Ability to Stop New England Patriots Rookie Tight Ends Will Be a Key to Victory
by John B on Dec 4, 2010 12:58 PM EST
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PrintThe Patriots have a pair of athletic rookie tight ends who are excellent weapons at receiver. Aaron Hernandez rank second on the team with 36 catches and 462 yards. He has 3 touchdowns. Rob Gronkowski has 25 catches for 310 yards and is tied for the team lead with 6 touchdowns. These selections have led to the tight ends in this offense more than doubling their role in the offense from a year ago. For a few years, I have wanted the Jets to add another athletic receiving tight end to pair with Dustin Keller. If Keller is a problem for some teams, dealing with a duplicate would be twice as difficult. This is an example.
Over the past few days, we have discussed potential ways to attack the Patriots defensively. Some have been skeptical of my suggestion to play Darrelle Revis in the slot against Wes Welker, arguing Gang Green should leave Drew Coleman on him and providing him help. The tight ends are why I disagree.
Revis should not be needed on Deion Branch. Branch is not a game wrecker like Randy Moss unless a team doesn't cover him, which seemed to be Detroit's approach on Thanksgiving. Antonio Cromartie has taken away Moss twice this season. He took away Lee Evans. He took away Brandon Lloyd. If he cannot keep Branch from getting open, the Jets have a big problem.
I think Revis needs to be inside on Welker. There are only so many guys on the field. If the Jets are going to double Welker and still maintain an aggressive blitzing game plan, that would mean leaving the tight ends in matchups favorable to New England.
I think one of the tight ends should be the focus of bracket coverage. I think the Jets should use Dwight Lowery and Kyle Wilson inside on the tight ends. Again, the guys up front should be able to take away the run on their own. If they cannot, the Jets have a big problem. They can sacrifice losing safety help in run support with Eric Smith off the field. I would have suggested this even had Jim Leonhard been there. Lowery and Wilson have better cover skills. Lowery has experience at safety. Wilson has played well when moved in against tight ends.
I think a team can scheme to take away one thing from an opposition. Everybody else must execute without help. I think Cromartie can handle Branch. I think Revis can handle Welker. I think the men in the trenches can handle the New England run game. I do not think the linebackers and safeties on the roster can handle the tight ends. The scheme should be designed to help them. This is a spot where the Pats have an edge.
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I like Revis on Welker, BUT
I have no idea what kind of slot corner Revis can be. Revis uses the sideline the trap his target against and uses his ball skiles to locate the ball. When he’s on the inside he loses that advantage.
See I think there’s a difference between never having done something before and not being able to do something. Kris Jenkins never played nose tackle in a 3-4 before the Jets traded for him. His style of play wasn’t to hold the point of attack and tie up blockers. He had the skills to adjust his game when he took that role.
Revis plays that way because he can on the outside. He obviously would play differently in the slot. He has great catchup speed and ball skills. I think he would do very well inside.
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Vernon Gholston had never played 3-4 OLB before, too...
It’s pretty brave to move Revis around, especially inside, when the Pats have got big-hitting TEs who’d just love to run over Revis when blocking for bubble-screens.
Revis is his best when using the sideline as an extra defender. Moving him inside to follow Welker around just invites the Pats to run/screen-pass it right through him.
Token southern hemisphere guy - 14,688km from Foxboro. That's 9128 miles, for you heathens.
Gholston was predominantly an OLB every year but this year. Revis is very powerful for a corner and his size has never been a liability with guys with the size-speed combo that make them undefendable by anybody else (eg calvin johnson, andre johnson, vincent jackson, TO, etc). While ur TEs will have a size advantage on revis, they won’t be able to shake his coverage for even a second. He won’t even have to press on them bc they don’t have the speed/quckness to get a split second of separation.
While I agree with ur point about how he uses the sidelines, I don’t like him sticking welker bc it makes him easier to deal with. They can motion welker into his routes which will remove any bump and he can get off clean. Also tom and the oc can design/tweak plays to attack other match ups. I like the idea of u guys not knowing where he’ll be until u break the huddle. Tom will have to read revis pre-snap, then figure out everything else post snap as far as whose bracketed and where the safeties are playing and figuring out whose blitzing. The more post-snap reads he has the better.
by Crackback on Dec 5, 2010 9:30 AM EST via mobile up reply actions
With all the interchangable Smurfs and TEs who can flex out, I'd imagine Brady will use pre-snap motion a lot more
Whether it’s starting Hernandez in tight and then flexing him into the slot, or having Welker start out wide and then move into the middle, I’d expect a lot of shifting around to force the Jets to show their hand (to some extent).
It’s a catch-22 for the Jets. If they don’t adjust on the line, then guys like Welker, Branch of Hernandez get a free-release – not good for the Jets. If they do adjust to get bodies on the receivers from the snap, then they show their scheme assignments to Brady. And if they do the wrong adjustments, then you get matchup issues (Steelers putting a CB on Gronkowski and Gronk catching 3 TDs over his head, or the Jets putting a LB on Hernandez and Hernandez getting 100 yards in the first half, or the Lions putting a second-year CB on Branch and getting schooled for 100 yards and 2 TDs).
Token southern hemisphere guy - 14,688km from Foxboro. That's 9128 miles, for you heathens.
I also agree it is the key to the game, especially in the red zone, where the game will be won or lost
We trade three points for 7 with them, we lose.
