New England's Defensive Game Plan

[bigskydoc]

I get that all Hawks fans have the utmost confidence in the running game, but Green Bay's D that isn't as good as the Pats, shut that down for 3 quarters...

Um, no.



And it's not like they shut us down in the first quarter. It is simply that Lynch only had two carries for the entire quarter.

The Hawks running game put up 180 yards in the subsequent 3 quarters. That is a pretty decent yardage total for an entire game.

-bsd RPA

 

[brimsalabim]

I was under the impression that Revis didn't shadow WRs very much this season due to the Pats running Seattle's style of secondary.

I feel sorry for Jaime Collins. Though no fault of his own, he's going to disappoint a lot of Pats fans on Sunday who suddenly think he's the next Ray Lewis.

Ray Lewis himself said the Hawks should run right at Collins because he is less effective when he isn't initiating the contact. He also thought the "Wham" play could be very effective against him.

 

[Seahawkfan80]

I really think, its going to be Turbin, Marshawn show. Unless New England can show they can stop the ground game. This game is going to get ugly quick.

I would add one more item to that listing....Tuk. I think they can do a lot of play action fullback and allow him to release in the middle for over the top passes for chunks of yardage. That will allow us to create the BIG play later in the game.

 

[Largent80]

In EM's thread he outlined what they must do to stop the Hawks.....He is a coach, and he picked the Hawks to win.

 

[Ozzy]

I love Luke Willson and to a lesser extent all the TE's for Seattle. The position itself will play a big role. I also like the mention of Lynch on a couple of wheel routes. Bill Simmons podcast mentioned NE inability to defend that route multiple times this year and we saw it twice against GB. Honestly the more I see the advanced stat stuff the more confident I become even though they are pretty close with all the metrics. Seattle just looks like the slightly better team and I expect a very close good game on Sunday. Wilson on a game winning drive?

I agree with multiple posters above I seriously doubt we see Revis assigned to one WR. Like Scott mentioned above it takes away a strength of their defense and Bevell will exploit it. Lots of good stuff in this thread though guys.

 

[pehawk]

If Revis we're to shadow anyone, it'd be Kearse. Kearse is Mr Explosive, and the explosives will be what Bill wants to remove. He'll live with Baldwin's occasional long completion.

 

[Boycie]

I wouldnt look past Lockette... he had a great game vs GB...I also wouldnt think for a second that Baldwin and Kearse are out matched... going up against the LOB every day in practice brings them to their best...


LTH

What about lining up Lockette against Browner and throw in some double moves and have him run down field for the PI? That play would have to draw some flags? Thoughts?

 

[Sgt. Largent]

I wouldnt look past Lockette... he had a great game vs GB...I also wouldnt think for a second that Baldwin and Kearse are out matched... going up against the LOB every day in practice brings them to their best...


LTH

I also like Lockette to have a big game.

In order to back the Pat's safeties out of the box, Russell's going to have to complete a couple deep balls early, and Lockette's just the man for the job.

Also Luke down the middle on a couple seam routes. Either way, I'd look for Russell to run a bunch of stretch runs early, and even pull the ball back a few times and go deep like he did against Arizona.

 

[Ozzy]

If Revis we're to shadow anyone, it'd be Kearse. Kearse is Mr Explosive, and the explosives will be what Bill wants to remove. He'll live with Baldwin's occasional long completion.

I feel the same way. I don't think they will do it a ton but if anyone gets it its probably Kearse. I think Baldwin is going to give Browner fits when matched up against him so I'm ok seeing this happen on Sunday.

 

[LTH]

I wouldnt look past Lockette... he had a great game vs GB...I also wouldnt think for a second that Baldwin and Kearse are out matched... going up against the LOB every day in practice brings them to their best...


LTH

I also like Lockette to have a big game.

In order to back the Pat's safeties out of the box, Russell's going to have to complete a couple deep balls early, and Lockette's just the man for the job.

Also Luke down the middle on a couple seam routes. Either way, I'd look for Russell to run a bunch of stretch runs early, and even pull the ball back a few times and go deep like he did against Arizona.

