1)I dont think New Englands Offensive line can handle our front line.

LT Matt Light
LG Logan Mankins
C Dan Koppen
RG Dan Connolly
RT Sebastian Vollmer
verse
Cam Wake, Kendall Langford, Paul Solia, Jared Odrick, Randy Starks, or Merling, Mcdaniels, and Koa or JT. need to get after Brady and rough him up all night

2)Burnett and Dansby are gonna have to handle these TE in the seams along with probably Sean Smith. and stop the run and screens underneath

3)How we cover Ocho Cinco, Wes Welker, and the TE are going to be critical. WHo do we put on Welker and who do we put on Ocho, while still covering the TE's. Obviously if we put Davis on Welker and Sean SMith on Ocho we would be good, but then the TE, will eat us up, if Burnett, Dansby, YB cant handle them.

4)How well our o-line holds up against the Patriots Dline will be a challenge and critical for our success.

5) Can Henne and the offense minimize turnovers



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/06/2011 01:50PM by Crowder52.

Davis should cover Ocho Cinco, and he may require safety help.

The key is our offense. The Pats WILL score, so we need to keep up!!

Word is Davis will cover 85 bc he struggles with physical cbs. Not sure he still commands double teams and has been struggling to adapt to new offense.

Sapp is our nickel and will cover Welker the slot.

Gronkowski is the matchup nightmare especially in the red zone.

I think we get good pressure. With a 4 man rush which will help our coverage players.

Don't forget to add Brian Waters to the mix at RG.

The key will be pressure pressure pressure...as Detroit exposed. Any team that beat Brady has been successfull in a 4 man rush.

We will have trouble running inside on this team with Haynesworth and Wilfork but I think we matchup well on the outside bc they are weak there.

They don't have the personnel to stay with Bush, Gates or Marshall...and I look for a big game from Bush in the passing game.

.....................................................................................
“I'm here" You're welcome!" - Kenny Powers

eesti Wrote:
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> Gronkowski is the matchup nightmare especially in
> the red zone.
We have a nice LB corp this year. I think any of them could cover a TE.


> Don't forget to add Brian Waters to the mix at
> RG.
I doubt he'll be starting. In fact, I'd be surprised if he sees the field at all.


> The key will be pressure pressure pressure...as
> Detroit exposed. Any team that beat Brady has been
> successfull in a 4 man rush.
Our D-Line + Wake = a nasty pass rush


> We will have trouble running inside on this team
> with Haynesworth and Wilfork but I think we
> matchup well on the outside bc they are weak
> there.
If we play this right we'll call a handful of runs inside just to keep the defense honest, but we'll run a lot of 3 and 4 WR sets and a lot of outlet passes (screens, etc.) to Bush.


> They don't have the personnel to stay with Bush,
> Gates or Marshall...and I look for a big game from
> Bush in the passing game.
If Gates can catch a long pass early, that will go a LONG way to opening up the field for Marshall and Bush. I think it would be interesting to see him start over Hartline just so we can get him in there early.

I think being year three for Hartline is going to show him as a very capable reciever.

Dont discredit his speed which yes not as impressive as Gates but he beats the initial attack pretty good and his route running is exceptional.

Gate's needs to be in for our 4 wr set's with Bush in the backfield to optimize big play ability, however with a 3 wr set Hartline is much more able and suited opposite Marshall who will demand safty help all game leaving Hartline wide open with one on one action.

Henne's ability to get it to Hartline this Monday night to me will be the critical point to success against the Patriots.

This is a good thread. Our defense , the CB's in particuliar will define us this season.

This is a game where the defense really needs to be at their finest. There are games this season, I'm moderately confident, when we'll be able to win with offense and an off day by the defense. However, Monday is a game in which the defense has to be lights out in the secondary and pass rush and the offense has to be more about keeping the ball away from NE's offense (long drives, no turnovers). As I type this, I realize that this is the same old formula, but - when executed well - it's been successful against some of the elite NE teams of the past.

Maybe I'll be shocked and we'll be able to keep up in an offensive shoot-out, but I think the better bet for this game is efficient, time-consuming offense, defensive turnovers and smacking Brady around. I like our chances for the latter but our OL scares me in terms of even approaching the former.

I agree our ILBs can cover TEs but its Gronks size that concerns me 6 ft 6 265 lbs. 10 tds last year as a rookie.

Pressure Brady for hurried throws and turnovers. Gotta rattle him early.

.....................................................................................
“I'm here" You're welcome!" - Kenny Powers

Whoever VOntae Davis Covers will not have more then 20 yards. And he will not need any help IMO.
Davis is our quickest CB, and Wes Welker is there best reciever, so in my opinion you have to take Welker out of the game by putting Vontae Davis on him. I dont think Benny Sapp can cover Welker, he is just to quick.
I think Sean SMith can play rough and handle OchoCinco. And that would be good to go with until the TE's exploit you, then you are going to have to move Sean SMith to cover a TE, and hope whoever takes his place covering the WR, can handle himself. That is how I woul play it. Just because Welker is in the slot doesnt mean Sapp will get the coverage. For example, If you remember last year when the Jets played us, they put Revis in the nickel spot to cover Bess all game. WHerever Bess went so did Revis. SO I am unsure how we will cover them...
I think our defense is going to be critical for our success on monday . If they can limit the success of the Patriots offense, it will help us tremendously... If they cant score, they cant win... We need to play tight on D, keep Brady under 18 points or less total.