Brady is smart. He targets his TEs when in deep or on a clutch 3rd down, and makes you pay.
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Again the key is pressure
Wilson and Smith/Coleman can hold their tight ends if Brady has to rush his throws. If Brady has time, then the Jets are in for a long night because, then these tight ends get behind them. We all have seen how it seems like none of the Jets secondary knows how to turn and look for the ball. Revis can play the slot, he has not held all these great receivers without sometimes going in the slot. The problem is in the slot he can’t and will not play bump and run. As for him being negated by the tight end in front of Welker, who ever has the tight end has to bump him. I would bump him with the end or LB who is rushing that side. The key is tackling Welker when he catches the ball. All this nonsense about him not knowing how to play the slot is ridiculous. He’s the Jets best corner; he should be holding their best receiver. How soon people forget, last season in the playoffs Revis was moved around against San Diego and Indianapolis, at times holding Antonio Gates and Dwight Clark. I see him being moved around in this game too. As for Branch, the Jets have to take their chances with Cro on him the whole game. Judging for how he played against Brandon Lloyd, I’ll take my chances with Cro. Listen, this is a daunting task, however, I’ve seen this defense slow the Saints, Chargers, Packers, and Brady down. I put Brady because all the Pats fans want us to think this is a different offense. The point, check the resume, I have faith in this defense. And, if the Pats put up thirty on them, then the defense was not good enough on Monday. I’m tired of talking about the Jets stopping them. Can someone write a post about their defense stopping the Jets.
Yes Pressure is the key!
Must make Tom Beiber uncomfortable in the pocket, gotta hit him hard and often! How old is Revis? Did not know he covered Dwight Clark of the Niners in the early 80’s! If so, then man he is good for his age!!!
could not agree more
even though the te’s have been great, welker is the biggest threat. he was the one who last yr had that monster gm when we played in ne and that was one of the huge diffs from when they played the 1st gm. it would be huge if we can completely take welker out of te gm. cro should also be fine on deion branch. poss is also to have cro take tate when tate is in and coleman/lowery to take branch in that spot. the te’s are a major prob but revis taking welker should not affect that much
metsjetsknicksrangers.............can it get any worse?
They’ve been throwing to Gronkowski lots more than Hernandez in recent weeks. I dont know if that trend will continue, Hernandez had nice game against the Jets the first time around, this might be the game they try to get him back on track. Both of them need to be watched near the goalline. Welker has really looked like he’s getting back into form though, he’s probably their biggest weapon.
acc to the boston herald
Herno is a big mismatch against teams that use man coverage…cause he is too fast for a LB and too big for a S/CB.
They tend to use Herno against man teams and Gronk against Zone teams
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the ability of the Pats to incorporate the TE’s into this game will be huge because our TE’s are gonna require the Jets safeties to play up disrupting the pass rush. No Jets LB can hang with Hernandez. Putting Revis on Hernandez would be a smart move except Wes will pick everyone else apart. Our WR’s have no fear of the over the middle passes. Our O is totally different than it was in week 2. The jets are good but they have not played against an offense this good at all this season. Our O line is geared up for this battle. If brady has time to throw forget about it. By drawing safety help to the TE’s Woodhead is gonna have a monster game. jets are good but the pats are just better. 38-27 pats. i give the jets 27 cause my boys give up garbage yards and points when we go to that soft zone
38? That’s ambitious, considering we haven’t given up 30 all year and held ur offense to 14 last time we played.
Brady’s hot streak will cool. And Belichick will have no answer for the power running game mixed with the big play passing game.
Jets by 23.
by Crackback on Dec 4, 2010 10:29 PM EST via mobile up reply actions
1st game
What did the Jets do in the 2nd half of the 1st game with the pats? Revis was out, so cro covered moss and the rest of the guys had to fend for themselves. I know the pats got better and with revis at full strength so did we. So what worked for us at the 1st game? I didn’t get to see it or tape it. Just saw highlights.
If I remember correctly, we blitzed less and had more guys dropping into coverage and squeezing throwing windows, and brady over-relied on attacking cro matched up on moss, without success.
Brady is expecting the tight windows this time though, and he’s been playing with them since moss left. I think we should have the same approach and mix in delayed blitzes. I think it’ll work bc play alotta press man, which makes it tough to execute short drop precision passing.
by Crackback on Dec 5, 2010 9:39 AM EST via mobile up reply actions
I think that is the key, pats rely on the quick short passes. The slot , screens might be their game plan. We have to take that away or limit it so it becomes ineffective.
Either way, it'll have to be perfect execution.
Brady was great in finding the seams in zone coverage against the Colts Cover-2, he was almost perfect in finding the gaps in the Steelers zone-blitz 3-4, and he was perfect in carving up a lot of 4-man rush-only 4-3 zone-D against the Lions.
Token southern hemisphere guy - 14,688km from Foxboro. That's 9128 miles, for you heathens.
We don’t play much zone. He won’t be able to throw at spots. He’ll have to read coverage and wait until something opens. If our blitzes are getting home, we’re gonna blow u out.
by Crackback on Dec 5, 2010 4:01 PM EST via mobile up reply actions
Yep, I was thinking of the LBs dropping back into coverage, though
I see it as either all-out blitz, or dropping LBs, and I’m thinking Rex will go the former. The latter’s already been done and the Pats have it on tape, so it won’t be a surprise.
Token southern hemisphere guy - 14,688km from Foxboro. That's 9128 miles, for you heathens.
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