Patriots Defense vs Broncos Offense

[RIpats88]

How do you guys think we match up with the Broncos? some of my co-workers are convinced they are going to destroy us next week and that the chargers have a better matchup than us defensively against them and we wont be able to keep pace

I actually think we match up pretty decent.

D. Thomas - Talib.......Talib is healthy as he has been since the beginning of the season. I dont expect him to win every matchup but he should be competitive and limit him.

Decker - Dennard.........Last game decker had 1 catch. ryan/dennard shut him down. I dont think he is a WR who performs when you can be physical with him.

arrington-welker....Arrington should be familiar with welkers tendencies going against him all those years in practice. he wasnt a large factor in the last game.

wildcard here is Jamie Collins vs. Julius Thomas.

 

[upstater1]

Limit Peyton from throwing over the top.

No breakdowns as we saw with Luck and Brazill.

Make Peyton throw 30 yards downfield outside, like that perfect throw over Dennard from Luck to Brazill. Nothing the Patriots can do about that, but can Peyton make that throw?

If the Patriots play smart, that's the one area where the Broncos can do some damage, but I have my doubts that Peyton can make that throw.

Other than that, Collins simply must do a credible job on Julius Thomas.

Also, they need to be better against the run than they were last time.

 

[dales804]

As you noted, I like the way the Patriots defensive backfield matches up with their WRs. DEN typically plays a 3WR set, so Talib, Dennard, Arrington and Ryan will need to be on the field a whole lot. And Julius Thomas is a problem. I wonder how they'll cover him (Hightower, Collins, Fletcher, Wilson, a CB?) and when the Patriots go light on defense again (nickel or dime) will DEN be happy running most of the day as they did in November?

Also, this is a game I hope to see Chandler Jones make an impact. He doesn't have to worry about Manning running for a first down so he can pin his ears back and go get him.

 

[Ring 6]

How do you guys think we match up with the Broncos? some of my co-workers are convinced they are going to destroy us next week and that the chargers have a better matchup than us defensively against them and we wont be able to keep pace

I actually think we match up pretty decent.

D. Thomas - Talib.......Talib is healthy as he has been since the beginning of the season. I dont expect him to win every matchup but he should be competitive and limit him.

Decker - Dennard.........Last game decker had 1 catch. ryan/dennard shut him down. I dont think he is a WR who performs when you can be physical with him.

arrington-welker....Arrington should be familiar with welkers tendencies going against him all those years in practice. he wasnt a large factor in the last game.

wildcard here is Jamie Collins vs. Julius Thomas.

Well, its hard to say we don't match up well when he was 19-36-150 with 31 coming on a screen pass in the first matchup.

It will be interesting to see the mental part of the matchup.
We defended that 18-35-119 plus 31 on a screen, it wasn't just the weather.
We took away the short stuff he lives off of, and dared him to run. They ran for a ton of yards, but something tells me if we do the same thing Manning will be too arrogant to run the ball.


193615031

 

[patsinthesnow]

The matchups are set up for our CB trio. Our CBs won the first game, they can win again.

Talib does his best work on big #1 WRs like Demaryius Thomas.

Decker is at his worst against physical man to man CBs. He had his season low #s vs. Dennard with only 1 reception for 5 yards.

Arrington does his best work vs. pure slot WRs, Cruz and Welker. He only gave up 1 reception to Welker in the first game in man coverage.

Heck, I think I'd rather Logan Ryan on the field than Gregory for more coverage help. Double J. Thomas with Ryan/Collins and play a 1 safety look with McCourty, begging Peyton to throw deep?

 

[Gronkandez]

FWIW to me, Welker looks like a shell of his former self right now. In addition to having that Steve Tasker looking big helmet and the huge mouth piece, he looks shaky to me. He's had drops throughout the season but he had another pretty big one at the goal line yesterday and the chemisty between him and Manning just looks off to me. I don't see him as being a major threat except for those pick plays near the goal line.

I agree that J Collins vs J Thomas is the one to watch. Although I will point out that J Thomas looked like a Donkey yesterday (pun intended). Manning yelled at him for being lined up incorrectly causing them to burn a TO then he jumped off side on the ensuing play and you could hear Manning swear on the field mic. He also fumbled and dropped a pass or two.

I think Talib needs help over the top on D Thomas. He is by far their best option.

 

[chasa]

our defence is better now then it was when we played them earlier this season, We are also not going to spot them 30 points via something like 8 fumbles.

