For those watching on TV, you may have seen what I saw. About mid 4th quarter Pete walked up to Tru and had a discussion with him for about 30 straight seconds with lots of hand motions and everything else. Tru was nodding the entire time and not saying much back, but seemed to be soaking up the coach-up.
After that I was like, "Hmmm.... I wonder what Pete just did... did he go to strictly man on Welker with Tru?" Because the announcers kept talking about our zone and how they were finding the soft spots.
Did you notice how Brady's passing wasn't the same the last half of the game, and in particular the 4th quarter? After that discussion it didn't matter where Tru was lined up he was always up tight on Welker and would follow him in motion and wherever he went on the field. Pete seemed to just say that we were running that typical defense we play and Trufant was just going to ghost Welker. The next couple of drives Tru was on the guy the entire way. They weren't able to create the mismatches they were getting earlier where Welker was finding soft spots in the zones, or getting himself matched up on a LBer.
I think it probably should have happened earlier, but I think Pete just figured the defense would shut him down, and it wasn't working as well as he wanted (although they did keep him out of the endzone after the beginning which was good). It is one reason why I think Pete is so great at adjusting. He sees things, and he's not afraid to make them happen. He put it on Tru. Tru made it happen.
Let's not forget that he's been injured and after a serious back injury it can take a while. But I can almost guarantee he walked out of that game with a bit of his confidence and old Tru stick like glue swagger he had when he was younger. He did really well. Watch the last few drives and how tight he was on Welker who is probably the most slippery slot receiver in the league. The fact that Tru was able to keep him in check at the end tells me that he'd be fine the rest of the year. There aren't many better than Welker and if handled him... he can handle anybody.