With the Pats D so overwhelming so far, what kind of offense would you try to put together to attack it? Presume that you can get good to above average players to play any style of offense, but that you're not going to get a team full of all-stars. Just thinking about style and philosophy.
First thing is that the strength of the Pats D is the secondary, which goes four quality CBs deep in Gilmore, McCourty, JC Jackson, and Jones. Your third and fourth WR is probably going to be a good deal worse than their 3rd and 4th CB. So, I'd try to keep the Pats in base personnel as much as possible. I'd rather have a FB or 2nd TE go against Roberts or Bentley than anything else. Heavy sets, downhill runs, play actions. I think the Pats D has been primarily constructed to stop the spread offense, so going back to old school style might fare a little better. Maybe try to overpower the D since no team seems able to outflank them or outthink them.
When you're in 3rd and long, I don't even know. It's scary what the Patriots are doing. I may be playing the field position game just to try to limit turnovers rather than aggressively trying to convert a 3rd and 12.
As to type of QB, I'd have a mobile QB who you can design some runs for and who may be able to scramble for a few first downs.
Thinking about it, the offense that most closely resembles this description is the Ravens this year. Not to say they'd do well against the Pats D, but maybe they could eke out a low scoring game and limit turnovers and mistakes.
First thing is that the strength of the Pats D is the secondary, which goes four quality CBs deep in Gilmore, McCourty, JC Jackson, and Jones. Your third and fourth WR is probably going to be a good deal worse than their 3rd and 4th CB. So, I'd try to keep the Pats in base personnel as much as possible. I'd rather have a FB or 2nd TE go against Roberts or Bentley than anything else. Heavy sets, downhill runs, play actions. I think the Pats D has been primarily constructed to stop the spread offense, so going back to old school style might fare a little better. Maybe try to overpower the D since no team seems able to outflank them or outthink them.
When you're in 3rd and long, I don't even know. It's scary what the Patriots are doing. I may be playing the field position game just to try to limit turnovers rather than aggressively trying to convert a 3rd and 12.
As to type of QB, I'd have a mobile QB who you can design some runs for and who may be able to scramble for a few first downs.
Thinking about it, the offense that most closely resembles this description is the Ravens this year. Not to say they'd do well against the Pats D, but maybe they could eke out a low scoring game and limit turnovers and mistakes.
