John Madden Analysis spoken 10x-"The Patriots secondary are vulnerable in the middle"

[PATRIOT64]

John must have made that statement 10 times at least tonight that the Patriots secondary is very vulnerable down the middle and even a mediocre passer with time can beat them for big plays on that part of the field.

He says the Pats cover the sidelines well in pass protection but can be beat by a good slot receiver or any receiver heading up into the middle of the field.

Amazing no team was able to beat this weakness almost all season except for Philly and Indy - Dallas Clark was not a factor in the indy game and he was sliding towards the middle all game with no success so I think Madden is over exaggerating the weakness as he calls it

We were just too soft in that area tonight but after all,this is a team,not a machine and the Patriots can have games like this where they wish they could have changed the defensive calls back a bit,but IMO its not a worry nor is there any blueprint for catching the Patriots and beating them.

Remember for every inch of an advantage BB and staff give you,BB takes a yard.

 

[IcyPatriot]

Re: John Madden Analysis spoken 10x-"The Patriots secondary are vulnerable in the mid

This was supposedly why we got AD ... and to pass rush him also. He has neither covered the middle or rushed the passer. Rodney has been covering the middle all year ... not sure where he was today.

It would not surprise me to see Belichick finally get a LB/safety type of player that I have been saying we need for 2 years now. Every team is vunerable up the middle ... but we are vunerable in the 10-15 yard range which makes it tougher.

 

[sieglo]

Re: John Madden Analysis spoken 10x-"The Patriots secondary are vulnerable in the mid

CBs were playing outside technique the whole game instead of mixing it up and making Feeley work on his reads. You have to wonder WTF the Ppats coaching staff was thinking.

 

[upstater1]

Re: John Madden Analysis spoken 10x-"The Patriots secondary are vulnerable in the mid

This was supposedly why we got AD ... and to pass rush him also. He has neither covered the middle or rushed the passer. Rodney has been covering the middle all year ... not sure where he was today.

It would not surprise me to see Belichick finally get a LB/safety type of player that I have been saying we need for 2 years now. Every team is vunerable up the middle ... but we are vunerable in the 10-15 yard range which makes it tougher.

Adalius had a great game today. He was shadowing Westbrook. If you notice, Westbrook had a very quiet game.

 

[PATRIOT64]

Re: John Madden Analysis spoken 10x-"The Patriots secondary are vulnerable in the mid

This was supposedly why we got AD ... and to pass rush him also. He has neither covered the middle or rushed the passer. Rodney has been covering the middle all year ... not sure where he was today.

It would not surprise me to see Belichick finally get a LB/safety type of player that I have been saying we need for 2 years now. Every team is vunerable up the middle ... but we are vunerable in the 10-15 yard range which makes it tougher.

I think most teams are vulnerable up the middle but teams like Indy and Green Bay have done a great job protecting the middle this year

We do need the linebackers to back up off the ball when a pass is expected instead of the constant blitzing packages,Its going to kill the team some upcoming game.

 

[DefenseRules]

Re: John Madden Analysis spoken 10x-"The Patriots secondary are vulnerable in the mid

CBs were playing outside technique the whole game instead of mixing it up and making Feeley work on his reads. You have to wonder WTF the Ppats coaching staff was thinking.

EXCELLENT POST. This game had the feel of a BAD GAME PLAN to me. Now I still believe that Philly played well. Give them their due. They outplayed us for most of the game. But I also believe that our Game plan was flawed.

 

[oldskool138]

Re: John Madden Analysis spoken 10x-"The Patriots secondary are vulnerable in the mid

Well, John Madden says dogs can't look up.

(It's a movie reference...If you don't get it, tough )

 

[PATRIOT64]

Re: John Madden Analysis spoken 10x-"The Patriots secondary are vulnerable in the mid

EXCELLENT POST. This game had the feel of a BAD GAME PLAN to me. Now I still believe that Philly played well. Give them their due. They outplayed us for most of the game. But I also believe that our Game plan was flawed.

Ill still stick with Dean Pees over Romeo Crennel anyday of the week

 

[SVN]

Re: John Madden Analysis spoken 10x-"The Patriots secondary are vulnerable in the mid

didnt we all think that BB will shutdown westbrook and make aj feely beat us ? Well he did that and almost didn't work. John madden doesnt need to BB what is the weakness of his own D. Its all about matchups .If everyteam copied the pats offense or the colts offense they would score a bunch of points too.
IMO today the eagles o line was their MVP and our pass rush wasnt good. BB and pees didnt have their best day but it happens.

