Belichick's record when facing elite, ultra talented offenses in the playoffs, will blow your mind!

[PATSYLICIOUS]

The teams that came into Gillette and won in the playoffs - that's the '09 and '12 Ravens and '10 Jets - all had really strong offensive lines and elite defenses. None of those teams were really great on offense.

Same with the giants teams, very conservative offenses.

 

[Ice_Ice_Brady]

It's all about the warm Gatorade, Belicheat is nothing without it.

You forgot trash cans.

 

[fightingirish595]

Is this working for you? Was testing some things earlier, but shouldn't have affected those...

It's been working on my phone but I haven't been back on my surface pro so I'm not sure yet

 

[BKapatsfan]

04 was the best

 

[brdmaverick]

Well, you have to take into account the QB and his record of post-season sucking.

The circumstances still provided a prime opportunity for him to get over his road playoff woes. In fact, that Colts were favorites in this game..........even Vegas, despite Manning's record, saw this going the Colts way.

 

[ALP]

i think the thing w/ the raiting buttons is that you have to have the mouse over the post area for them to show up, otherwise theyre hidden

 

[Patriot Missile]

Only chance Steelers have is for The 3 B's to light it up and for Tomlin to change up his scheme on defense.

Somehow i think he doesnt have it in him to do that. Honestly have no idea how this guy has a job. He stands on the shoulders of better coaches underneath him and lets the players do the rest. Seriously, guy comes off as one of the stupidest coaches in the league to me. All my opinion of course but I've never read an intelligent quote or anything innovative at all about him. Just ra ra pom pom tough guy cheerleader with a bunch of excuses.

 

[Soul_Survivor88]

I wonder if Belichick chooses a similiar defensive gameplan he used against the Rams in the Super Bowl (minus the mauling of the WRs that was allowed pre-Polian rule changes)

ESPN.com: NFL - Patriots used game plan to stymie St. Louis

....While the players credited strong performances from the secondary, just enough blitzes to keep Rams quarterback Kurt Warner off-balance, and an occasional new wrinkle St. Louis coaches could not have seen on videotape, mostly they heralded the game plan conjured up by coach Bill Belichick. [.....]

"The one thing (Belichick) stressed was to try to keep them guessing," said linebacker Tedy Bruschi. "If you get predictable against an offense that's as explosive as that one, they're going to make plays, because they'll pick up on your tendencies as the game goes on. So part of our plan was to have no set tendencies at all. And it worked out pretty well, didn't it?" [.....]

It is a game plan, both complex and at the same time more basic than people might think, that has been studied during the offseason by Rams opponents. Indeed, it did, as the Patriots choked off the Rams for three quarters, held St. Louis to a modicum of big plays, and took advantage of the fact coach Mike Martz did not revert to Marshall Faulk and the running game, as he had in the NFC championship game.

The Rams ran up huge advantages in first downs (26-15), total yardage (427-267), total plays (69-54), yards per snap (6.2-4.9) and possession time (33:30-26:30). Yet they scored only two touchdowns, turned the ball over three times, and appeared flummoxed at times by the Patriots scheme. Of the Rams' 69 offensive snaps, the Patriots were in a "nickel" or "dime" look nearly 80 percent of the time. They had five defensive backs on the field for 22 snaps, six defensive backs 26 plays and seven on a half-dozen occasions. It was reminiscent of the scheme used in the regular-season game but far more effective. Safety Lawyer Milloy guessed that the Patriots used about 10 different coverage combinations. [.....]

Upfront the Pats used at least a half-dozen different looks, including three snaps in a five-man line, with one of those resulting in a Mike Vrabel rush that forced an interception. In a role reversal, a Belichick defense that has characteristically been designed around its linebackers, played into the strengths of its versatile front line and populous secondary.

"We were playing a little bit on the edge, because, with some of the stuff we did, we felt like they would have some people running free," Belichick said. "But our (secondary) rotated well and our front people got enough of a pass rush so that Warner couldn't always see when a guy popped open. You like to say it worked exactly how you drew it up, but sometimes you've got to have some luck, too."​

 

[WHPats]

BB has shut down some of the greatest offenses of all time. The '90 Bills, the '01 Rams, the '03 and '04 Colts. Do these Steelers have anything BB hasn't seen? They're not as prolific as any of the offenses I listed, those teams were record-breaking. Some of you may argue that our defenses were ultra talented back then, but was it THAT much different? It was still plug and play where the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.

