Patriots Offensive Play of the Week - LaFell's Redemption by Design

[mascho]

Following Brandon Browner’s interception and 30-yard return to the Denver 10-yard line, the New England Patriots offense took the field with a 16-point lead halfway through the 3rd quarter. Josh McDaniels, Tom Brady and company went straight for the jugular. The quarterback connected with wide receiver Brandon LaFell on a beautifully designed play for a touchdown, extending New England’s lead to 23 and erasing any notion of a Broncos’ comeback.

 

 
Article here.
 
FYI: I would have written about Gronk's catch, but words from a mere mortal like myself cannot accurately describe that god-like play.  

 

[Icculus]

I love getting these writeups, especially so soon after the game. Thanks Mark!
Question on Ward covering Edelman - could he have even stopped LaFell if he tried to cover him? It looked like he would have had to run right through Wright and his defender to come close. Basically once LaFell got inside of his defender the Broncos were toast.

 

[mascho]

I love getting these writeups, especially so soon after the game. Thanks Mark!
Question on Ward covering Edelman - could he have even stopped LaFell if he tried to cover him? It looked like he would have had to run right through Wright and his defender to come close. Basically once LaFell got inside of his defender the Broncos were toast.

 
Yeah. It would have been a tremendous play from Ward to break on LaFell, and an extremely instinctual one. That gets at how great a play design this is. The two routes hold him in place. It's tough to score in the red zone, because everything gets compacted because there is less field to work with. And again, H/T to Edelman on this. Since he's also open Ward is really up the creek sans paddle. 

 

[Morgan's Magic Snowplow]

The other point I would add regarding this play is the importance of the run-action.  Off the snap, Connolly pulls hard to the right and Gronk drives the LDE backward, likely two keys for the two LBs to read.  So the LBs both bite on the run even before Brady executes a simple play-action fake to Vereen, neither gets a drop into that central zone, but neither rushes either because they're worried about Vereen sneaking out into the pattern.  The Pats basically end up blocking 6 v 4 on the line and then sending 3 v 4 into the end zone, with three Broncos (Miller, Marshall, and whoever was supposed to cover Gronk) standing around doing fuck all in between those two spaces.  We're playing 10 on 8 at that point and that's a recipe for Tom Brady to destroy a defense.

 

[simplyeric]

I didn't think I could enjoy the game more today than I did yesterday.
Thanks for proving me wrong. Excellent read.

 

[Mugsy's Walk-Off Bunt]

Love these articles and the vids that are part of them. And, yes, so soon after the game is especially nice to read.