Redskins D strategy vs. Pats

[Aston]

I expect the Skins to rush 4 and play lots of man coverage underneath. Brady will destroy short zones so by playing man under, they're forcing Tom to be perfect on all of his short throws. If he is perfect, then the Pats still end up picking up yards in small chunks anyway. It will be the classic bend-but-don't-break defense BB is famous for.

The Pats will have to counter by getting their running game going. This will force Washington to play more guys in the box or get them to bite on play action. If this happens, the Pats will break 30 again. If not, they should still be able to handle the Skins offense and win by something like a 24-17 score.

This is likely going to be the case in terms of how we approach you guys. We'll definitely play the deep ball first, rush 4 or 5, and basically dare you to run.

For the most part, expect us to play man up on the outside (with a LARGE cushion), play man/zone with our backers and deep cover 2 with our safeties. We'll give you the inside runs, quick hitches and slants, and deep ins that attack the area behind the zones the LBs cover.

I don't think we'll blitz much. You have good receivers and a great quarterback, but as a whole, our secondary is pretty talented and Sean Taylor is playing some of the best football we've seen.

 

[jaytyme]

What Washington or any other team will try to do is pressure Brady with the front four + 1 LB. Then they can have 6 or 7 men in coverage. This will open up the running game for LoMo. If he gets off some good runs then they will have to bring a LB or two up andthe passing game willstart clicking.

The Skins have some good personnel on D so it could be a good test. Better than Dallas? I don't think so overall but close. Better D'backs than Dallas, yes.

rushing 4 or 4+1 has been what brady has been looking at all year. in blitzing situations (less than 1 per 6 plays), brady is shredding defenses (41 of 51 with 7 TD's i think). this means the O-line is protecting as well w/or w/out the blitz. therefore, i agree that the skins will TRY to cover much more than blitz.

The problem w/ this approach is that we now have 2 options to respond:

- goiing to the 2003 offense using the 3 step drop short passing attack to control the ball.

- or running the ball (not an option in '03)