The Patriots

[sonorajim]

The next time we play the Cheatriots, I would rather NOT try for the deep pass. Why?

1. You need very good pass blocking to give PR time to throw the deep ball. The Pats have shown they are very disruptive in their rush. Maybe Tevi/Feeney or whoever replaces them gets better in pass pro. Maybe not.

2. Pats play solid man coverage. Interceptions are a big risk. Incompletions resulting from wasted deep shots are, IMHO, wasted plays.

3. If PR drops back looking long, besides the risk of a pick, he could be sacked or stripped. Both are game-changers.

4. A much more high percentage play is the short or medium pass. Mix that in with an effective ground game, and you do the following:
a. Ball control
b. Maximize TOP, run down the clock
c. Keep the ball out of Tommy Boy's hands
d. Keep your D fresh by giving them a long break
e. Less chance of a turnover
f. Puts your team in the lead, or at least close, so we're not forced to play catch-up, and the Cheats will be expecting to defend most if not all passes

If you won't throw deep the Pats love it. Keep everybody in tight coverage. I've seen them bring no rush and laugh at us when we were afraid to run any routes to stretch them out. If you play scared, the game is over before we start. They are the NFL's best team, they are NOT all HOF at every position. It's on our team to exploit matchups and that potential does exist. Play out game with confidence and let the chips fall where they may. We can't go against them wearing handcuffs.

[Boltjolt]

The next time we play the Cheatriots, I would rather NOT try for the deep pass. Why?

1. You need very good pass blocking to give PR time to throw the deep ball. The Pats have shown they are very disruptive in their rush. Maybe Tevi/Feeney or whoever replaces them gets better in pass pro. Maybe not.

2. Pats play solid man coverage. Interceptions are a big risk. Incompletions resulting from wasted deep shots are, IMHO, wasted plays.

3. If PR drops back looking long, besides the risk of a pick, he could be sacked or stripped. Both are game-changers.

4. A much more high percentage play is the short or medium pass. Mix that in with an effective ground game, and you do the following:
a. Ball control
b. Maximize TOP, run down the clock
c. Keep the ball out of Tommy Boy's hands
d. Keep your D fresh by giving them a long break
e. Less chance of a turnover
f. Puts your team in the lead, or at least close, so we're not forced to play catch-up, and the Cheats will be expecting to defend most if not all passes

Pretty early to be saying how we should play the Pats next time. We will be a little different as will they. Hopefully we have better health going in next time

[boltfanseattle]

https://www.nbcsports.com/boston/patriots/patriots-games-front-drive-chargers-philip-rivers-crazy

Haven't seen the "Amoeba" look mentioned much, but it absolutely killed our O-Line. They had a 55 percent pressure rate against Rivers. I know we need better players, but I'm not entirely convinced player upgrades alone will completely change how they do against the belicheck D next time.

Lynn said on the flight back, they were all watching film of the game to see what they could learn from the loss. Hopefully the coaching staff learned as well. Improvement needs to happen from both ends.

[Topcat]

https://www.nbcsports.com/boston/pat...p-rivers-crazy

Haven't seen the "Amoeba" look mentioned much, but it absolutely killed our O-Line. They had a 55 percent pressure rate against Rivers. I know we need better players, but I'm not entirely convinced player upgrades alone will completely change how they do against the belicheck D next time.

Lynn said on the flight back, they were all watching film of the game to see what they could learn from the loss. Hopefully the coaching staff learned as well. Improvement needs to happen from both ends.

Wow, the Cheats had 2 sacks, 5 QB hits, and 22 hurries on Rivers. They rushed 6 quite a bit of the time...no deep safety, because the Pats knew Rivers wouldn't have time to unload the rock deep. Folks, this is almost EXACTLY what I've been saying we need to do to Brady. He's a pocket passer like Rivers, so we need to generate a punishing inside rush. Tillery, Mebane, Jones, Broughton, etc. need to be breathing down Tommy Boy's neck EVERY pass play. And Bradley needs to learn to rush more than 3 or 4.

One more pertinent point from that article: "What helped Bill Belichick and Brian Flores was that at that point in the game, the Patriots were leading 28-7. They knew the Chargers had to throw. The Chargers knew they had to throw. Instead of third-and-long becoming the only obvious passing down in the game, second-and-long was a passing down as well."

See my Point #4f in earlier post. Article is spot on.

[Topcat]

If you won't throw deep the Pats love it. Keep everybody in tight coverage. I've seen them bring no rush and laugh at us when we were afraid to run any routes to stretch them out. If you play scared, the game is over before we start. They are the NFL's best team, they are NOT all HOF at every position. It's on our team to exploit matchups and that potential does exist. Play out game with confidence and let the chips fall where they may. We can't go against them wearing handcuffs.

Okay, let's take a close look at that Chargers vs. Cheatriots game. If you study the box score, there were only TWO deep completions all game long, both to KA, one for 43 yards and one for 32 yards. ALL the other completions were for short to medium yardage. Look:

Twill: 5/94, 18 yd avg.
Mike Will: 5/68, 13 yd. avg.
Gates: 5/41, 8 yd. avg.
Jackson: 3/22, 7 yd. avg.
Ekkie: 3/19, 6 yd. avg.
MG3: 1/11 11-yd. avg.

