This is a sample guest message. Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!
If FWP is 100%, I concur.Titans have a chance if VY / the WRs improve, White/Henry have good games, and Bulluck elevates his game. Giants could also match up fairly well.
Dont think Tennessee is balanced enough between O and D. Its gonna be tough to beat NE with 42yds passing.I guess the pass rush is the key to stopping the Patriots. Because of the timing of the offense, I would say pressure up the middle is also important
You can sub in PIT for IND in the first 2 statements.
in Miami, the Dolphins held Brady to 12/25 - 78 last year. I'm not sure where you are going with this one, as NE already visited Mia.
Black Box said:
I'll also add "great safeties"If Brady is given time to stand in the pocket, he will just tear a defense apart. You absolutely HAVE to get pressure on him to have a chance. On top of that, you absolutely have to have a great safety that can really cover the field. You have to be able to keep the TE from doing too much damage over the middle while also keeping the Patriots from making those huge downfield passing plays.I do think the Steelers actually matchup fairly decently on that side of the ball. They get a nice pass rush by mixing things up and TP is one of the better safeties in the league. The bigger question for the Steelers is going to be whether or not they can get it done on offense.
Sorry, I'm a Steeler fan but I don't trust their pass rush. Against the Ravens who NEVER throw downfield they looked great, but Cutler had tons of time against them and there was always a WR open. NE will spread the field which is the worst kind of offense for the Steelers to face. I have a bad feeling they'll get shredded. Meanwhile,FWP always struggles against good defenses, and Big Ben will have pass rushers in his face all night. I wish it were otherwise, but I don't really think the Steelers have much of a chance in that game.I do think they could beat Indy in the playoffs, however: much better matchup.Black Box said:I'll also add "great safeties"If Brady is given time to stand in the pocket, he will just tear a defense apart. You absolutely HAVE to get pressure on him to have a chance. On top of that, you absolutely have to have a great safety that can really cover the field. You have to be able to keep the TE from doing too much damage over the middle while also keeping the Patriots from making those huge downfield passing plays.I do think the Steelers actually matchup fairly decently on that side of the ball. They get a nice pass rush by mixing things up and TP is one of the better safeties in the league. The bigger question for the Steelers is going to be whether or not they can get it done on offense.
But you can score 21. One of the Pats 3 1st-half drives was a 3-and-out and another ended with an interception. Is it really your contention that the reason the Pats were down 7-13 instead of being up 21-13 at halftime had very little to do with the Colts defense?
The Titans beat the Patriots in the 2nd preseason game this year...in New England. I know, it is preseason. However, Belichick is unconcerned with that triviality and wants to win anyway. Titans sacked Brady twice, picked off Brady twice, and returned one of them for a TD. My point, as you'll see below, is that the key is getting pressure with the front 4.
Front 4 and safeties. I agree.Black Box said:
These are the keys. Now, being able to do it is another issue.
Green Bay does too. Their D line isn't quite as good as the Giants but they have better corners with Woodson & Harris. Though Welker in the slot would probably eat them alive.
*Toot Toot* Tooting my horn here as just about everywhere I posted, the key to beating the Pats is putting pressure on Brady. I said it repeatedly before Dallas played NE, that if Dallas doesn't put pressure on Brady, forget about it.Dallas to date prior to the Indy game probably had the most success because they put the most pressure on Brady to that point. Same thing entering this game, the Colts had to find a way to get pressure on Brady without leaving everyone else open. They were able to do that which made for a very close game.I don't mean to make this sound easy, becaue it's not. The Patriots have an excellent offensive line and are very well coached. But if I'm a defensive coordinator, I don't leave the film room with my coaches until we have an absolute game plan in how we put pressure on Brady.Maybe it starts with doing this or doing that......IF that someone doesn't work then I go to the next plan that was formed and you have to have it figured out all the way down to bringing the entire house as a the last strategy.You may say, well that won't work, they'll just toss it to Moss or whoever. You're right, that will happen and ultimately it won't work but won't will NEVER ever work is sitting back and letting Tom Brady have time to throw. It's absolute suicide to give him time to throw the ball to those talented receivers.So, basically you have to be talented enough up front to put pressure on Brady and have the coaching staff to devise the scheme. Then you have a chance to win and against a team that's as good and talented as NE, that's all you can really ask for.Black Box said:
My point was that if the Pats had the ball twice as often they could easily have had scored 14 points without the Colts defense having been all stellar (2 TD in 6 possessions). Pair that with the 17 they scored in the second have and they would have scored 31 points. Sure, that's better than some other teams have done but it would still have been 31 points none the less.With the Pats offense having the ball a lot more in the second half, they outscored IND 17-7. The second half was a lot closer to the way the Pats have produced in their other games this year.I'm not suggesting that the Colts defense played poorly. I think the Colts defense did better than others have done, but I think that's due to them having a better defense than some other teams that got crushed.To put things into perspective, NE scored 4 times in 9 possessions against the Colts. Over the course of the season in their first 8 games, they had scored points on 60% of their drives. Had NE managed to get points on any of their other possessions in the Colts game, they would have been right near their yearly average for scoring points (having scored in 56% of the possessions against IND). So IMO, the Colts were one drive better than the rest of the Pats opponents were.But you can score 21. One of the Pats 3 1st-half drives was a 3-and-out and another ended with an interception. Is it really your contention that the reason the Pats were down 7-13 instead of being up 21-13 at halftime had very little to do with the Colts defense?
Pats were up 17-7 at halftime when Brady left the game. The sole Titans score was the pick you mentioned. I'm also pretty sure Moss didn't play. So - the Pats O was on pace for hanging 34 on the Titans without Moss.Based solely on that game, I'm not sure that (A) the Titans could hold this O to less than 21 over a full game or (B) the titans O could score at all.