 

[RayClay]

Re: John Madden Analysis spoken 10x-"The Patriots secondary are vulnerable in the mid

Our linebackers are slow, even for big linebackers. Adalius is fast for a 270 lb. man.

 

[oldskool138]

Re: John Madden Analysis spoken 10x-"The Patriots secondary are vulnerable in the mid

I think the "D" gameplan was fine. They shut down Westbrook but could stop Feeley from passing. It exposed the weak safety and DB positions (except for Asante).

 

[patpatriot]

Re: John Madden Analysis spoken 10x-"The Patriots secondary are vulnerable in the mid

Agreed. Both offensive and defensive game plans looked poorly conceived tonight or maybe they were just poorly executed. This will be a great game to break down. Fun to see some competitive football again.

 

[BradyFTW!]

Re: John Madden Analysis spoken 10x-"The Patriots secondary are vulnerable in the mid

CBs were playing outside technique the whole game instead of mixing it up and making Feeley work on his reads. You have to wonder WTF the Ppats coaching staff was thinking.

100% agree. Even late in the game, they were surrendering the middle of the field in first down range, essentially. I'm not going to claim to know 1% of what BB knows, but there's no way I would have played them that way.

 

[Pat_Nasty]

Re: John Madden Analysis spoken 10x-"The Patriots secondary are vulnerable in the mid

Madden wasn't making a comment about the Pats' 2ndary in general, but about the coverage they were playing tonight. They were playing off receivers, guarding the outside, and funneling everything over the middle.

Seems like the plan was to key on Westbrook, keep the receivers in the middle, and force Feeley to lead multi-play drives throwing down the middle of the field in order to score. So that's what the Eagles tried,and damned if Feeley didn't almost pull it off.

What I don't understand is why the Pats didn't play much press coverage at all, which has been the cryptonite of this Eagles' offense all season.

 

[BadMoFo]

Re: John Madden Analysis spoken 10x-"The Patriots secondary are vulnerable in the mid

What's wrong with what Madden said, wasn't it true tonight?

 

[PatsSteve1]

Re: John Madden Analysis spoken 10x-"The Patriots secondary are vulnerable in the mid

The Patriots don't always play outside technique as I think we've all seen them contest balls between the has marks better than they did tonight. Sometimes Eagles were wide open and sometimes Feely was right on target when his guys were covered well. Except Feely's 2 picks he threw well.
I saw BB's PC after the game and he said more than once they need to coach better. I also saw after he shook hand and said something to Reid he went right over to the Eagles DC Johnson and started talking to him. I know BB has a lot of respect for both. Maybe BB will feed himself,l his DC and OC a little humble pie this week.

 

[PATRIOT64]

Re: John Madden Analysis spoken 10x-"The Patriots secondary are vulnerable in the mid

What's wrong with what Madden said, wasn't it true tonight?

He said it not for just tonight but what he has seen all season from NE and he wonders why other teams have not tried to exploit this weakness - Thats a big reason why all the media are crying for a blueprint now to kill us down the middle

 

[Patriotic Fervor]

Re: John Madden Analysis spoken 10x-"The Patriots secondary are vulnerable in the mid

The key to Philly's offensive success was their O-line, beyond all question. Feely had more than enough time to execute what was required of him, and if you give a QB enough time back there, even a grade-B QB can look like the second coming of Sammy Baugh.

I'm not all that concerned about it, but what does worry me is that, as a number of posters have said here and on other threads, they, for some reason, did not employ packages and schemes they've relied on in the past to counter some of what they were experiencing.

I dunno. Maybe this was their annual FO game, or maybe they simply came up flat.

Who knows?

 

[PATRIOT64]

Re: John Madden Analysis spoken 10x-"The Patriots secondary are vulnerable in the mid

The key to Philly's offensive success was their O-line, beyond all question. Feely had more than enough time to execute what was required of him, and if you give a QB enough time back there, even a grade-B QB can look like the second coming of Sammy Baugh.

I'm not all that concerned about it, but what does worry me is that, as a number of posters have said here and on other threads, they, for some reason, did not employ packages and schemes they've relied on in the past to counter some of what they were experiencing.

I dunno. Maybe this was their annual FO game, or maybe they simply came up flat.

Who knows?

What was a bit concerning IMO was several Blitz schemes were ruined by the superb play of the Eagles OL - Their OL dominated tonight

If we continue to use Blitz schemes like tonight we need to either get to the QB or pay the price in the middle like they did tonight

 

[HEY BRO! WHAT UP?]

Re: John Madden Analysis spoken 10x-"The Patriots secondary are vulnerable in the mid

Bottom line, the Pats defense didn't play well. The Eagles recievers outplayed them for most of the game. Hopefully the Pats will play better next week.