Yeah, as BB mentions, the key to the play was Bailey turning toward the sideline, so he couldn't make a play on a ball thrown to Edelman
Belichick Breakdowns 2015
- Thread starter LogansDad
- Start date
Loved Belichick running through the two plays where Gronk was brought in to pass protect. The best coaches in football know how create wrinkles off of tendencies and the adjustments of their opposition. On the first play, the safety made himself useless by delaying his blitz or whatever he was doing (if you're delaying your blitz on Brady this year, what are you doing?). On the second play, the blitzers are all coming harder, but the Pats bait and switch with Gronk. I don't know if I am more impressed by the recognition and adjustment or the pure creation of a numbers advantage (1 on 0) by letting two guys blitz virtually untouched.
We are so used to seeing this machine, but so few coaches/quarterbacks do this kind of thing. It's special to see.
We are so used to seeing this machine, but so few coaches/quarterbacks do this kind of thing. It's special to see.
sachmoney said:
I think the safety in the first play has Gronk. They expect him to be in a pattern. I mean, how often does Gronk block? And then after they do it, and do it a few more times (must have been 4 or 5 times they left him in to protect against the sell-out blitzes), that's when that guy rushes as well. You see it with RB coverage a lot. An LB will have the RB as a responsibility, but as soon as he engages in a block, the LB will shift into blitz mode. Against certain RBs, you need to be more careful because of how quick and crafty they can be with selling themselves in protection. Same story with Gronk here. They sold the Jets on Gronk being a regular part of the pick-up strategy for the max blitzes, to the point where the guy with responsibility for Gronk started guessing.
I'd be curious if the previous time Gronk blocked on the max protect, they saw his man come hard, and decided the next time they got that look they'd try to slip Gronk out.
The Dolphins breakdown is out. Like always, I can't get enough of these -- somewhat of an emphasis on downfield blocking in this one. And Bill is wearing a sweatshirt inside-out, like I did in college after a night at the bars.
http://www.patriots.com/video/2015/11/04/belichick-breakdown-top-plays-week-8
http://www.patriots.com/video/2015/11/04/belichick-breakdown-top-plays-week-8
I literally stood up and started screaming at the TV when he threw the last one. Early, hardnosed play from a guy who knew he had shit the bed the week before.bigq said:
Bill likes to start a play, rewind, start, rewind. Reminds me of the late great Victor Borge. He would start a tune on the piano, interrupt himself to tell a joke, repeat and never get to playing a tune. It would drive my wife crazy and I'd tell her that was his schtick. Wonder how Bill gets through all the film of all the games if he rewinds that much in the film room. His wife probably hardly sees him for 8 - 10 months a year.
I'm going out for some air.
I was listening to the latest 'Move the Sticks' podcast where they were discussing the undefeated teams. A lot of love for the Pats and what they do. But one thing that surprised me was I think it was Daniel Jeremiah talking about whether or not this Pats offense could endure the physical nature of playoff football when it came down to final 4 time.
Felt like a very odd comment because watching these breakdowns it just seems that the entire offense is incredibly physical. Watching the receivers repeatedly lay down some great blocks upfield on safeties or linebackers to assist the running game or quick outs in addition to the heads up nature of the tackles and guards shifting to their next step assignments is notable. Heck, even Michael Williams got a shout out from Bill. And that isn't even taking into account the bruising nature of a Gronk or Blount.
For this era, I can't think of a more 'physical' overall offense than the Pats. Pittsburgh? Carolina? Arizona? Hawks?
Seems like they've more than stepped up to the challenge of the Bills and Jets and their superior defenses.
Denver's D will be the next big hurdle but I don't think the physical nature of the game is the biggest challenge for the Pats - its health and continued improvement for the D to patch their holes.
Felt like a very odd comment because watching these breakdowns it just seems that the entire offense is incredibly physical. Watching the receivers repeatedly lay down some great blocks upfield on safeties or linebackers to assist the running game or quick outs in addition to the heads up nature of the tackles and guards shifting to their next step assignments is notable. Heck, even Michael Williams got a shout out from Bill. And that isn't even taking into account the bruising nature of a Gronk or Blount.
For this era, I can't think of a more 'physical' overall offense than the Pats. Pittsburgh? Carolina? Arizona? Hawks?
Seems like they've more than stepped up to the challenge of the Bills and Jets and their superior defenses.
Denver's D will be the next big hurdle but I don't think the physical nature of the game is the biggest challenge for the Pats - its health and continued improvement for the D to patch their holes.
Yeah this is hardly a finesse offense - you could argue that the Moss/Welker teams were not particularly physical offensively, but this team seems to be. Edelman and Jojo are pretty physical receivers. Dola is a good blocker. Like you said, Gronk & Blount are as physical as they come.
I agree. People call it a finesse offense because it involves a lot of passing. But Blount is an absolute sledgehammer. Gronk and Chandler are big, physical tight ends. Their WRs aren't big but they are all tough as nails and are willing to hit. Their OL is probably more speed-oriented than power-oriented, but obviously they can get out and block.
And defensively this team seems to be pretty physical as well. I don't watch enough of other teams to really be able to make a professional judgment on just how physical they are relative to other teams. But I just see guys like Branch and Easley and Hightower and Collins hammer the crap out of people and I find it hard to believe they're not a physical defensive unit.
I don't think anyone here needs to doubt the toughness of this football team.
It's a strange comment, especially when this same offense is coming off a playoff run in which they averaged 30+ points a game.
During the game watching the replays of the punt return all I could think of was "I can't wait to see this broken down on Wednesday". it was every bit as awesome as I imagined.
Yeah - that was another great one. I didn't realize Martin came that far for his block...wow! You can tell BB was very proud of this victory. He seemed to have that same glow after the Broncos and Chargers games last season.
