverage isn't supposed to actually cover any one, he's supposed to be big and tall and as deep as possible in order to screw up Brady's throwing lanes so Erik Smith, the deep safety, can stay over top. The thing the Jets don't want in that situation is a crossing route from one of the receivers. But because Harris is absentee and Devito takes a deep drop, Woodhead can get out of the backfield underneath the fire zone, and Brady doesn't have to throw over or around any 6'4" lineman to complete a crossing route into space.

Did not mean to imply it was zone- I was thinking Harris was in robber as he usually was, and that cover 1 (high safety) as you say. The Welker rub route makes a lot of sense, because the more I look at this play the more I realize it is a broken play because if you look at Brady, he appears to be waiting for Welker to break clean when he spots Woodhead, turns and hits him.

 

[unoriginal]

Did not mean to imply it was zone- I was thinking Harris was in robber as he usually was, and that cover 1 (high safety) as you say. The Welker rub route makes a lot of sense, because the more I look at this play the more I realize it is a broken play because if you look at Brady, he appears to be waiting for Welker to break clean when he spots Woodhead, turns and hits him.

Well, you're looking at the video while I'm just looking at pictures, but why is it a broken play? The Pats love to run multiple crosses through the same area; if it's man coverage, you can usually get a rub over the middle, and if it's zone, the first guy tends to draw the zone defender. Consider both those wide receivers are running very sharp slants and Welker seems to be running more up the field than across it, and there's play action to boot; everything about that play design looks to me to ensure Woodhead gets the ball as he's going top speed towards an empty flat.

If the Pats were running this against, say, a Tampa 2, I think it WOULD be a broken play. Because of the play action Brady can't hit those slants, Welker would be sandwiched between the Mike and the safeties, and a corner would be waiting in the flat to cold**** Woodhead as soon as Brady released the ball. But since Brady can basically see he's either got Cover 1 man or Cover 3 zone at the snap, he's knows when he turns around after play action, Woodhead should be skipping around in an empty field.

 

[Patspsycho]

Well, you're looking at the video while I'm just looking at pictures, but why is it a broken play? The Pats love to run multiple crosses through the same area; if it's man coverage, you can usually get a rub over the middle, and if it's zone, the first guy tends to draw the zone defender. Consider both those wide receivers are running very sharp slants and Welker seems to be running more up the field than across it, and there's play action to boot; everything about that play design looks to me to ensure Woodhead gets the ball as he's going top speed towards an empty flat.

If the Pats were running this against, say, a Tampa 2, I think it WOULD be a broken play. Because of the play action Brady can't hit those slants, Welker would be sandwiched between the Mike and the safeties, and a corner would be waiting in the flat to cold**** Woodhead as soon as Brady released the ball. But since Brady can basically see he's either got Cover 1 man or Cover 3 zone at the snap, he's knows when he turns around after play action, Woodhead should be skipping around in an empty field.

Isn't a rub route more of a vertical one if it is a crossing pattern? I envision that both of them would have squeezed through the B gap and Welker would have had Revis on top of him right off the bat when he launched from the offset strongside I, and Harris would use trail tech on Woodhead. But as you say, Harris overcommitted and Mankins was able to lock him up. So in that way I saw it as a broken play because I think Woodhead ended up reading the angle of Mankin's block and changing directions based on that.