2017 Belichick Breakdowns

mwonow

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The Breakdowns are one of my favorite parts of the week, but this one is really short, without any special teams play. BB's analysis of the Jones play was interesting, but without a closeup angle, it was a little hard to see...
 

tims4wins

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Awesome breakdown of the first play with the film from preseason

Edit: second play is awesome too. This is awesome to watch how they adjust
 

mwonow

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Yep, only two plays, both on offense, but the adjustment explanations are great!
 

DJnVa

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HAHAHA.

That's awesome. They saw the Texans chatting, figured they were making an adjustment and changed it up.
 

bigsid05

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The next time we rip on McDaniels in the game thread, we have to remember that second play. Brilliant coaching adjustment that resulted in a huge gain.
 

BroodsSexton

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Crazy that they caught the adjustment, counter-adjusted, and you can see exactly how it all played out on the film. If you're the defenders, I guess you just tip your cap. I wonder how common is this kind of thing.
 

H78

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That was one of the more insightful bits I've seen of how coaches make adjustments before and during a game.
Agreed. That was the best Belichick Breakdown segment probably ever. Wow.
 

riboflav

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Crazy that they caught the adjustment, counter-adjusted, and you can see exactly how it all played out on the film. If you're the defenders, I guess you just tip your cap. I wonder how common is this kind of thing.
It's fairly common in HS basketball so not to be a party pooper (because I loved the segment) but I imagine it's not uncommon. The most surprising element was that the Texans secondary discussed it on the Pats' sideline.
 

Hoodie Sleeves

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It's fairly common in HS basketball so not to be a party pooper (because I loved the segment) but I imagine it's not uncommon. The most surprising element was that the Texans secondary discussed it on the Pats' sideline.
As a counterpoint - I remember a game where the Pats ran the same slant to Wes Welker (against a LB'er) 6 or 7 plays in a row because the guy obviously couldn't cover him, and they weren't adjusting/didn't want to call timeout/etc.

There are some fantastic coaches at the NFL level, and some guys who's primary skill is screaming at people.
 

tims4wins

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11 minutes-- including a 2001 AFC Championship throwback -- fantasic!
LOVING the breakdowns this year.

That Troy Brown punt return was one of my favorite all time plays - both because of Gil's call ("touchdown, touchdown, touchdown Troy Brown!"), and because the gunner on the left side of the formation was blocked backwards into his own end zone when the LOS was the 8 yard line. Have never seen that before or since. Unreal job by the vice guys on the defensive right.
 

DJnVa

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LOVING the breakdowns this year.

That Troy Brown punt return was one of my favorite all time plays - both because of Gil's call ("touchdown, touchdown, touchdown Troy Brown!"), and because the gunner on the left side of the formation was blocked backwards into his own end zone when the LOS was the 8 yard line. Have never seen that before or since. Unreal job by the vice guys on the defensive right.
I remember the Steelers whining after this play. One the first punt that was called back they kicked from the left hash, and angled the ball out of bounds--it worked, outside of the penalty. On the reset, they put ball on other hash, no one noticed and the Steelers didn't adjust their punt coverage, however the punter didn't angle the punt. This apparently screwed up all their pursuit lanes.
 

SeoulSoxFan

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Thirded - one of the best Breakdowns ever, and that's a high bar!
Not only was BB enthusiastic, it was one of the longest breakdowns ever.

Yes, I WOULD pay decent money for a retired-BB's weekly breakdown show. If not MyFace, how about a Patreon account? Take my $$$, please.
 

Eddie Jurak

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Is Zo losing his marbles? He has very little to do on these breakdowns, but this week managed to sound idiotic right from the jump.

BB goes into great detail about the Jets dropping 4 DL into coverage and having a 2 man rush, and notes that the deep pass to Cooks was the type of play Brady can make against a 2 man rush.

Zo: "They gave him a great pocket, too".

Well, no shit, Zo. There was literally no inside pass rush.
 

chilidawg

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That first play, the pass to Cooks, the Jets only rush 2, drop their entire DL into coverage in a tiny little box behind the line, and end up with single coverage on both wide receivers. Maybe against a rookie QB, but against Brady?
 

Super Nomario

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That first play, the pass to Cooks, the Jets only rush 2, drop their entire DL into coverage in a tiny little box behind the line, and end up with single coverage on both wide receivers. Maybe against a rookie QB, but against Brady?
I think given the situation - only 22 seconds left in the half and the Pats just out of FG range - they were playing to stop the short pass and keep the Pats from setting up the FG. They probably didn't anticipate a 40+ bomb.

A good reminder that "taking what the defense gives you" sometimes means throwing deep along the sideline.
 

mwonow

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Not a lot there, though the block and Dion's run were both cool to watch again
 

Greekca

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Curious what Duron Harmon was doing on the 4th & 6 play. He seemed to be safety help over the top on the near side and he was sprinting towards the QB as Ryan was launching a pass over his head. Always tough to evaluate safety play with TV angles, but that play sure didn't look good.

The Lewis run wasn't exactly Solder's finest moment either. Shelby shed him like he was a 6th grader trying to block him.