I agree willson is key for the passing game wouldnt surprise me at all to see a seam route for a TD... for the Hawks to win this one the TE position has to be effective...


LTH

 

[cesame]

Matt Hasselbeck broke down NE's defense down today

Started out saying that NE doubled Hilton with two lesser players, put a good guy on Fleener and put Revis on their 3rd WR. Says playing NE is difficult because Belichick likes to make you play and think backwards. Ultimately he said it's a bad matchup for the Colts.

Said he likes the matchup for Seattle. The weakest part of NE's defense is their defensive line and that they don't have a lot of speed in the back of their secondary. Said if a team has a 3rd WR with a lot of speed (hello Lockette) that can give the Patriots some problems. Said Jamie Collins is the most underrated LB in the NFL. Called Ninkovich a try-hard kind of player.

Said Baltimore had a lot of success running on NE, but NE did make an adjustment at halftime and stated blitzing right up the middle. Doesn't know if NE would do that again since Seattle can run the RO.

 

[Laloosh]

Couldn't sleep so I was watching some all-22 of the NE vs NYJ game (run team, mobile qb, read option). Felt like NY wins that game with a decent QB and some passing off of that read option.

I think they align differently than we usually do, but some of the concepts seem to apply (correct me if I'm wrong here). For example:

NY lines up with trips left, TE right and the RB to the right of the QB:

Collins (#91) drops down over the guard like he's going to blitz / clog up the "A" gap. Ninkovich (#50) reads the QB and handles contain and the SS (#23) appears to be playing run on this particular play because his first step is forward and he blitzes off the right tackle.

Geno winds up handing the ball off, Collins plugs the gap and the RB tries to cut it back but the TE doesn't make his block and the play is dead on arrival.

Now... had the TE thrown a chip block on Ninkovich and then ran a seem or flat route, it's probably a TD for NY. Geno probably could have outrun Ninkovich and gotten around the edge as well since the SS was crashing down toward the TE. Something like this...

The FS was deep and between the hashes so he really wouldn't have been in position to make a play as long as the pass came out quickly.

Another play that I loved in that game was actually right after this one. NY went with two TEs to the right, two WR split left. Both TEs ran verticals (one seem, one to the corner of the end zone) but the NE safeties must have been expecting run because they both had a first step forward and by the time the SS (#23) realized what was going on, the TE was already behind him and in the end zone.

Looks way cooler in real time but you get the picture.

Saw a lot of Ninkovich being outrun by just about everyone on the field but Vince Wilfork.

 

[pehawk]

Please do that more often, Laloosh.

 

[brimsalabim]

Have we seen the read option pass since the first game?

 

[Laloosh]

Have we seen the read option pass since the first game?

No and I don't think we run RO to the tight end side.

 

[sutz]

Have we seen the read option pass since the first game?

No and I don't think we run RO to the tight end side.

In other words, great things to install this week.

 

[onanygivensunday]

2. Use Jamie Collins to spy/shadow Russell Wilson. Collins is an athletic 25 year old linebacker with 4.5 speed. He had 116 tackles this past season. Collins might be the fastest and most athletic player we have seen assigned to stop Wilson from running,

Collins doesn't have 4.5 speed. He ran 4.64 at the combine.

Russell ran 4.55.

Just setting the record straight.

 

[Laloosh]

Have we seen the read option pass since the first game?

No and I don't think we run RO to the tight end side.

In other words, great things to install this week.

Maybe. I'd imagine you'd get more out of it if you ran the ball from those formations a bit to set it up. NY tried the 2nd play earlier in the game but NE was in a different alignment defensively and Hightower (#54) sniffed it out and carried the tight end up the seam.

We do similar stuff, just do it from under center I think. Bevell really likes to squeak a TE out into the flat on a naked boot to the TE side on 3rd down. Miller and Willson have both converted some 1st downs on it. Since NE plays so much man on the outside (and apparently on 3rd down), we might have to rely on our TE and RB positions to convert some of those 3rd downs in the passing game.

I really want to see Turbin with some off-tackle stuff. Their SS seems to be a little over aggressive against PA Turbin hits the hole quickly and we might actually be able to set them up for a some PA over the top to Willson.