Patriots Pregame Thread Pre-Game - Divisional Round Texans at Patriots

[denverpatsfan]

There were some deep shots open last night. Someone else here already mentioned it. Williams can get open deep. Better blocking and better movement in the pocket will allow it.

 

[slash83]

Don't like this matchup one bit. OL is going to get eaten alive again. Hope Drake doesn't get injured.

Hope you grow some balls.

 

[The Gr8est]

I am glad we have to go through Houston rather than Pittsburgh.

We have taken enough crap about playing a weak schedule.

 

[PatsFan2]

I’m going to go the opposite way here and say we need to open up the offense, throw the ball down the field and be aggressive.
This dunk and dunk, fear the pass rush, stay on schedule approach plays right into their hands. I’d rather get chunk plays, take a sack and have to convert some 3rd and longs, with the qb who is the best in the league at doing that, than try to convert 7 3rd downs on a drive.
We need to run our offense and not be scared into trying to be something we aren’t.

I wonder if we go a lot of Double TE's one RB set? Need H Henry and Hooper to chip well. M Moses and Especially W Campbell are going to need all the help they can get. IF Maye gets' time we are in business: if not it's gonna be a long afternoon. The Texan DE's are Lethal! off the Edge: most Teams have One and they have Two.

 

[NFL Mystique]

Whether next week or the week after, Stroud is going to cost them a game. It's coming. Hard to believe I am calling him the weak link when a few years ago he had top 5 QB written all over him.

Not every offense is the Steelers. And sooner or later, they are going to find that out.

 

[bormio]

The Texans always seem to have a mean front, and Bill and Brady always seemed to neutralize it. Whether using backs and TEs to help with the rush, or Brady getting the ball out quickly, the Texans’ rush usually seemed less effective than predicted. Obviously McDaniels has a lot of experience playing them, hopefully the old lessons work.

 

[Triumph]

I’m going to go the opposite way here and say we need to open up the offense, throw the ball down the field and be aggressive.
This dunk and dunk, fear the pass rush, stay on schedule approach plays right into their hands. I’d rather get chunk plays, take a sack and have to convert some 3rd and longs, with the qb who is the best in the league at doing that, than try to convert 7 3rd downs on a drive.
We need to run our offense and not be scared into trying to be something we aren’t.

Disagree

The Steelers tried going deep and paid the price. Houston can play Man requiring the NE OL to block longer. Long drives are proffered keeping the Texans defense on the field. Wear them down.

 

[Thunderhead]

Hope you grow some balls.

 

[stcjones]

There are so many different ways this could go. Houston's O is a weak point, and their D is a strength. I guess you begin there. Our offense is....what? It depends in part on whether the running game can sustain recent improvement and on whether the O-line can overcome recent lapses, mostly in pass protection. So we might win a "defensive struggle.' Their D is probably better than ours, but we have the obviously better QB, so maybe you get an offset there and win a grinder 13 to 6 or something. Or maybe, by a combination of throwing, to some extent deep, on the run (or running on the run) Drake can have enough of an offensive breakout (it shouldn't take much) simply to outscore the Texans, notwithstanding the strength of their D. Or maybe our running game will revert to mush, with Rhamondre resuming his 3-yards-a-carry, bobble-ball ways and Henderson wearing down at last, or the O-line will slide further into turnstile territory, leaving Drake with the quick, short passes which play to the strength of Houston's D (as we saw last night), and leaving him looking more like Rogers than himself. Maybe too our somewhat restored defense will shut down the Texans' dismal O and we will win history's first 2-0 playoff game.

My immediate impression, based on watching maybe 60% of that dreary fiasco last night, was that we couldn't possibly lose to either of the two offenses on display. But the potential monkey wrench is the Texan's D, who might just be nearly as good as they obviously think they are. It'd be really gratifying to bring them down a few pegs in their own self-esteem, so I'll probably pick us to win that 13-6 grinder, but I'm not gonna be real confident about it - more a hope than a prediction - which I guess is what happens in the playoffs, where every team in every game (except maybe for the Steleers) has a chance to win.

The "dream outcome" would be a brilliant breakout day for Drake, resulting in a blowout win, but I don't think we yet have the O-line for that. Our receiving corps is pretty middling as well, of course, but with Drake throwing the ball, that just hasn't seemed to matter.

I’m a little concerned that we won’t be able to run on them and will become one dimensional… And if our offensive line cannot somehow improve against the rush, obviously it will effect how fast Drake is going to have to get the ball out….. going to be a tough game for sure

 

[VrabelJr]

Houston is really good. This is going to be a tough test.

 

[shmessy]

Thunderhead said:
Don't like this matchup one bit. OL is going to get eaten alive again. Hope Drake doesn't get injured.

Hope you grow some balls.

....because only internet fanboys are real men????

Did you make you bed this morning is mom going to yell at you again?

.

 

[PatsFan2]

Just watched every play by the Houston defense last night. Below is the strategy I would put in.

-If you go Jumbo it's going to be hard to run but play action off jumbo will be huge. Jumbo puts 9 in the box, still tough to run on. But throwing from that could be huge.