Actually, our quickest CB is Nolan Carroll, but I doubt we'll play him over Sapp. Vontae is quick, but he's also very physical. That tends to throw off bigger receivers like Ocho Cinco that are not accustomed to fighting for the ball. Smith is NOT physical. He uses his size as an advantage, so it's best to put him on the smaller WR. It might seem counterintuitive, but it's been successful for us in the past.

montequi Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Actually, our quickest CB is Nolan Carroll, but I
> doubt we'll play him over Sapp. Vontae is quick,
> but he's also very physical. That tends to throw
> off bigger receivers like Ocho Cinco that are not
> accustomed to fighting for the ball. Smith is NOT
> physical. He uses his size as an advantage, so
> it's best to put him on the smaller WR. It might
> seem counterintuitive, but it's been successful
> for us in the past.

I am just curious as to how you have determined that Nolan Carrol is quicker then VOntae Davis. I agree that Vontae is physical, which is also good against Welker. VOntate can play press, and coverage, so he can recover against Welkers shifty quicky style. Sean Smith has the length , but I dont think he has the feet or quickess to run with the quickest of receivers and either does Benny Sapp. I understand your argument, it is logical, other then saying Sean Smith cant be physical, he is a huge Cb and can defintely play press coverage, with his wing span and weight he is hard to get around. I guess we shall see, although I think there is a good chance, Vontae will play certain sides based on the run more then the pass or who is in coverage. Otherwise they would consitently move Vontae's reciever away from the direction of the run to limit his effectivness. Nolan will want to dicate what New England does more then he will want to allow Belichick to dictate where his players are in coverage or on the field. Belichick doesnt want to run towards Vontae Davis, because he is our best CB against the run, which is wy Nolan moved him this offseason. So many factors at play, it seems to me with a deeper study and thought with you guys, it is all going to depend on what we shut down and what de dont, How we will play it, with all of the options described above being likely.

Crowder52 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I am just curious as to how you have determined
> that Nolan Carrol is quicker then VOntae Davis.

His 40 time. Carroll-4.39, Davis-4.49.

quickness , burst, reaction time, closing time and 40 time are all very different characteristics of a player. Tedd Ginn was fast but not that quick, Bess is probably our quickest reciever but he surely isnt the fastest. Chad Ochocinco or Randy Moss are faster the Wes Welker but they surely are not quicker.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/07/2011 03:59PM by Crowder52.

Vontae on 85.
Sapp on Welker.
Smith on Hernandez.
Burnett/Dansby on Gronkowski.
but most importantly,
Wake on Brady!

Who covered ocho when we played the Bengals last year? I think it was Smith, and he shut him down

Here is a matchup for ya....

Sebastion Vallmer...not sure of spelling...is injured so Nate Solder could be playing at RT.

That puts the rookie against JT in pass rush situation...meaning he will prob get help from Gronkowski.

That is great for us bc now not only do we not have to defend him but it leaves Wake one on one with Matt Light.

Either way you slice it they are going to need help for the tackles with either a TE or a RB. This could also create problems for blitz pickups if they choose to chip with a RB.

The more I think about it the more I think Brady is going to be on his ass a lot.

.....................................................................................
“I'm here" You're welcome!" - Kenny Powers

I dont think Light can block Wake, Light will need help... The Patriots are more likely game planning how to stay away from Wake or minimize him, they probably havent even thought about JT IMO. They will probably try and run and maybe screens at Wake a bit early to minimize his freight train pass rush, by making him worry about covering his spot on the run game or a quick screen....

My opinion is that JT only plays like JT in Miami

His last year here he was ranked something like 8th for OLBs.

He went to Washington and they put him at LDE in favor of Andre Carter at WLB....dumb dumb dumb.

He got injured and said himself he hasn't been healthy for several years. Most analysts say he still looks like he's got plenty left and looks smoother in movement that the much younger Wake.

He went to the Jets and played ok with 5 sacks and a few big plays but didn't get a lot of snaps.

I hope they do overlook him but it won't matter bc they can't help out both Tackles without severely handicapping themselves in max protect.

I predict 2 sacks for JT...2 for Wake....1 for Odrick...1 for Dansby and one for Jones.

.....................................................................................
“I'm here" You're welcome!" - Kenny Powers

Vontae Davis quote yesterday, "you gotta know where Wes Welkers at, pinpoint him, They always looking to get him the ball, you just gotta find him. You have to know at all times where Wes Welkers at, he can not go unoticed. He is one of those guys, that the offense goes through him"
That is all Vontae wanted to talk about was stopping Wes Welker....
SO with this quote and what Vonate is saying you guys still think it is a good idea or our coaching staff plan on putting the number 3 CB Benny Sapp on him...... IMO, not a chance, unless we are playing a zone. As I said before and apparently Vontae is focused on, covering and stopping Wes Welker... not Chad Johnson.
If we put our 3rd best CB on the WR that NE offense goes through we are foolish...