1. The last drive before the OT, there was a down where Dee Ford was coming hot on Brady, Brady just got rid of the ball for an in-completion on the right slant before Dee Ford hits his hand. Tony Romo was right to immediately take notice that was the same exact situation in last year's Superbowl where Brady hold the ball just a bit longer to try to force a completion on that same throw, and Brandon Graham happened. This time Brady chose to throw it away, ends up being one of the factors that we didn't end up in a heart breaker this time around.
2. One of the X factor was how Gronk will play against Eric Berry. Thank God Berry probably were rushed to get into the game and wasn't 100% healthy, it took Gronk consistently trying very hard entire game to tire him out and finally got to beat him a few times near the end of the game, where we needed him the most. This was one of the things I thought that injuries on the Chief's side had helped us out.
3. Kareem Hunt's dismissal from the Chiefs did make a significant impact in yesterday's game, it was just hard to see because it was never mentioned. Since the Chiefs were using a third string RB ,so the Pats probably know they are not going to run much between the tackles, we were able to put Gilmore on Kelce in the second half. This was great for the situation of yesterday because since we know KC was not going to run much between the tackles, we would not have worried that Gilmore gets destroyed by Kelce in run blocking, he can just go all out and cover him on pass plays. If Hunt was there and KC would have probably utilized the running game more, thus making us less comfortable putting Gilmore on Kelce the whole second half.
4. This year's KC are very similar to 2010 Patriots team that made to the Superbowl but lost to the Giants, a lot young stars in an explosive offense, but with a defense that can't stop a nose-bleed when it mattered. And also our last year's Superbowl performance as well, what's the similarity between them? Both teams lacked a capable linebacker that can lay the wood and direct traffic. This year we got Hightower back, even through he is much, much slower than his prime, but still, this was good enough for us to put some much needed pressure on Maholmes and get him uncomfortable early enough that he never got into a rhythm in the first half. The Chiefs, meanwhile could not do that to Brady because they can't find a single linebacker on their team that can generate a respectable push outside their front 4 or 5.
5. With that being said, once Brady retires, the AFC championship game might go from the name of New England invitational to the Patrick Maholmes invitational. He is young, he's got the arm talent not seen since Dan Marino at least. His weakness right now is that he is inexperienced to the point that he couldn't call the plays himself at the line, read the defense at the time of snap and beat the blitz like all the elite QB like Brady and Manning can do. One of the hallmarks of an elite QB in this era is that they can always beat the blitz by pre-reading before the snap and direct their own WR traffic to get the ball out of their hands earlier than the rushers came. On Sunday, BB must have bet on the fact that Maholmes has yet acquired the ability to do that, and we played a lot of single high safety blitz in the first half that worked very well. I just want you to venture your mind for a bit, think about just the thought of using single high safety defense against the likes of Rodgers or Brees right now, how fast those QBs would eat our blitz for lunch by changing the play before snap and getting rid of the ball faster than Van Noy can ever get there.
2. One of the X factor was how Gronk will play against Eric Berry. Thank God Berry probably were rushed to get into the game and wasn't 100% healthy, it took Gronk consistently trying very hard entire game to tire him out and finally got to beat him a few times near the end of the game, where we needed him the most. This was one of the things I thought that injuries on the Chief's side had helped us out.
3. Kareem Hunt's dismissal from the Chiefs did make a significant impact in yesterday's game, it was just hard to see because it was never mentioned. Since the Chiefs were using a third string RB ,so the Pats probably know they are not going to run much between the tackles, we were able to put Gilmore on Kelce in the second half. This was great for the situation of yesterday because since we know KC was not going to run much between the tackles, we would not have worried that Gilmore gets destroyed by Kelce in run blocking, he can just go all out and cover him on pass plays. If Hunt was there and KC would have probably utilized the running game more, thus making us less comfortable putting Gilmore on Kelce the whole second half.
4. This year's KC are very similar to 2010 Patriots team that made to the Superbowl but lost to the Giants, a lot young stars in an explosive offense, but with a defense that can't stop a nose-bleed when it mattered. And also our last year's Superbowl performance as well, what's the similarity between them? Both teams lacked a capable linebacker that can lay the wood and direct traffic. This year we got Hightower back, even through he is much, much slower than his prime, but still, this was good enough for us to put some much needed pressure on Maholmes and get him uncomfortable early enough that he never got into a rhythm in the first half. The Chiefs, meanwhile could not do that to Brady because they can't find a single linebacker on their team that can generate a respectable push outside their front 4 or 5.
5. With that being said, once Brady retires, the AFC championship game might go from the name of New England invitational to the Patrick Maholmes invitational. He is young, he's got the arm talent not seen since Dan Marino at least. His weakness right now is that he is inexperienced to the point that he couldn't call the plays himself at the line, read the defense at the time of snap and beat the blitz like all the elite QB like Brady and Manning can do. One of the hallmarks of an elite QB in this era is that they can always beat the blitz by pre-reading before the snap and direct their own WR traffic to get the ball out of their hands earlier than the rushers came. On Sunday, BB must have bet on the fact that Maholmes has yet acquired the ability to do that, and we played a lot of single high safety blitz in the first half that worked very well. I just want you to venture your mind for a bit, think about just the thought of using single high safety defense against the likes of Rodgers or Brees right now, how fast those QBs would eat our blitz for lunch by changing the play before snap and getting rid of the ball faster than Van Noy can ever get there.