Very impressive game from Lewis. He was dishing out hits (his big run earlier) and did pretty well to absorb the sandwich tackle from the two big d-lineman. Definitely a stronger runner than his size would suggest.
 

streeter88

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Curious what Duron Harmon was doing on the 4th & 6 play. He seemed to be safety help over the top on the near side and he was sprinting towards the QB as Ryan was launching a pass over his head. Always tough to evaluate safety play with TV angles, but that play sure didn't look good.

The Lewis run wasn't exactly Solder's finest moment either. Shelby shed him like he was a 6th grader trying to block him.

Very impressive game from Lewis. He was dishing out hits (his big run earlier) and did pretty well to absorb the sandwich tackle from the two big d-lineman. Definitely a stronger runner than his size would suggest.
Agree. On the big run he had, he gained 7-8 extra yards just lowering his shoulders and running through S Ricardo Allen and two other guys (OLB DeVondre Campbell and CB Brian Poole).
 
Apr 7, 2006
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Jon Jones highlight package! BB seems awfully happy with him. Nice to get those UDFA's contributioning in a big way. One reason I believe Malcolm Butler doesn't get franchised next off season.

Im not one of those completely giving up on Gilmore, it's wayyyyyy too early for that, and it's pointless anyway, but...I sure would like to re-do the off-season and give that $$$$ to Calais Campbell.
 

reggiecleveland

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https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/apparently-bill-belichicks-friends-get-the-sense-that-he-could-be-retiring-soon/?linkId=44203819

Close friends of Bill Belichick seem to think that the Patriots coach, in his 18th season in Foxborough, is going to call it quits soon.

In a story from ESPN: The Magazine about how much longer Tom Brady might play, the longevity of Belichick also came up, and it sounds like the Patriots coach might soon be ready to put the NFL grind behind him.

According to the story, Belichick's friends believe that he'll only coach for two or three more years, which would keep him on the Patriots sideline until 2019 or '20. Although the thought of Belichick retiring might sound crazy, the truth is, there's not a lot left for him to accomplish
 

DJnVa

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Actual friends of BB likely wouldn't be speaking about anything he may have shared with them.

Which means it's all guesswork.
 

JohnnyK

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What stands out isn't only how good New England special-teams were but how absolutely atrocious Denver was in that regard. Just on the last play you can see a few Denver guys basically just standing around not looking to block anyone.
 

Van Everyman

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I would like to take this opportunity to again quote what Adam Gase said about special teams while he was taking his team to the proverbial woodshed a few weeks ago:

“Special teams we seem to be all right. Maybe it’s easy - just run straight and hit somebody.”
This is supposedly one of the bright lights of NFL coaching.
 

bakahump

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There is really only so much live coaching you can do at the NFL ST level. Go that way, hit/block someone, stay in your lanes, contain the return.

Now granted in meetings you can talk trends and schemes but real time it really does come down to effort and responsibility.

That Gase quote sounds entirely like something BB would say, but you can bet there would be reams more information in the meetings.
 

mwonow

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There is really only so much live coaching you can do at the NFL ST level. Go that way, hit/block someone, stay in your lanes, contain the return.

Now granted in meetings you can talk trends and schemes but real time it really does come down to effort and responsibility.

That Gase quote sounds entirely like something BB would say, but you can bet there would be reams more information in the meetings.
Disagree. Here's what BB himself actually said, two days ago:

Q: How have you seen the kickoff coverage unit grow during the course of the season? How have you seen their communication develop as they've all gotten more used to each other?

BB: Right. Well, there really is a lot of communication on those plays. Not a lot of it is verbal. It's just visual recognition so that two or three of us running down the field together, we see the same thing and we know how we're going to react to it, how I'm going to react to it, how the guy beside me is going to react to it so that you have the lanes covered and you defend the return they're trying to set up. There's definitely a lot of, let's call it visual communication on those plays...The players that are on that team - Joe [Judge] and Bubba [Ray Ventrone] have done a great job with them and given them the awareness of the blocking schemes and the types of returns we're going to face and given them opportunities to work off of each other to try to create space in the coverage so that we can get down there and try to penetrate. Those guys have worked hard at that. They do a lot of extra things on their own. That's a group that has had that communication that you just refereed to. They've played well for us all year. Our field position on those plays has been outstanding
 

bakahump

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Touche' but,

For instance from the 11/15 Presser:
Q: Is there anything you have to discuss with your players or coaches about practicing for a week at this altitude?

BB: Well, yeah, we talk about some things we feel are important, but I mean, we do that every week. Every week's got its own challenges.

From 11/8 about Jean-Francois
Q: Can that be a benefit for him to have all that experience in varying systems?

BB: Yeah, I think experience can be a good thing.

Obviously BB will expound when he wants to, I guess I just meant that its not above BB to give a short almost flippant answer that you know barely scratches the surface.
 

Curt S Loew

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Obviously BB will expound when he wants to, I guess I just meant that its not above BB to give a short almost flippant answer that you know barely scratches the surface.
Yes, but I think the point is he would not dismiss the importance of special teams. He would in fact do the opposite.