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Chatham: Contain Gonzo to ground Falcons | Boston Herald

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Chatham: Contain Gonzo to ground Falcons | Boston Herald

This:

The second thing I’ll be watching is the matchup of Jacquizz Rodgers (5-foot-6, 196 pounds) and Jason Snelling (5-11, 234 pounds) vs. the Patriots linebacker group. The Pats have had success in the past couple weeks “hug” rushing on running backs with linebackers. This is often misunderstood as “blitzing,” but it’s simply running toward the man you’re covering and forcing him to declare whether he’s blocking or going out for a route. The trick this week is both backs are sometimes in the backfield together, creating essentially a two-back look where both are run/pass threats. Over aggressiveness in a hug-rush and these backs will call the linebacker’s bluff — feign a block and slip out into the pattern on check-downs or screens uncovered. Both have done this, and are dangerous run-after-the-catch players.

Whats up with the run game? It was so effective last year (being top 5 at one point), and now Ridley is hardly effective. What do you reckon?

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I don’t think it’s been that bad actually. The Jets were tough to run on, but they have a good front. Otherwise the Pats ground game yardage totals vs. the Bills and Bucs would’ve ranked 5th and 6th last season. I think that’s surprisingly good considering the passing game hasn’t been the same threat it was last year to keep defenses from loading up the box and on their heels. Especially with the no-huddle which has essentially disappeared this year. 

From Chris Price:

On the year, the Patriots have operated out of a no-huddle on 17 of the 225 plays from scrimmage, a rate of 8 percent. That’s a sizable step down from the last two years when they averaged 25 percent during the regular season.

As for Ridley, I think people were overselling him as the lead back thinking he was going to get the vast majority of the touches. Though I still don’t really get it with LeGarrette Blount, I’m a big Brandon Bolden fan, and it looks like all three backs will get their carries. Yes, it’s the runningback-by-committee and they’ll ride the hot hand.

I think part of the reason for using Blount so much vs. Tampa was because it was his old team and whenever possible BB uses that kind of motivation to his aid.

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What do you think about Spikes as a rusher? I feel like he’s a big body and could provide interior pressure on passing situations (just so he does not have to cover a speedy back). Suppose they do no huddle with Spikes on the field.

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They use him well on run blitzes and I think we can all agree that Spikes is at his best moving downhill and attacking blockers. We should definitely see him sent like that a few times this week to challenge Atlanta’s suspect offensive line. 

So far I think the Pats have done a good job masking Spikes’ deficiencies in coverage, but it will be interesting to see what happens when teams specifically try to get him matched up with their running backs, which is something I expect the Falcons will try to do. That then opens up the chance for a short dumpoff becoming a big gain.

Though it does seem clear that Spikes won’t be seeing much time in the sub-packages this season, and I think that’s okay. There’s nothing wrong with playing to his strengths, but the question becomes whether or not Spikes is okay with that. I hope he is, because despite his shortcomings I love watching him play and the ferocity he brings to the defense. The guy is like a one-stop-shop for shutting down a run game.

If the pressure in front of him and the coverage in back of him are doing their jobs, there’s no reason Spikes can’t be a long-term Patriot.

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