Archives for January 23, 2015

Yeah I’d agree with the major points here, though I think it’s a bit of a fallacy you need to run to set up play action. You just need to be good at play action.

Stopping Lynch and containing Wilson when no one is open are the biggest two keys to the game. Protecting Brady is always a key, but I expect this to be a quick throw surgical-strike game.

So on offense, they just have to finish drives with touchdowns when they get in the red zone. That was the story in 2012, going 1-6 in the red zone offensively. 

This might take some of the steam out of the game plan article next week, but that’s it in a nutshell.

I’m not sure Belichick will have to do much of anything to use Deflategate to motivate the players. First, it’s the Super Bowl, so they’re going to be hyped REGARDLESS. But as we saw in 2007, controversies like this have a way of igniting a fire in a team to not only win, but to prove a point.

The thing with Spygate was that they were guilty. They broke the rules and paid a stiff price for it. Even then it filled the team with rage to prove everyone calling for asterisks and such wrong.

Now I don’t even know what Deflategate is. We’re waiting on the NFL to decide that, but as of this moment, it seems like this is a controversy whipped out of something so minute that it can’t help but make the Patriots team feel like they’re in the middle of a witch hunt.

The “us against the world” theme often feels manufactured, but in this case the Patriots have a every right to feel that way and I expect an impressive performance from them.

Wow, Jeremy Lane contributing to the Q&A this week, thanks for taking some time off from your Super Bowl prep to ask!

Look, you can take ANY player out of the game if you’re willing to devote enough resources to it. The problem is that it then leaves guys like Edelman and LaFell with one-on-one matchups, not to mention Shane Vereen out of the backfield. Those three combined for 167 yards receiving against the Colts.

The problem with Gronk is in the red zone because, as you’re aware, he’s caught a historic amount of touchdowns in his first five seasons, despite missing time with injuries.

So yeah, you want to devote 2 or 3 guys to covering him in between the 20s, you can hold him to pedestrian numbers, but that’s not quite as easy in the red zone where the Pats have ways of isolating Gronk on a defensive back, making double coverage extremely tough. 

So if Seattle wants to send Kam Chancellor out wide to cover him that’s fine, it takes their biggest box presence out of the box.

How many times have we seen him inside the 10 split out wide, make one move and then catch a touchdown where the defensive back can’t even reach? That’s the biggest problem with Gronk and I’m not sure there’s any way to stop it.