I can’t really recommend this video enough, it’s NFLN’s breakdown of the Pats – Jets and it gives so much insight into what the Jets do on defense and what the Patriots did to counter it, while at the same time showing why Randy Moss wasn’t the right fit offensively for this method of attack.
I’m of the firm belief that many football fans, and even some of the media members who cover football, think they’re watching checkers when there’s really a chess match going on. If you think you’re one of them go buy Pat Kirwan’s Take Your Eye Off The Ball, it’s a great place to start.
In this video clip we get a full on X and O’s session with guru Mike Mayock. I could listen to Mayock break down film all day, but the big points of what he shows are the minute details that go into an offensive attack.
The Jets have excellent cornerbacks and love to play man coverage with them. The idea is to confuse the quarterback with which blitzers may or may not be coming, then take away the short routes with tight coverage.
So in the video you see what BB and BO’B did to counter that. Quick passes that took into account Jet players who would be dropping into short zones to take the quick passes away. Only these quick passes went where the Jets weren’t covering.
There’s a lot of picking going on by the Patriots receivers, a skill that Deion Branch and Wes Welker are masters of, not only because they’re good blockers but also really quick in and out of their cuts.
When Welker and Branch weren’t open, there were mismatches galore with Gronk, Hernando, and Woody. The result was the beatdown we all witnessed.
When you see what the Patriots did it becomes really clear how you have to creatively beat the Jets blitzing man defense. It was executed to perfection on Monday night.
Randy Moss isn’t a good fit for this style of game… short routes with catch and run, or having to set a block for another receiver. His game was getting deep, but that takes time to develop and defenses like the Jets don’t give quarterbacks much time.
That’s why you might remember Brady lobbing up passes to Moss in week two. If Moss could get a step on the corner, and the protection picked up all the rushers the result would be a long touchdown. But those instances were rare, and ultimately the Pats were not going to clobber the Jets like they did on Monday night still trying to run a vertical spread offense.
With most defenses trying to copy the Jets style to beat the Pats (basically the same style that the Giants used in Super Bowl 42) the evolution to this new horizontal attacking offense keeps the Pats one step ahead yet again.