Pitt played man coverage today. Doubled Welker and dared the other guys to beat their coverage, which they couldn't or did but Brady did not see them due to heavy pressure. Why we did not spread them out, even with our two TEs is beyond me. Bringing our TEs closer to our OL put them in bunches and helped Pitts defense by creating all that traffic and unpredictability close to the LOS. Gronk and Aaron should have been spread out along with Welker and Branch to create space and throwing lanes. Obviously they thought we could exploit them with this formation and personnel but as soon as Pittsburgh showed that they weren't going to play zone, we should have adjusted. Just seemed like a clusterf@ck.
It's not a surprise that when we finally started to speed it up and spread Pitt out on our last drive, did Brady finally see some passing lanes and get comfortable.
Also, as good as Branch is at finding holes in zone coverages, he just isn't quick/fast enough to create separation against man to man. Pitt concentrated their coverage on
Welker so they took him away for the most part. Aaron just doesn't seem to have the same quickness as he had since his knee injury. He couldn't really create separation either. The one guy that I thought created separation was Gronk. I'm not just talking about those delayed routes he ran, but even when he there was a guy initially on him, he was able to get pass his defender. With his height and wingspan, Brady should have thrown it to him a lot more today. He was the only one who got separation consistently.
Also, I love Faulk to death, but giving him the most snaps at RB in his first game since his injury was weird. I thought Lawfirm should have been given more touches and also Woodhead. Woodhead at this point, is a better runner than Faulk. Wood head has been in better sync with our offense as well. Again, I love Faulk, but to give him the most PT at RB today was weird.
As far as our defense goes, it's a BIG personnel problem. Guyton and Ihedigbo do not belong as starters in an NFL defense. Molden should not be counted on anymore than ST duties. Ninkovich, for all his effort is as good as Guyton in coverage. Spikes, as good as he is defending running plays, seems lost out there in coverage as well. Just plain awful in coverage.
Merriweather, Crable, Wheatley, Wilhite, Butler, Cunningham, and Brace not being solid contributors on defense is the main problem we have. Those guys are either off the team or on the bench.
To be honest, what can BB really do with this current crop of players at LB and DB? He's tried man coverage, which was a failure and now our zone looked like swiss cheese.
Brady needs to play lights out for us to really make it happen in the playoffs.
We can do this ! LOL.
