Bruschi’s Breakdown: Despite shaky QB, Cardinals a threat to Patriots – ESPN Boston

[The Cardinals] base sets will be in the 3-4 alignment and then in sub situations, they’ll try to confuse you with where the pressure is coming from. Against the Seahawks, they overloaded one side of the offensive line on the right, and then came from the left, with others dropping out. So deciphering the combinations and pressure packages will be important. Tom Brady will use the “molasses” count. That’s when you’re at the line of scrimmage and you give a “Blue 80! Blue 80!” and it looks like you’re about to snap the ball but you stop. Because when the defense hears that, they get to the line of scrimmage and show you where they’re going to be. So it’s a dummy count in a sense. At that point, Brady will point out the “Mike” (middle linebacker) and set the protections, and that’s a way to counter the different looks. And that’s important because the Cardinals will move around and bring combo coverages and aggressive blitzes.