In the opening play that Belichick describes there are two guys just absolutely arm locking around Gronk (one for each arm). It is just amazing to see that not get flagged given how they are nailing Gronk on these OPI calls.
Look at 1:27. Unreal.
Look at 1:27. Unreal.
How about the 2nd breakdown...Jone's strip of Manning at about 2 minutes...but look at Butler...can anyone tell me what the hell he was doing?
Looks to me like he was in zone with responsibility for the flat and immediate corner. He's only covering Beckham until he leaves his zone. Drops to guard against the TE squaring off and heading for the sideline. If you look, once he leaves Beckham, his eyes go immediately to the TE.
Coleman was following the receiver across the middle but likely would have handed him off and picked up Beckham.
Coleman was following the receiver across the middle but likely would have handed him off and picked up Beckham.
It looks to me like the Pats were in zone and Butler was responsible for the middle to deep right side of the field. At the snap, ODB runs a quick 2-3 yard crossing route which Butler starts to shadow. Then he sees the TE running up the seam so he breaks off in case he runs a deep out in front of the safeties. You can see the CB on the other side of the field having similar responsibilities and stays with his receiver as he goes up the left sideline while keeping his eyes on the QB. Vereen is actually open running his out route in that area but Eli didn't have enough time to find him before the sack.
I also thought the final FG talk was great. Williams "taking one for the team" (as he got destroyed by 2 guys, but kept them away) and -Cromartie getting only a brief arm-diversion/block by Stork(?) and nearly blocking the kick, but thwarted by flawless execution by Cardona-Allen-Gostkowski and that extra millisencond it took for him to loop around.
I'm surprised that TV doesn't time the FG from snap to kick like NASCAR coverage times pit stops. Just a couple of tenths or hundreths makes a huge difference. I notice that the time from snap-to-pass is getting regular play, so maybe the FG time will, too.
I'm surprised that TV doesn't time the FG from snap to kick like NASCAR coverage times pit stops. Just a couple of tenths or hundreths makes a huge difference. I notice that the time from snap-to-pass is getting regular play, so maybe the FG time will, too.
The McCourty / Ryan switch at the goal line should be mentioned. We talk about how those crossing / rub routes are "unguardable" for most teams but they managed to do it perfectly. Certainly not easy to recognize that route pattern, but if you practice something and have good players instead of whining to the press about how teams are cheating...you can defend tricky routes.
I thought so too, but -cromartie was lined up very wide, and if Chandler had shifted at all that way, he would have opened a gap to the inside. My guess (and its only that) is that the focus has to be on the inside guy, and whatever they can to the outside guy is just a bonus, but if he's far enough outside so that a giant like Chandler can only get an arm to him, then the speed of the execution avoids the blocked FG on such a long route. Obviously, if -Cromatie is one step more inside, he runs right into Chandler.
Or...Chandler really screwed up, got lucky, and we'll never seem him out there again.
The mugging of Gronk on the first play caught my eye as well. How do you miss that?
I think Chandler had no choice but to do what he did. The two inside guys had to be accounted for before Cromartie.
I think Chandler had no choice but to do what he did. The two inside guys had to be accounted for before Cromartie.
Chuck touched on this in the ITP glossary entry on field goal protection: http://insidethepylon.com/football-101/glossary-football-101/2015/10/16/itp-glossary-field-goal-and-extra-point-protection/
This was one of the things that was cool about the Chandler Jones mic'd up a couple weeks ago - per SOP he let the edge guy go and blocked the interior guy, but Belichick asked him to send a message the next time so he let the inside guy go on an XP and drilled the outside guy, then reported "he doesn't want to do that again."
Protection for kicking is always inside out. They are taught to look inside first.
Or-what SN said better than me.
I understand it's always inside out and if you rush outside of the outside guy you probably aren't going to get there. I also see to start there were three guys in the area but Stork got 63 and 43 didn't come. I thought Chandler could have made a better effort is all.
Sorry for the derail.
Sorry for the derail.
The excellent episode of "A Football Life" dealing with the 1995 Cleveland Browns is like an extended "Belichick Breakdown" look into the mind of BB. He's always been this analytical, thorough and prepared. He was about to do great things with the Browns when that serial douchenozzle of an owner Art Modell moved the team to Baltimore. And big surprise: the Browns season went to hell in a handbasket.
The roster of Assistant Coaches he had on staff was unbelieveable.
The roster of Assistant Coaches he had on staff was unbelieveable.
I'd always taken the "Modell's shenanigans brought down the house" with a grain of salt, figuring that Cleveland was BB's test kitchen, but the more I read about it, the more I come back to Modell.
Modell had a sour relationship with 2 of the greatest football minds of all time - the 30-30 on Paul Brown is tremendous, and has the kicker of having some great BB commentary.
Must be a Thanksgiving thing - this one's up a day early. Plenty of special teams stuff for ITP's resident expert!
http://www.patriots.com/video/2015/11/25/belichick-breakdown-top-plays-week-11
http://www.patriots.com/video/2015/11/25/belichick-breakdown-top-plays-week-11
Interesting stuff on Brandon King and his ST versatility. I went to one of the open summer practices and noticed he was working with the specialists even when the team broke out for individual position drills. I'm not surprised to see him on the roster now and it's pretty cool to see him making plays. Looks like this year's Ebner.
Belichick Breakdowns, how I have missed thee
http://www.patriots.com/video/2015/12/16/belichick-breakdown-top-plays-week-14
http://www.patriots.com/video/2015/12/16/belichick-breakdown-top-plays-week-14
That was fun to watch as always, but felt a little more 'highlight-y' than normal, and less scheme discussion. I feel like I usually learn more, and BB hardly used his rewind machine at all!