Friday Pats Q & A with a Q for U!
The floor is open for our weekly Q and A, but for those of you without a Q, I’ve got one for you, especially the brave opposing fans who frequent this site.
It’s week one (or two), and the Patriots offense consists of Danny Amendola and Aaron Dobson at wide receiver, Jake Ballard and Aaron Hernandez at tight end, and Stevan Ridley in the backfield.
The last couple of years the conventional wisdom to beat the Pats was play press man, not worry about the deep part of the field, primarily out of nickel package (at least in the Bills’ case).
Now there’s no Gronk, no Welker, no Lloyd, and Dobson/Amendola have some speed and size elements the offense hasn’t had, granted both are unproven in the system, as is Ballard.
The question is what’s your defensive game plan? Who do you try to take away? Do you play nickel and worry about the pass, or do you stick to base to make sure Ridley is contained? Who are you least concerned about? Do you respect the speed/explosiveness of Amendola/Dobson in the deep part of the field?
Just a fun little exercise, most interesting answers get posted. This is what opposing defensive coordinators are thinking about right now as well, so I’m curious what our esteemed fanalysts think.