 

[Soul_Survivor88]

BB has shut down some of the greatest offenses of all time. The '90 Bills, the '01 Rams, the '03 and '04 Colts. Do these Steelers have anything BB hasn't seen? They're not as prolific as any of the offenses I listed, those teams were record-breaking. Some of you may argue that our defenses were ultra talented back then, but was it THAT much different? It was still plug and play where the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.

Indeed. The 1990 Bills also fit the pro-bowl triplet profile mentioned in the OP. Went back and edited the thread to reflect it

 

[Soul_Survivor88]

Neil Greenberg of the Washington Post points out that when the Steelers have trouble passing, they often lose (Pittsburgh averaged 7.2 net yards per attempt in wins and 5.4 in losses) and also references Belichick's history of mastering the "pick-your-poison-approach" on defense in the postseason:

Steelers will make the Patriots’ defense pick its poison. But Pats can stomach it all.

[Click Here For Full Entry]

When Belichick was the defensive coordinator for the New York Giants in 1990, he told his players “We’re going to let Thurman Thomas get 100 yards,” in Super Bowl XXV. The strategy worked. Thomas had 135 yards and a touchdown on 15 carries, but Jim Kelly and the Buffalo Bills’ passing game was limited to 212 yards and zero touchdowns. The Giants went on to win 20-19.

During Super Bowl XXXVI, Belichick, as coach of the Patriots, took away the run and forced the St. Louis Rams to beat them through the air, picking off two of Kurt Warner’s passes and adding three sacks in the Patriots’ 20-17 win.

It sounds counter intuitive for a team like New England, which hasn’t allowed a 100-yard rusher since November 2015, to not focus on the run yet the strategy isn’t as far-fetched as it sounds. Bell ran for 170 yards — 106 yards in the first half — against the Chiefs in Sunday’s divisional game but couldn’t make it into the end zone. However, to beat Roethlisberger, the best passer this Patriots team has faced in months, it will have to keep the Steelers’ offense from making big plays. And that means shutting down Brown.

If the Patriots can neutralize Brown like they did Hopkins, the Steelers passing game is in trouble. Roethlisberger has a 115.6 passer rating on throws to Brown this season, including the playoffs, but just a 88.4 rating on passes to the other receivers on the roster. Bell is a threat to catch passes out of the backfield, but he averages just 1.42 yards per route run after catching a pass from Roethlisberger, tying him for seventh-most among 17 running backs targeted on at least half their team’s pass attempts to a member of the backfield.

After Brown and perhaps Bell, the Steelers don’t have many reliable pass-catching options. Eli Rogers caught 48 of 66 passes during the regular season for 594 yards and three touchdowns. Tight end Jesse James caught 39 of 60 targets for 338 yards and three touchdowns. In the playoffs, Brown has as many targets (20) as Rogers and James combined (16).​

 

[SVN]

Apparently, Belichick is a grandmaster when it comes to facing elite offenses, particularly teams with pro bowl talent

As it turns out, the Patriots are 5-0 in playoff games during the Bill Belichick era against teams with Pro Bowl players at the 3 most important positions on offense, during that season: QB, WR, and RB.

They are, as follows (via @Joey007 and @irishfanatic)

2001 Steelers (NE won 24-17, Pro-bowlers Stewart/Bettis/Ward, opponent scoring avg 22.0 ppg)
2001 Rams (NE won 20-17, Pro-bowlers Warner/Faulk/Holt/Bruce, opponent scoring avg 31.4 ppg)
2004 Colts (NE won 20-3, Pro-bowlers Manning/James/Harrison, opponent scoring avg 32.6 ppg)
2004 Eagles (NE won 24-21, Pro-bowlers McNabb/Westbrook/Owens, opponent scoring avg 24.1 ppg)
2012 Texans (NE won 42-14, Pro-bowlers Schaub/Foster/Johnson, opponent scoring avg 26.0)

Belichick's record expands to 6-0 when you include his time as DC on the 1990 Giants team, which defeated a record-setting Bills offense that also included 3 Pro-bowlers at QB, WR, and RB, in Super Bowl XXV)

1990 Bills (NYG won 18-17, Pro-bowlers Kelly/Thomas,/Reed, opponent scoring avg 26.75 ppg)

Cant wait to see what Bill does against Roethlisberger, Brown, and Bell. Shut em' down Bill! SHUT EM' DOWN!!!!!!!

