'moleculo said:
From what I understand, defending a option is pretty easy - everyone stays home and honors their responsabilities. It's just a matter of discipline. I think thats why Tebow is having success late in games. After 55 munutes, players are tired, and they have been having success, so they get more agressive and start to react before they read... In other words, instincts start to take over, they commit pre-maturely, and Tebow is excellent at exploiting an overpursuit.
I think Tebow's late game success has more to do with the Broncos running 50 times/game. The defense is tired and beat up. Defending the run takes more out of you than defending the pass. Those offensive linemen get to hit you instead of block you. The guys with the ball are usually bigger than WRs catching the ball too, plus they're coming at you.
If the Broncos can keep it close enough to keep running the ball over and over they're going to move the ball easier against most teams later in the game.I'll be interested to see what Belichick schemes, but I'm not sure he'll be able to come up with a better plan than the Jets did. They brought in the big guys (I think they had 4 or 5 300 pound guys on the field). Plus their LB coach was from an option college. He knows the strengths and weaknesses of the offense.