“James Light
pointed out on Twitter that the Patriots were likely to go to Cover 7 looks to try to combat Philadelphia's RPO game, combining man coverage with safety brackets at multiple levels of the field. As
Matt Bowen wrote in 2014, Cover 7 allows the Patriots to disguise their coverage intentions before the snap and create immediate traps for Foles to diagnose after the snap.”
“You need a cover corner capable of holding his own on one side of the field to play Cover 7, which is one of the reasons Belichick went out in free agency and spent $65 million to bring in
Stephon Gilmore last year. Gilmore's size and physicality make him an obvious matchup against Jeffery, and it seems likely that the Patriots will hope that Gilmore can hold up one-on-one against Philadelphia's most expensive wideout. Gilmore and Jeffery were college teammates at South Carolina, making that matchup even more tantalizing.”
“The Patriots turned to Chung as their primary coverage option against Ertz in 2015, but it wouldn't be a surprise to see Chung split snaps with McCourty against Ertz on Sunday. Gilmore could theoretically take some snaps against Ertz one-on-one, and the Patriots have used their No. 1 corner on a tight end in the past (like when
Aqib Talib spent most of a game against the Saints covering
Jimmy Graham), but the Patriots will give whomever is in primary coverage on Ertz some assistance, especially on third down and in the red zone.”
The best Eagles-Patriots preview you'll read: Barnwell makes his Super Bowl pick