Ask the Pulpit!

Let the questions begin!

The keys will be keeping Brady clean, and the receivers have to get that initial separation. I believe that you guys will at one point play the blitz with press coverage. We have to be able to get separation and make the tough catches. This will most likely come down to the tight ends. It will be interesting to see how the jets try to attack both gronk and herndo. I compare them to jason witten and dallas clark in their styles and size. Gronk can outrun linebackers (except harris) and is bigger than anyone except your d-line (6-6).

For defense, stop the run first, make sanchez beat us. If you run, we get caught in the PA, and it’s over. Then up the middle of the defense. You guys have a very good o-line, but the guards seem to be the weakness. Big vince and the DE need to pressure on the inside and force sanchez outside where he’s more prone to mistakes (he’s taking more risks, some work, some don’t, (personally, that cotchery catch in the browns game might be the best play this year) We (sorta) shut down manning for at least the first half, and we did it by holding them to 1YPC in the first half. Finally, mccourty has to continue to be strong. We have been watching him, and he looks amazing for a rookie. He shut down CJ just as well as revis did, and if he can open up the safeties to shift to arrington/butlers side of the field, we have a chance a shutting down your offense to an extent.

I don’t think the offense can score 30+ points on the Jets defense. The only way the Patriots score over 30 is if there’s a defensive TD or a special teams score.

The key to the Patriots offense: This is the offensive cycle:
Patriots pass underneath to the sidelines, to open up the middle of the field.
Patriots run the ball to force defenses to play close to the LOS to stop the run and the underneath pass.
Patriots pass to tight ends deep up the middle to take advantage of the press defense.

If the Patriots can get going, they won’t be stopped. It’s an offense that thrives on momentum and forcing defenses to adjust. If they can’t initially get anything going, then they’ll struggle for the rest of the half.

The Patriots defense needs to take advantage of all offensive mistakes by the Jets. No dropped interceptions. No stupid penalties. They also need to prevent big gains on the ground. No passes to the tight ends. No missed tackles. This defense can slow offenses when they’re on fire. They’ve held the Chargers and Steelers to 3 points through 3 quarters and the Colts to 14, with one touchdown coming on one really terrible 2 minute drive at the end of the half. It’s when opposing teams start playing hurry up, the young defense still isn’t fully capable of adjusting on the fly.

If this defense can string together a full game, the Patriots offense might surprise everyone. Of course, that’s not certain in the least.

…and Keller will be bracketed, with the underneath coverage playing tight.

We don’t really worry about giving up big plays, since that’s what our defense focuses against, but the Jets can get big yards on hitch routes- which are usually an easy completion. McCourty will most likely be on an island against whoever your #2 is (difficult since both Edwards and Holmes are #1s), and Arrington will play with safety help on the #1.

…you’ll definitely see dink and dunk. We prefer to call it “death by papercuts.” The quick passes gets yardage, moves the chains, runs the clock, gets the receivers and Brrady on the same page and keeps defenses on their toes. He uses the quick passes to set up the big plays that are on the highlights, but you’ll see the quick passes first until the offense is in a rhythm.

Chung is Rodney Harrison 2.0. He’s great against the run, good against tight ends but will get beat by wide receivers. He’ll be playing the eight man in the box. Meriweather is a fast guy, who tries to be polamalu, but isn’t as good. Lately though his job has simply been to cover the opponents number 1 over the top, and except for one perfect manning to wayne pass, he hasn’t been beat badly. We also sometimes bring out a three safety set with sanders, and he is a mix between meriweather and chung, does everything pretty well, but doesn’t astound in any way.

IF you cover welker well, and the RBs don’t get going, you’ll have about 3-4 other people to deal with. Both TEs, woodhead in the passing game, and branch, and edelman if he plays.

We tend to pass to establish the run, which then establishes the play action which helps the pass.

The difference is many teams will be run heavy in there first few series. The Pats will likely be balanced leaning toward pass heavy. They are trying to get the receivers and TE’s into the game quickly. Then when you back away from the line, run it at you.

McCourty has done very well, and will likely cover Holmes, because he has quickness along with his speed. Arrignton, with a safety on top, will likely go to Edwards.

They’ve lined up Patrick Chung (usually Strong Safety) in the slot CB role a few times lately. They’ve also run Jonathan Wilhite as nickel CB, and he’s nothing special, although he’s usually in the area when a WR is catching it. The third CB might be Darius Butler, who’s athletically gifted but has been in the coach’s dog-box for most of the season after starting off as a starter. Or they might give the starting-CB role back to Butler and put Arrington in at nickel-CB, and he’s a strong tackler and very quick but a bit prone to mis-reading passing plays (he was a special teamer last year, not a ‘real’ CB).

1) I imagine Belichick will gameplan for the Jets version of the Wildcat; I know they said they had a gameplan to stop Josh Cribbs when they played the Browns, and they’d treat Brad Smith as Cribbs’ equal.
2) No, definitely ability. The Pats still use the shotgun a lot, (30-40%) and he’s the primary shotgun back. He’s great at running off draws, he can split out wide, he can catch out of the backfield, and he can pass-protect in the pocket (he even blew Ray Lewis up one-on-one). He’s key, even if he’s not on the stat sheet, because he keeps Brady clean in the shotgun.
3) I imagine Devin McCourty will be on Holmes. Smaller shifty WRs have occasionally given the Pats trouble (Percy Harvin, Davone Bess), so Holmes will be a threat. However, I imagine that Belichick will realise this and gameplan accordingly.
4) I’m not sure either team will want it to come down to a kick. In fact, if it was a choice of a 35+ yard game-winning kick and letting Brady take a shot at the End Zone, I wouldn’t be surprised if Belichick and O’Brien opt for letting Brady throw it.

only way Jets lose is if Sanchez has one of his bad days.

Ok that’s not true, I thought about Shaun Ellis because of our DE deficiency, but it came down to Mangold being 26 and Ellis 33.

Center has been a weak link on our O-line and Koppen is long in the tooth, would LOVE to have a stud like Mangold giving Brady protection

…Mangold, Brick, B. Thomas, Keller and DeVito.

If we cut him last year, I wouldn’t have been as suprised as we were a power running team. But now that we value the pass and finesse running more, it just seems like a complete oversight.

jets go up 10-0 early w/ scoring pts off at least 1 turnover. pats take lead back 14-13. jets answ and score next 10 pts before holding off furious pats rally at end. brady gets picked inside jet 30 w/ under 2 min to go

34-24 Jets

It’s gonna be a fun ride and not a headache.hopefully.

I think it’s going to play a factor because Leonhard was likely more familiar with Ryan’s schemes and desires when he calls plays. That familiarity gone, might lead to a bit of confusion in coverages and schemes or lead to more defensive time outs called. A small advantage really in that regard.

On the other hand, Leonhard was a pretty solid safety who was familiar with the Pats and Brady, a pretty solid hitter and had pretty good instincts that he likely garnered while near Ed Reed. Losing that edge, might lead to more YAC numbers than the Jets really want.

I think the Pats will likely do a lot more to hide plays and Brady will do his usual tricks to confuse new safeties. Beyond that, I don’t think it changes the gameplan going in of attacking the middle of the field.

here’s to a close fought rivalry and NO INJURIES tonight.

Hopefully it’ll be more of a game next time.

Cheers to all the classy Pats fans visiting this week.