Anarchy99
Footballguy
NE played the most man coverage in league in the regular season. The huge majority of time they played zone against the Rams. Late in the season and in the playoffs, they kept moving guys around pre-snap and rotated who they sent as blitzers and the rest of the defense went into man.It's only "boring" because none of us understand how the Patriots' defense did it.
Some of the stuff I'm reading this AM would have been nice to know during the game. Pats switching to zone D after playing man all year, specifically to handle Rams man-beater jet motion. Harmon(?) playing as a safety/corner hybrid and switching in real time to confuse Goff. Never playing eight in the box, but still beating Rams' blockers to stuff the run. etc etc.
Would be great to hear the two D coordinators break the game down.
Against the Rams, even though they played mostly zone, they pretended to blitz and moved puzzle pieces pre-snap but instead dropped into zone . . . with all different guys. It wasn't the same zone each time. They kept rotating assignments on who had what sections of the field, who was the help, who took underneath routes, and how they rotated.
On the DL, the ends and LBs stunted the majority of the plays when in the regular season and playoffs they did not do that much. And the interior defenders basically did a bull rush into the gaps up the field with not a lot of variation.
The combination of all of that confused Goff and McVay. NE had not shown on tape before what they ran last night. That is master class level from BB and his coaching staff.
What teams usually don't do anywhere near enough off is coming up with new formations and plays when they go up against NE. The Chargers thought they could use the same game plan against NE as they did against the Ravens. The Chiefs thought they could use similar sets and strategies they ran the whole season in the rematch against NE. You can bet he knew they would eventually have to face the Chiefs again months ago and has been breaking down their film for months and months.
BB will study you and identify tenancies until 4 in the morning night after night. He will know what you will run many times before your offensive coordinator even calls in the play. That's why you can only tip your hat to the Eagles last year, as they did enough to reinvent themselves to make BB look bad.