As Steve Sabol said today talking about the pats in 2004 AFCCG game, its not X's and O's its about billy's and joe's. BB had great game plans but the players to execute it in those instances other than maybe the 2012 team. How he does sunday will all depend on how our defense is. Good as everyone here thinks or little overrated due to watered down competition.

 

[SVN]

Neil Greenberg of the Washington Post points out that when the Steelers have trouble passing, they often lose (Pittsburgh averaged 7.2 net yards per attempt in wins and 5.4 in losses) and also references Belichick's history of mastering the "pick-your-poison-approach" on defense in the postseason:

Steelers will make the Patriots’ defense pick its poison. But Pats can stomach it all.

[Click Here For Full Entry]

When Belichick was the defensive coordinator for the New York Giants in 1990, he told his players “We’re going to let Thurman Thomas get 100 yards,” in Super Bowl XXV. The strategy worked. Thomas had 135 yards and a touchdown on 15 carries, but Jim Kelly and the Buffalo Bills’ passing game was limited to 212 yards and zero touchdowns. The Giants went on to win 20-19.

During Super Bowl XXXVI, Belichick, as coach of the Patriots, took away the run and forced the St. Louis Rams to beat them through the air, picking off two of Kurt Warner’s passes and adding three sacks in the Patriots’ 20-17 win.

It sounds counter intuitive for a team like New England, which hasn’t allowed a 100-yard rusher since November 2015, to not focus on the run yet the strategy isn’t as far-fetched as it sounds. Bell ran for 170 yards — 106 yards in the first half — against the Chiefs in Sunday’s divisional game but couldn’t make it into the end zone. However, to beat Roethlisberger, the best passer this Patriots team has faced in months, it will have to keep the Steelers’ offense from making big plays. And that means shutting down Brown.

If the Patriots can neutralize Brown like they did Hopkins, the Steelers passing game is in trouble. Roethlisberger has a 115.6 passer rating on throws to Brown this season, including the playoffs, but just a 88.4 rating on passes to the other receivers on the roster. Bell is a threat to catch passes out of the backfield, but he averages just 1.42 yards per route run after catching a pass from Roethlisberger, tying him for seventh-most among 17 running backs targeted on at least half their team’s pass attempts to a member of the backfield.

After Brown and perhaps Bell, the Steelers don’t have many reliable pass-catching options. Eli Rogers caught 48 of 66 passes during the regular season for 594 yards and three touchdowns. Tight end Jesse James caught 39 of 60 targets for 338 yards and three touchdowns. In the playoffs, Brown has as many targets (20) as Rogers and James combined (16).​

I fully expect the steelers to come out ultra aggressive and throw deep from the first play.How that turns out might dictate the flow of the game.

 

[Soul_Survivor88]

I fully expect the steelers to come out ultra aggressive and throw deep from the first play.How that turns out might dictate the flow of the game.

So in keeping with the "Pick-Your-Poison" theme, if you're Belichick, what do you do defensively?

Option A -
Do you let Bell have his yards, then tighten up in the red zone?

Option B -
Or do you neutralize the ground game, and dare Roethlisberger to beat you in the air, while denying him his primary, most dependable target (e.g. Antonio Brown)?

I'm gonna go with Option B. As @DaBruinz pointed out, the Steelers have not lost a game this season in which Bell rushed for me than 85 yards. In each of their 4 losses (not including Week 3, when Bell was still serving his 4-game suspension) Bell was held to under 85 yards on the ground. It seems that to beat Pittsburgh, you have to contain Bell and hold him under 85 yards on the ground.

Another thing to also consider, is that Pittsburgh's passing game for the second half of the season, has not been especially prolific


Take out Bell, double-team Brown...and are Roethlisberger to try to beat you with his #3, #4, #5 options

 

[The Brandon Five]

04 was the best

Amazing that they did it without Ty Law and with Troy Brown playing defensive back.