unoriginal
In the Starting Line-Up
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- Nov 12, 2006
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I downloaded this game a while ago but have been too busy to take a through look at it until now. Apologizes. Hopefully I can catch up before the Super Bowl.
Like most games this year, and all the games I've evaluated line play, the Patriots prefer using the spread when passing, with the running back providing blitz pickup. Tight ends almost always run pass patterns, and the Pats go heavy only when they want to run the ball.
Steelers executed a game plan that called for a lot of zone blitzes, dropping interior linemen to cover crossing routes and "spy" Tom Brady, while rushing from the edges with stunts inside to pin the tackles in place.
It's a defensive plan tailor-made to exploit the way the Pats run their pass protection in the spread shotgun, which is for the line to divide 3/2 towards the side that the "Mike" linebacker is on. You have by now no doubt heard Brady's presnap jabber on the on-field mics where he points at a player and says something like "96 is the mike" (often heard in the Eagles game where, for example, Omar Gaither actually is their base Sam). Brady is picking out the most inside off-line player on the strong side, naming him the mike, and telling his offensive line to split towards the side he goes to on the snap of the ball.
Generally, it seems the running back blocks a semi-circle on his side of the quarterback, regardless of the mike call, starting inside and working his way out. This is probably to avoid him interfering with the quarterback by crossing his face.
Here is an example from the Steelers' game:
The Steelers wait until Faulk has set strong and Brady has called the mike, then drop the corner, Townshend, into coverage. The one down lineman, in the third panel, stops his rush and spies on Brady, while one of the remaining two rushers is sure to drive into Koppen, keeping him from sliding back to the weakside.
On the weakside, the Steelers bring 3 rushers against 2 linemen, and stunt the down lineman across Light's face to keep him from getting width. They bring the two linebackers through the gaps around Light, giving Larry Foote, on the outside, a relatively direct path to the quarterback.
This one is more of the same. Out of a balanced base look, the Steelers drop all the backers into coverage on the strong side of the line, along with the nose. They are replaced as rushers by the backers on the weak side, and the down lineman stunts inside to pin Mankins in place and make Koppen superfluous. Maroney steps up and slides all the way across to the backside B gap, but that leaves him at a terrible angle for the block and the Steelers end up knocking Brady over.
If Brady were to audible the back over, of course, the Steelers would simply run the same blitz, except to the other side.
Of course, its not enough to have a scheme tailor-made to the Patriots; the Pats are so good you also need players tailor-made to beat the Pats. Here is an example why that's so hard:
On this screen pass to Gaffney, Light and Mankins get and maintain blocks 10 yards downfield. Light ends up blocking a corner, Townshend, that Wes Welker lost his block on. That is really hard to do for a lineman in space. I didn't have space to show it, but Light ends up pushing Townshend back another 10 yards into Ike Taylor, taking both out of the play.
On the whole, it was a good night for the Pats offensive line; no sacks and not too many pressures despite blocking most of the night with a 5 man line against 4 and 5 rushers. According to Reiss they spent most of the night in 4 and 3 WR sets.
The applicable Reiss postings:
Offensive Positional Groupings
Pittsburgh Blitzes
Also note Yates played one series in place of Hochstein; in fact you can see him in the second picture series above. Nothing bad happened so I didn't put him on the chart.
Like most games this year, and all the games I've evaluated line play, the Patriots prefer using the spread when passing, with the running back providing blitz pickup. Tight ends almost always run pass patterns, and the Pats go heavy only when they want to run the ball.
Steelers executed a game plan that called for a lot of zone blitzes, dropping interior linemen to cover crossing routes and "spy" Tom Brady, while rushing from the edges with stunts inside to pin the tackles in place.
It's a defensive plan tailor-made to exploit the way the Pats run their pass protection in the spread shotgun, which is for the line to divide 3/2 towards the side that the "Mike" linebacker is on. You have by now no doubt heard Brady's presnap jabber on the on-field mics where he points at a player and says something like "96 is the mike" (often heard in the Eagles game where, for example, Omar Gaither actually is their base Sam). Brady is picking out the most inside off-line player on the strong side, naming him the mike, and telling his offensive line to split towards the side he goes to on the snap of the ball.
Generally, it seems the running back blocks a semi-circle on his side of the quarterback, regardless of the mike call, starting inside and working his way out. This is probably to avoid him interfering with the quarterback by crossing his face.
Here is an example from the Steelers' game:
The Steelers wait until Faulk has set strong and Brady has called the mike, then drop the corner, Townshend, into coverage. The one down lineman, in the third panel, stops his rush and spies on Brady, while one of the remaining two rushers is sure to drive into Koppen, keeping him from sliding back to the weakside.