Our short and medium pass game was actually fairly effective, even though we were playing catch-up most of the second half. We did score 28 points, enough to win if our D would have teed off on Golden Boy and disrupted him. We had too many stalled drives, mainly because Rivers was pressured so much and Whiz failed to dial up more screen plays and short passes, especially safety valve passes to our TE's and RB's to counteract that blitz.

Box score: http://www.espn.com/nfl/boxscore?gameId=401038959

[sonorajim]

Okay, let's take a close look at that Chargers vs. Cheatriots game. If you study the box score, there were only TWO deep completions all game long, both to KA, one for 43 yards and one for 32 yards. ALL the other completions were for short to medium yardage. Look:

Twill: 5/94, 18 yd avg.
Mike Will: 5/68, 13 yd. avg.
Gates: 5/41, 8 yd. avg.
Jackson: 3/22, 7 yd. avg.
Ekkie: 3/19, 6 yd. avg.
MG3: 1/11 11-yd. avg.

Our short and medium pass game was actually fairly effective, even though we were playing catch-up most of the second half. We did score 28 points, enough to win if our D would have teed off on Golden Boy and disrupted him. We had too many stalled drives, mainly because Rivers was pressured so much and Whiz failed to dial up more screen plays and short passes, especially safety valve passes to our TE's and RB's to counteract that blitz.

Box score: http://www.espn.com/nfl/boxscore?gameId=401038959

For starts, it was of shocking how thoroughly NE dominated our defense every NE possession in the 1st half. No one was ready for that. It's no excuse, but the Chargers were playing from behind on their 1st possession. We weren't good enough to go toe to toe with the Champ with half the team playing no-show.
That game will never be played again and TT took some steps to upgrade D talent & depth.
I do favor a strong ground game & a variety of pass targets at all depths, side to side. You have to mix it up unless you have something they can't stop. If so, pound it 'till they make you change it up again.

[Bolts223]

I think its just a few things.

FG Kicking.
They have had better clutch FG kicking in postseason. A number of teams playoff run ends with a missed kick. Almost every year it happens.
Not to them. Chargers missed postseason in Lynn 1st season because of horrible FG kicking.
It matters a lot. Games are often decided by one score or missed opportunity to score.

Home Field.
They have only won Superbowl when they had a bye. One less game to play and 1st game at home with 2 weeks to get prepared & healthy. Also being at home allows offense to operate without crowd noise while the opposing offense has to deal with the noise. And your facing a team that just played and has to travel with 1 week to prepare and get healthy.

The GOAT.
Brady is just so good at taking what defense gives him. Extremely quick decisions that negates a great pass rush. He will nickel & dime a team to death better than any QB ever. And he is usually at his best in big games.


The answers to the above.
Beat them at their own game.

1. Have great FG so you can win close games.

2. Get home field advantage so Patriots have to travel and your team has 2 weeks to prepare.

3. Rivers can nickel & dime the Pats to death and keep Brady off the field and the Chargers defense fresh. Stay patient & make Tom impatient because he is on the sideline.

Much easier said than done.
But I believe that is how to do it.

Eh.
In the Vinatieri days for sure. Yes Gostkowski made the FG that put them up by 10 late in the SB, but he also missed another 40-yarder early in that game.

And a large reason why they lost the 2015 AFCCG to the Donkeys is because Gostkowksi missed an extra point early in the game that forced them to have to go for 2 to send the game to OT at the very end.

[Topcat]

For starts, it was of shocking how thoroughly NE dominated our defense every NE possession in the 1st half. No one was ready for that. It's no excuse, but the Chargers were playing from behind on their 1st possession. We weren't good enough to go toe to toe with the Champ with half the team playing no-show.
That game will never be played again and TT took some steps to upgrade D talent & depth.
I do favor a strong ground game & a variety of pass targets at all depths, side to side. You have to mix it up unless you have something they can't stop. If so, pound it 'till they make you change it up again.

I agree that game won't happen again, as long as most of our key players are healthy this time around. Tillery and Adderley alone are two big upgrades. But Bradley needs to dial up more heat, IMHO, especially interior pocket blitzing. We just won't cut it rushing 4 all day long. Do to the Cheats what they did to us, at least on a fairly frequent basis: Rush 5-6, with 4 in the middle, and Boss and Ingram are the bookends...fluster Golden Boy and send him packing back to Beantown...

[Critty]

Eh.
In the Vinatieri days for sure. Yes Gostkowski made the FG that put them up by 10 late in the SB, but he also missed another 40-yarder early in that game.

And a large reason why they lost the 2015 AFCCG to the Donkeys is because Gostkowksi missed an extra point early in the game that forced them to have to go for 2 to send the game to OT at the very end.

Yep. Vinatieri was great.
Gostkowski Playoff FG 88.6% 39/44 is still pretty good though.
2 Kickers in 20 years.

They don't do this.
nate-karding-cbs.jpg
11 kickers in 20 years.
Actually faling to make postseason because of poor kick or failing to advance. Both Brees & Rivers getting let down by the FG kicker. Make the darn kick & ......how far does them team go that year.....

Is it finally settled for Chargers, Badgley?
I don't know.....

[richpjr]

Is it finally settled for Chargers, Badgley?
I don't know.....

Our ST coach for the past two awful years was Stewart and he is still here. Who can possibly feel comfortable that anything on special teams is settled?

[Bolts223]

I’m new here so if links to YT videos aren’t allowed my apologies. But I wanted to share this video because I think it’s very relevant to this thread.

[like54ninjas]

Insightful. Forward this to GusD.
If healthy, we have the personnel to be a disruptive force.