 

[Horace's Ivories]

I will say that it is a pleasure to finally field a strong secondary (with depth!) going into the playoffs.. been a long time..

 

[coolguy]

How belichick uses collins will be the secret weapon for the patriots. Collins can play every position on defense and if peyton makes the mistake by testing he could pay for it.

HAHAHA ...It must be odd For the film nerd that is peyton manning not have multiple game tape of a teams best linebacker.

 

[Sciz]

The Chargers pressured Manning twice yesterday. To add some context, Collins rushed 9 tunes against the Colts and had 5 pressures. If the Pats can have the same level of coverage as the Chargers but with a better pass rush, then they'll win.

 

[SalemPats]

I thought we did a great job of jamming D. Thomas off the line.

D. Thomas vs Talib. This is the type of player that Talib loves to play against. Last game they tried to get Thomas involved early on WR screens, I expect them to try and utilize Welker and Decker in that aspect instead because of Talib's physical game. I think Thomas won't be involved early.

Decker vs Dennard, good matchup here, this will probably be the key to a victory.

Collins or nickel cb vs J Thomas - We have speed, this is a tough matchup because Thomas is not just a run up the seam type of player, he's good on out patterns.

Ryan? vs Welker - tough matchup for Ryan but we do know Welker well, so we will be prepared

I expect them to try and do a lot of crosses with Thomas and Welker, especially if we play man

 

[Sicilian]

I think we match up better now than we did in the last game against them, where we limited Manning about as well as you can expect. I'm guessing we're going to employ a similar tactic, go small on defense and concede the run (to some degree). The difference here will be, can the run defense (which has improved in the last part of the season), be more effective than they were in week 12. Just because you know you're weakening yourself against the run doesn't mean you can't still play it effectively.

As for coverage, Julius Thomas is the big X-Factor. Collins did a great job on Fleener, but Thomas is better than Fleener. I wouldn't let Collins cover him 1-on-1 outside of a handful of looks. I say you challenge Talib and Dennard, tell them they're on an island against D. Thomas and Decker, bracket Welker with a LB and Arrington/Ryan, and let Collins cover Thomas with a safety over the top. If they want to run against that, let them. It's like if David Ortiz wants to bunt for a single against the shift, most teams will take that 10 times out of 10.

 

[Kontradiction]

The secondary matches up better with them than any other secondary in the NFL, save for the Seahawks. Collins vs. Julius Thomas is going to be the key here. When Peyton needed to make big throws yesterday, he was looking at #80.

 

[makoute]

This will be the key to this game, can the Pats D hold the Broncos, to a low enough score, so that the pats won't be forced to abandon the running game.

 

[Double TE]

Key will be to keep the D rested especially given the altitude. Hence a controlled passing attack and strong running game, allowing us to hopefully win the TOP game will held the D tremendously.

 

[patsinthesnow]

This was a great defensive play and play call in the first game:



Man to man, with Arrington on a CB blitz. McCourty with his former CB background drops down to Wes in man coverage.



Everyone is tight (except Spikes, lol), Arrington is in Manning's face, and Manning throws it immediately to Decker who is getting pressed by Ryan.



Ryan jumps Decker, INT, patriots in business.

 

[FourierSeries]

I'm more confident about this game than I was about the Colts game. In the week 12 game our banged up secondary limited their passing game. Dennard didn't finish the game and Talib missed a few plays in OT. Gregory was out and I believe Arrington was playing hurt. They all look healthy now.

 

[Ring 6]

This was a great defensive play and play call in the first game:



Man to man, with Arrington on a CB blitz. McCourty with his former CB background drops down to Wes in man coverage.



Everyone is tight (except Spikes, lol), Arrington is in Manning's face, and Manning throws it immediately to Decker who is getting pressed by Ryan.



Ryan jumps Decker, INT, patriots in business.

RB blew the blitz pickup

 

[RIpats88]

The Chargers pressured Manning twice yesterday. To add some context, Collins rushed 9 tunes against the Colts and had 5 pressures. If the Pats can have the same level of coverage as the Chargers but with a better pass rush, then they'll win.

I think the difference is that Luck has mobility/strength like roethlisberger to get passes away/avoid the rush. I dont know if manning can.

 

[Bonzo]

The Patriots have already demonstrated they match up well against the Broncos O, boasting by far the best defensive passer rating against Manning this season.

Peyton Manning: Game Logs at NFL.com

In wk 12, manning posted a passer rating of 70.4; the next-best team was the chargers at 92.4.