-The defense is very simple. Rush 4 most of the time. If playing zone keep everything in front and attack. They are super-fast and super hard hitting. If in Man, got to have RB's chip, you will have deep chances. Rodgers had 4 plays he had a chances to hit a deep ball. Missed 2 of them, bad read on 1 and got pressure too quick on another but 4 possible long chunk passes were there. The Boutte TD Drake through last year will be available. If Pats can hit them they can get some big passes and avoid the red zone with long TD's.

-Basically, in the pass game: determine if man or zone. If zone dink and dunk, if man look for the WR 1 on 1 on the outside. Use play action in jumbo. RB's need to look for the cutback, Texans are fast and can over-pursue on some plays. OL needs to get to second level quick. Safety and LB are quick, getting thru the line is doable but the second level is where the running game will win or lose.
Misdirection, like Drake PA bootleg should work also. Texans VERY aggressive. Screens? They are too fast and unless in man not going to work. Obviously, no turnovers and put pressure on Stroud. He is not very accurate in general and totally loses it with pressure.

You got to hit some deep passes, good thing Drake is the best at that. If you do that, they go 100% zone where you can get underneath throws and move the chains and Drake is accurate at that. Drake may have a few run opportunities but doubt anywhere near what he got with Chargers. If They play a lot of zone they are fast and violent closing tacklers. Rather Drake takes the 3 yards and gets down in this one.

Nice post: we have to add some moving pockets too get the Texans out of their comfort rush zones. Some rolling pockets would give Maye a chance to run we have to keep the pressure on them on Offense. IF we're getting Three on most of our Drives we could eventually wear them down. Their Offense is not all there so they'll probably Punt a lot; the Texans are also very conservative. A Mobile QB like Maye can give them some Issues: our WR's and TE's need to make plays.

 

[PatsFan2]

I am glad we have to go through Houston rather than Pittsburgh.

We have taken enough crap about playing a weak schedule.

I couldn't envision it; but I would have been happen if the Steelers pulled it out.

 

[shmessy]

I wonder if we go a lot of Double TE's one RB set? Need H Henry and Hooper to chip well. M Moses and Especially W Campbell are going to need all the help they can get. IF Maye gets' time we are in business: if not it's gonna be a long afternoon. The Texan DE's are Letal! off the Edge: most Teams have One and they have Two.

Sure. That and also 2 RB sets - - the RBs can better chip both sides and maybe one releases for another receiving option.

.

 

[Kdo5]

The key is not turning the ball over like we did on Sunday. I don’t think we can get away with those blunders for a second week in a row. Josh has to scheme it up to help the left side of the line or it’s going to be a long day. They can’t do it themselves.

 

[Thunderhead]

Thunderhead said:
Don't like this matchup one bit. OL is going to get eaten alive again. Hope Drake doesn't get injured.



....because only internet fanboys are real men????

Did you make you bed this morning is mom going to yell at you again?

.

The middle school level insult really got to me

 

[Toofy]

they would put 2 corners on henry and diggs in man coverage and their line backers are stud level when it comes to open field tackles.

we need to always go jumbo personnel with munford and rham and henderson for pass blocking. just dont waste downs by getting henderson to run in the gaps. thats something you can try in q3. but initial rounds get them used to some tendencies and flip script completely in second half. this is gonna be a tale of two halves. their defense just one thing. 4 man motor trying to get the qb , 2 CB taking away best weapons and all LBs ready to pounce whenever there is a run or screen.

flea flicker with chism or williams or henry in deep needs to be employed to get one TD.

negate the 4 man rush with outside zone runs on left. once they get used to that , employ the reverse , where you go on left and reverse runner like hendo or douglas picks off in oppsite dirtection and runs on right side.

confusion is the key unless we find the secret sauce in running.

deep passing plays are last resort. maye should take what defense gives and not hold for more than 2.5 seconds. chism might be crucial if they lock down henry and diggs.

we will terribly miss Hollins in this game. he could have served as a jumbo linemen blocking while also faking and going deep.

 

[shmessy]

Disagree

The Steelers tried going deep and paid the price. Houston can play Man requiring the NE OL to block longer. Long drives are proffered keeping the Texans defense on the field. Wear them down.

Good point. And to that - I wonder if the Pats won't rotate Campbell/Wilson with Lowe/Brown 3-4 plays at a time - I know that would be very unusual, but just an idea. That Houston D is an opponent this week that requires some new thinking how to attack.

I like your thought about wearing them down and this perhaps nutty idea could be an answer.

.

 

[TommyD4207]

FYSA: Ref info for game


I’ll have to go and look who they reffed this past weekend and if he ever did any Pats or Hou games this year.

9th most isn’t so bad I guess.
- - How many ref teams are there anyway? Do they need more than 16 for depth reasons?
9th most sounds kinda bad, but 9 of 16 is like exactly AVERAGE.

This is the referee that called the Giants game.

It's important to note that this is not the *crew* that called the Giants game, it's an """""all-star""""" crew.

 

[shmessy]

The middle school level insult really got to me

Middle school was you being too kind. It looked more "middle school dropout".

.