Good read on Atlanta's cover 3 pattern-matching defense

[JarOfMayo51]

The Falcons play man to man coverage.

They'll have to switch that up, otherwise Brady will just crush them with crossing patterns and pick routes

 

[Kontradiction]

They'll have to switch that up, otherwise Brady will just crush them with crossing patterns and pick routes

They'd have a better shot at generating stops playing man than zone if we're just purely looking at coverages and nothing else.

 

[JarOfMayo51]

They'd have a better shot at generating stops playing man than zone if we're just purely looking at coverages and nothing else.

Yea if you have the players you can trust to play man coverage the whole game, but a lot of times its a chess match with the offense trying to put men into motion and move guys around in an effort to force the defense to reveal whether they're in zone or man

If they stick to man the whole game, I'd think Brady could figure out some play/route combos that would leave guys wide open

 

[ausbacker]

The thing about the Falcons O is they can't be stopped... until they're stopped. There are parallels with the 2007 Patriots and in all honesty, even though I'm aware of the how and why, the Giants did enough to stop that Offense. Outside of an average first half, the Patriots D responded magnificently in the 2nd half of the AFC Championship game and time and time again, have overcome the detractors. I have faith they can do it for #OneMore.

As for the Falcons D, they've tremendously improved but with Tom Brady and a functioning Offensive Line, forgive me for feeling somewhat confident, on a neutral field, in this match-up.

 

[convertedpatsfan]

Interesting reads, thanks.

If 4 verts stresses it, could we potentially see all 5 WRs active for this game including Floyd?

Looks like our passing back could have a big game. Much like Vereen against Seattle, White and/or Lewis receiving could be one of the keys of the game.

 

[PScottman]

If 4 verts stresses it, could we potentially see all 5 WRs active for this game including Floyd?

White has the in line speed to get vertical, especially if motioned wide vice out of the backfield. With Ebner now in the protocol, the additional body is more likely special teams player vice WR, but things can change a lot between now and then.

 

[yopats]

Smart insight from Mike Lombardi

 

[PP2]

Smart insight from Mike Lombardi

To clarify, by "3 games" Lombardi means a Seattle style type of defense.

And regarding the activation of Floyd as the 5th WR. What's curious to me is that BB keeps talking about the speed of the Falcons defense and this tells me that he's going to start with a run heavy offense and see how things unfold.

 

[Pats1989]

OT:Should the Patriots take a flyer on the Pacman from Cincy? Obviously for 17.