Rewatch SB: Pats vs. Eagles - X's and O's ONLY!

[archstanton543]

See: The Key Reason for the Super Bowl Offensive Explosion

Here's the reason in a nutshell:

ABCEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

 

[captain stone]

Another sequence of key plays were the 3rd & 1 and 4th & 1


Good coverage across board. A younger Harrison might have been in a position for a pick 6. That was a very dangerous throw by Foles when KVN was coming crashing in on him.

And here is how close KVN came to sacking maybe even stripping Foles on the third down:

On fourth down DMac has Ertz man-to-man but gets picked 2 yards beyond the LOS by a Eagles crosser. At the same time Foles keeps his eyes on the RB wheel route to keep Harmon from breaking on Ertz who is totally open thanks to the pick.

Three thoughts on this play. First of all M. Flowers could have chipped Ertz a bit when he released from the LOS to screw up the timing a bit. Then KVNs delayed blitz on Foles really vacated the only body in the area that could have still screwed the play up.


And finally that is how close we got to a sack on fourth down that would have most likely iced the game:

That pick by Celek on 4th/1 should've had a flag thrown at it, because it clearly happened >1 yard and he clearly ran straight at McCourty. I am more upset that this (and the illegal formation at the end of the first half that also wasn't flagged) was allowed to stand than I am about the Clement & Ertz TDs.

 

[captain stone]

More than the fearsome Eagles DL.

The only difference is that our QB hits were fractions of a second too late to produce a strip/sack. Their one and only successful inside rush hit Brady exactly at the right time. Sometimes this is how it goes..

They had two successful inside rushes, not just one.

 

[mihap]

Baldy has started his dive into some of the Pats plays and this one stands out most:



Brady will have a pretty bad summer over whiffing this. He got too comfortable with those deep completions and stopped respecting the Eagles DL. He makes that pass to White 95% of the time out of the presnap read. But he got greedy with over 2 minutes of times and 2 timeouts and essentially ended the game right there.

Lombardi replies to Baldy a bit later and indicates that Brady really wanted Gronk on this play:

Graham bump and bounced from our olineman i think it was Fleming. If he didnt bounce Brady finds White. Check again from some other angle.

 

[IllegalContact]

 

[Trycked]

Strangely enough, what helped me was watching “Silver Linings Playbook”...sorta smoozy movie, but for some reason, Bradley Cooper & Jlaw made me sympathetic for suffering Eagles fans.

 

[TheFlyingWedge]

One thing I realized from re-watching is that Rowe didn’t have as bad a game as I remembered. He wasn’t great either as he definitely got picked on, but many of the plays that Eagles WRers made on him were well contested. The most obvious example of this being the TD at the end of the first half. It was an amazing throw and catch and Rowe had solid coverage.

 

[luuked]

One thing I realized from re-watching is that Rowe didn’t have as bad a game as I remembered. He wasn’t great either as he definitely got picked on, but many of the plays that Eagles WRers made on him were well contested. The most obvious example of this being the TD at the end of the first half.

The first series of the game was overall his worst. He later on settled into the game and gave up that TD which was a great throw into a tight window. On the flipside he also broke up another TD pass and prevented a 2pt conversion.

 

[luuked]

The second play is just a killer. Elandon Roberts as MIKE just went to cover a player after a handoff opening the MOF for Ajayi to run through. This is ugly stuff that just keeps happening to him even if he might have reduced those brainfarts relative to 2016. Awful.

@maineman209 thats what I meant by other teams exploiting him. He sees the pass blockers and immediately reads it as pass and drops into coverage.

 

[letekro]

Another 3rd down completion on that final drive


I mean look at that play design.

They use the trips which produced brainfarts early in the season for our secondary. Then send the player on top of the trip formation on a straight go route that clears out the space where Ertz will break into after initially running a slant towards the sideline. He makes Gilmore bite a bit on the slant and our CB cant recover to make the tackle before the line to gain. You can see that one little step Gilmore takes to the sideline right before he realizes that he screwed it up.

Ertz was the friggin MVP for the Eagles that nobody is talking about.

This was our best chance. Great bullrush by Harrison, Our best cover guy in great position to make the play, Gilmore was just one step off as you said. Foles gets credit for a quick release and accurate throw.

 

[luuked]

This was our best chance. Great bullrush by Harrison, Our best cover guy in great position to make the play, Gilmore was just one step off as you said. Foles gets credit for a quick release and accurate throw.

On some plays you just have to tip your hat to the playdesign. I think this was the play where the Pats called TO before to make sure that they were in the right D. I watched that replay for a few minutes on repeat and apart from Gilmore taking one step too many I dont see anything that could have prevented the conversion.

