This morning I made the mistake of turning on ESPN Sportscenter, something I’ve sworn off for the last couple years, and saw Patriots – Jets coming down the ticker. So of course I had to wait and hear what they had to say and show. First, up pops Trent Dilfer…
Now Trent tells us (his opinion not mine here) that Tom Brady and the Patriots carve up zone coverage teams, but struggle against man coverage teams and that’s what the Jets do. The Jets will make Brady double clutch, buying that extra second for the pass rush to get there. T Dilf also said that the Jets need this game more than the Patriots do.
Okay…
I know Trent is famous for winning a Super Bowl, and maybe more so as the only example in Super Bowl history of a team that won it all without a great quarterback, and on the back of a great defense. Maybe that’s unfair, but I certainly think T Dilf is selling those still addicted to Sportscenter a little short.
Let’s start with this question, how do you beat man coverage? By having wide receivers that are quick and smart, and know how and, more importantly where, to get open. Hmm, have the Patriots made any kind of moves this season that might be an effort to have more of said receivers? That might’ve been useful to mention.
T Dilf used a bunch of footage from the first Jets-Patriots game, most of them with Brady launching those second half forced deep passes to Randy Moss. I’m sure we’ll see plenty more of those next Monday night, won’t we?
And this is neither here nor there but let’s take a look at Brady’s numbers from the second Jets matchup of 2009: 28 of 41, 310 yards, 1 TD. Wes Welker had 15 catches for 192 yards. Yeah, they really struggled against the man coverage that day. Add a player like Deion Branch who, unlike Randy Moss, can play any receiver position and that only furthers the Patriots ability to disguise what they’re doing. Branch also has the quickness and smarts to get open quickly when he’s needed to.
The scuttlebutt is that the Pats were ready to move Moss after the loss to the Jets. It makes sense. The Patriots are not afraid to evolve mid-season if they feel they need to make changes. Everyone loves to trash the Pats for every move they make but every move they make is always about winning, whether we on the outside see it immediately or not.
The fact is that the as much as the Jets have built a team to try and dethrone the Patriots, the Patriots have not by shy about tweaking their team to maintain their dominance over the AFC East.
And I’d argue that the Patriots need this game more than the Jets do. If the Jets lose it will still be a race. If the Patriots lose they’re in a much deeper hole than the Jets would be if they want any shot at the division or a bye.
So I guess the lesson as always, is don’t always buy what the Sportscenter talking heads are selling. Most of the time they’re just talking because they have to, not because they’ve really thought about the analysis they’re making. I just think it would be worth mentioning how the Patriots have made in-season efforts to adjust to the exact problems T Dilf was describing.