On the weakside, the Steelers bring 3 rushers against 2 linemen, and stunt the down lineman across Light's face to keep him from getting width. They bring the two linebackers through the gaps around Light, giving Larry Foote, on the outside, a relatively direct path to the quarterback.
This one is more of the same. Out of a balanced base look, the Steelers drop all the backers into coverage on the strong side of the line, along with the nose. They are replaced as rushers by the backers on the weak side, and the down lineman stunts inside to pin Mankins in place and make Koppen superfluous. Maroney steps up and slides all the way across to the backside B gap, but that leaves him at a terrible angle for the block and the Steelers end up knocking Brady over.
If Brady were to audible the back over, of course, the Steelers would simply run the same blitz, except to the other side.
Of course, its not enough to have a scheme tailor-made to the Patriots; the Pats are so good you also need players tailor-made to beat the Pats. Here is an example why that's so hard:
On this screen pass to Gaffney, Light and Mankins get and maintain blocks 10 yards downfield. Light ends up blocking a corner, Townshend, that Wes Welker lost his block on. That is really hard to do for a lineman in space. I didn't have space to show it, but Light ends up pushing Townshend back another 10 yards into Ike Taylor, taking both out of the play.
Code:
[B]Time Down Patriots Steelers Extra Info[/B]
14:55 1 & 10 [B][COLOR="orange"]Light: Pressure[/COLOR][/B] Harrison Backed into Brady
14:16 2 & 6
14:13 3 & 6
04:59 2 & 8
04:18 3 & 2 [COLOR="orange"]Pressure[/COLOR], overload right
03:02 1 & 10
03:00 2 & 10
01:08 2 & 4
14:16 1 & 10
11:25 1 & 10 [COLOR="orange"][B]Maroney: knockdown[/B][/COLOR] Farrior zone blitz (see above)
10:39 3 & 10
09:53 1 & 10 [COLOR="orange"][B]Maroney: pressure;[/B][/COLOR]
[COLOR="orange"][B]Brady: knockdown[/B][/COLOR]
09:05 3 & 10 [COLOR="orange"]Pressure[/COLOR], overload left
02:26 1 & 10 [COLOR="orange"][B]Mankins/Koppen: pressure[/B][/COLOR]
02:00 1 & 10
01:55 2 & 10
01:34 1 & 10
01:02 1 & 10 [B][COLOR="Red"]Holding: Faulk[/COLOR][/B]
00:58 1 & 20
00:54 2 & 16
00:51 3 & 16 [COLOR="Orange"]Kaczur: tipped pass[/COLOR]
12:35 1 & 10 [COLOR="orange"][B]Hochstein: pressure[/B][/COLOR]
11:57 1 & 10 [COLOR="orange"][B]Light: false start[/B][/COLOR]
11:33 1 & 15
10:51 2 & 6 [COLOR="orange"][B]Light: pressure wide left[/B][/COLOR]
10:17 1 & 10
08:24 1 & 10
08:02 2 & 2 [COLOR="orange"][B]Hochstein: pressure[/B][/COLOR]
07:37 1 & 10
06:53 1 & 10
06:49 2 & 10 Brady scramble
06:04 3 & 6
05:21 4 & 1
04:37 1 & 10 [COLOR="orange"][B]Hochstein: knockdown[/B][/COLOR] Defensive holding
04:33 1 & 5
03:56 2 & 2
03:52 3 & 2 [COLOR="orange"][B]Kaczur: knockdown[/B][/COLOR]
Lot of quick throws on this drive
13:27 1 & 10
12:41 1 & 10 [COLOR="orange"]Pressure wide right[/COLOR]
12:03 1 & 10
11:18 2 & 3
10:34 1 & 10
09:48 2 & 2
09:10 1 & 10 [COLOR="orange"][B]Light: pressure on blitz stunt[/B][/COLOR]
08:47 2 & 4
08:03 3 & 1
07:16 1 & 10
07:13 2 & 10 [COLOR="orange"]Pressure on blitz stunt[/COLOR]
07:10 3 & 10On the whole, it was a good night for the Pats offensive line; no sacks and not too many pressures despite blocking most of the night with a 5 man line against 4 and 5 rushers. According to Reiss they spent most of the night in 4 and 3 WR sets.
The applicable Reiss postings:
Offensive Positional Groupings
Pittsburgh Blitzes
Code:
[B]Player Sack Knockdown Pressure Holding False Start[/B]
Light 0 0 3 0 1
Mankins 0 0 1 0 0
Koppen 0 0 1 0 0
Hochstein 0 1 2 0 0
Kaczur 0 1 0 0 0
Maroney 0 1 1 0 0
Faulk 0 0 0 1 0
Brady 0 1 0 0 0Also note Yates played one series in place of Hochstein; in fact you can see him in the second picture series above. Nothing bad happened so I didn't put him on the chart.