And it goes counter to all those stupid takes about we didnt put enough pressure on the QB. MP was dialing up pressure almost through the entire fourth quarter but Foles still completed most passes. It also again shows that the defense was not all crap because we consistently put the Eagles into third downs (and fourth downs).

 

[luuked]

Graham bump and bounced from our olineman i think it was Fleming. If he didnt bounce Brady finds White. Check again from some other angle.

Brady keeps looking upfield to Gronk. He either (unsuccessfully) tries to move Jenkins who is lurking to close in on White in the flat or actually wants Gronk.

The thing that makes this frustrating is that HE KNEW he had White before the ball was even snapped. There was no need to even look at Gronk. Take the easy 100% first down even if it only gains 3-5 yards and move on. There was enough time and still 2 TOs.

 

[letekro]

Brady keeps looking upfield to Gronk. He either (unsuccessfully) tries to move Jenkins who is lurking to close in on White in the flat or actually wants Gronk.

The thing that makes this frustrating is that HE KNEW he had White before the ball was even snapped. There was no need to even look at Gronk. Take the easy 100% first down even if it only gains 3-5 yards and move on. There was enough time and still 2 TOs.

Looks like a clean pocket and then all of the sudden Graham pinballs and comes from the outside. Brady probably relaxed when he saw that pocket form and thought he had the extra second that he didn’t have. It surprised me too watching it, it wasn’t the sort of pass rush that you see develop, it was not there and then all of he sudden he pin balled and stuck his hand out right on to the ball.

 

[PP2]

The second play is just a killer. Elandon Roberts as MIKE just went to cover a player after a handoff opening the MOF for Ajayi to run through. This is ugly stuff that just keeps happening to him even if he might have reduced those brainfarts relative to 2016. Awful.

thats what I meant by other teams exploiting him. He sees the pass blockers and immediately reads it as pass and drops into coverage.

Roberts is just the worst when it comes to diagnosing plays. There was one play that he just turned his back and ran into coverage after the ball had been handed off.

He's good as a complimentary run-stuffer, but a completely non-cerebral player.

 

[PP2]

Looks like a clean pocket and then all of the sudden Graham pinballs and comes from the outside. Brady probably relaxed when he saw that pocket form and thought he had the extra second that he didn’t have. It surprised me too watching it, it wasn’t the sort of pass rush that you see develop, it was not there and then all of he sudden he pin balled and stuck his hand out right on to the ball.

It was a game of inches, and he paid for it.

 

[PatsFanSince74]

Unlike "The Game Whose Name We Do Not Mention," this is one that eventually I will watch again.

But I'll wait until I can watch it to appreciate the greatness of Brady's play without getting ill over the piss poor play of the D and the absence of Butler.

 

[luuked]

He's good as a complimentary run-stuffer, but a completely non-cerebral player.

I agree. He has value in certain packages and in a more defined role but if you have him on the field for 50%+ snaps any good playcaller will attack his weaknesses. Everybody is talking about the entire Butler saga but Hightowers injury ended up being fatal. Other teams were already scratching that wound but we were able to survive. The Eagles playcalling was too much..

And that is partly on roster building. I feel like we invested too many resources this year into our offense. That being said, obviously I have no clue if there were any sensible deals to be made for front 7 players that are a fit.

 

[luuked]

But I'll wait until I can watch it to appreciate the greatness of Brady's play without getting ill over the piss poor play of the D and the absence of Butler.

You should watch it just to appreciate the play design and execution of both offenses. Really deserving of a Superbowl.

For some reason people are hesitant to give the Eagles O credit and instead are whining about our D while at the same time credit Brady and our offense without mentioning how bad the Eagles D was. It makes no sense.

 

[luuked]

I think Dussault nailed his post mortem post:

Patriots Super Bowl 52 Film Review: Defense Edition - PatsPropaganda

It pretty much meshes very well with my own opinion after rewatching the game on monday.

 

[PatsFanSince74]

You should watch it just to appreciate the play design and execution of both offenses. Really deserving of a Superbowl.

For some reason people are hesitant to give the Eagles O credit and instead are whining about our D while at the same time credit Brady and our offense without mentioning how bad the Eagles D was. It makes no sense.

I give the Eagles all the credit in the world. It makes sense to me that I am just not ready to watch the game yet and believe that one can objectively criticize the Patriots' Defensive performance without "whining."

Sometimes one has to keep two different ideas in one's head at the same time, in this case:
1) The Eagles Offense played well.
2) The Patriots Defense played poorly.