How do you think the Texans will try and defend Gronk in the passing game? How much of an impact do you think the Pats TE’s will have in the rematch?
Well it does of course depend on how healthy Gronk really is. There’s option A where they just use him in the red zone and on third down primarily and he should of course really help in those areas and thus have a significant impact.
But let’s talk more about option B because it’s a lot more tantalizing and that assumes Gronk is close to 100%, or at least able to be effective with his run blocking.
If that’s the case look out because the Pats will finally have all their pieces in place to run the offense they spent the whole offseason planning on running. See my previous post for more on that.
But if the Texans try to play their base defense again vs. the two TE set it really sets up well for the Pats because then they can go spread offense on them and Gronk won’t even have to worry about a heavy blocking role. The Texans ILBs struggle in coverage and regardless of how healthy Gronk’s wing is he’ll be able to help exploit them even more than the last time the teams played.
Patriots Are Finally Primed for a Super Bowl Run
It took until Week 19, but the 2012 Patriots are finally fully healthy and have all their pieces in place to make a serious run at the Lombardi.
Let’s begin on the offensive side of the ball. Coming out of training camp it appeared the Pats were ready to take their two tight end offense to a new level. Two incredibly diverse tight ends like Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez would enable to them to seamlessly shift into whatever offense best took advantage of the look the defense presented them.
Want to play dime? They can power run it down your throat. Want to stick to your base? They can spread you out and pick you apart.
The cherry on top was how brutally fast they could execute the no huddle.
It looked like a new generation of offensive football would be born with the 2012 Patriots but due to injuries, starting with Hernandez going down in Week 2, it never came to full fruition.
We still saw glimpses of what the Pats were capable of, with the Week 5 demolition of the Broncos standing out as the biggest example.
But with Gronkowski and Hernandez only healthy and on the field at the same time for a handful of games they really only scratched the surface.
On defense the Patriots have had better health down the stretch, but had to juggle plenty of different players in and out of the lineup in the middle of the season.
Luckily everyone has returned to the practice field this week, giving the Patriots full health on both sides of the ball for the most important time of year.
The mid-season juggling of all the different defenders will give the Pats a number of options in the playoffs. Everyone assumes Devin McCourty will be at safety but the Pats have the depth to move him wherever they want.
I expect we’ll see some defensive personnel packages this weekend that were not seen all season. And with all their pass rushers back, the Pats should be able to attack the Texans with just four defenders instead of blitzing the hell out of him like they did last time.
The Patriots are so diverse, especially on defense, and now with numerous players getting experience all over the place it will give them limitless options to confuse the opposing offense.
And if Gronkowski is fully healthy we might just finally see what we expected out of the Patriots offense: a lightning fast offense that will attack your weakness before you know what is happening.
The timing of if all has come at the perfect time of year, and the Patriots look more deep and healthy than they ever have going into a playoff run. The potential is there, they just have to put it all together for three games.
With Belichick, I think he needs to be careful of overcoaching this week. The Patriots have gone into big games before and said, “Fellas, this is what we did last time. Just forget about it, and this is what we’re going to do this time.” The idea is to bring so much of an adjustment level that it confuses the other side. But at this time of year, I don’t think it’s about confusion. I think that previous game means a lot. I think you watch that game, see what was successful, how you succeeded and how you failed, and translate that to this week. If it worked, keep it in the game plan, and if it didn’t, take it out. I don’t think this is the time of year that you want to tinker too much. Sure, there will be some slight wrinkles and adjustments. I think you can make those on the sideline. But after scoring 42 points on Houston the last time, I don’t know how many changes you really want to make.
FOOTBALL OUTSIDERS: Film Room: AFC Divisional Round
FOOTBALL OUTSIDERS: Film Room: AFC Divisional Round
Good stuff here with great all-22 screen shots and I agree with this 100X about Woodhead:
Part of what makes the Patriots so dangerous is, with Tom Brady’s magic at the line of scrimmage and a fast tempo of play, they can gouge defenses with the same concepts again and again -– especially on the ground. Stevan Ridley has given them a very productive run game, but the Patriots are arguably more dangerous with Danny Woodhead in the backfield. Not only is the fifth-year pro a terrific space-oriented runner, he’s a very dangerous receiver when split outside or coming from the backfield. No matter what package the Texans are in, the Patriots will find ways to create favorable one-on-one receiving situations for Woodhead.
We also talked a lot about this on the podcast:
Instead of focusing so much on the run, look for Houston to attack New England’s linebackers in coverage with an array of underneath crossing patterns and screens. This week, the play-action element will be more about setting up proper angles for east-and-west misdirection than it will be about getting linebackers and safeties to bite against the run. That’s because the Patriots will likely be in man coverage, which means eyes will be on receiving targets and not the backfield.
Matchups: Divisional Round – Matchups – Rotoworld.com
Matchups: Divisional Round – Matchups – Rotoworld.com
This is what it’s all about…
The Texans’ most glaring defensive weakness is inside linebacker play. The Bengals made a fruitless attempt to attack coverage-liability ILBs Barrett Ruud and Bradie James by targeting Jermaine Gresham on seven pass plays. Gresham, vastly inferior to Gronk and Aaron Hernandez, generated a pathetic seven yards on those seven targets, dropping three balls. The Pats likely took note of the Bengals’ mishaps in their game-plan preparation, and where they occurred on the field. Hernandez, Gronkowski, and slot receiver Wes Welker can make good on the opportunities Gresham and Andy Dalton missed. … Brady shredded Houston for four touchdowns, no picks, and 296 yards on 35 throws (8.46 YPA) in the aforementioned Week 14 beatdown. Texans slot cornerback Brandon Harris was Brady’s primary whipping boy.
All 22 of the Patriots’ Week 1 starters remain on the active roster, which leaves them as the only team of the eight remaining playoff clubs that can say that. Every other playoff contender has at least one player who started for them in Week 1 who is no longer on the active roster, be it due to injury, release or another reason. (An examination of old game books suggests that 2012 is the first playoff run the Patriots have had under Bill Belichick since the 2001 season that all 22 Week 1 starters remain on the active roster).
In rarity, Pats have all starters intact – New England Patriots Blog – ESPN Boston
Interesting stat. Health is one of the most underrated things for good teams, just look at the 2007 Pats who only lost Rosevelt Colvin before their Super Bowl run.
The real question for the Pats this year is can they overcome the little injuries that have bothered many guys on the team all year. Gronk, Hernandez, Spikes, Vollmer, Welker, Gregory, Talib, and Chung have all been dinged up and missed games this year.
The Pats’ Super Bowl hopes likely rest on how healthy that core of guys are.