BbtL Super Bowl XLIX Thread

SemperFidelisSox

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Blount vs opponents that finished in the top 5 in rushing defense by DVOA.
 
Week 2 vs Baltimore: 3 Att, 8 yds

Week 9 vs Baltimore: 10 Att, 23 yds

Week 12 vs Detroit: 12 Att, 78 yds

Division Round vs Baltimore: 3 Att, 1 yd
 
Really, a non factor in three of t,he four games against elite run defenses,
 

MarcSullivaFan

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SemperFidelisSox said:
Blount vs opponents that finished in the top 5 in rushing defense by DVOA.
 
Week 2 vs Baltimore: 3 Att, 8 yds

Week 9 vs Baltimore: 10 Att, 23 yds

Week 12 vs Detroit: 12 Att, 78 yds

Division Round vs Baltimore: 3 Att, 1 yd
 
Really, a non factor in three of t,he four games against elite run defenses,
Three of which were against the same team, and two of which were when he played for the Steelers. Not sure that tells us much about what will happen in this game. Seahawks have given up 267 rushing yards in their two playoff games.
 

Steve Dillard

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I just heard Mayo's ad for lasik, and was reminded of his injury.  I personally (non football expert) perspective always felt he was too limited in coverage and that contributed significantly to the weak pass defense, and his lack of pass rushing also took away some of that threat.  Putting Collins in the middle, and shifting Hightower really helped solidify the defense from game 4 (of course, Browner helped too). 
 
That said, I think we may miss his absence next week in clogging the middle for Lynch.  KC showed that we can be gashed by a physical running game.  Am I remembering correctly that after the Baltimore running game was gashing us we put Branch in for a lot of plays?  Will he fill the middle?
 

jsinger121

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Steve Dillard said:
I just heard Mayo's ad for lasik, and was reminded of his injury.  I personally (non football expert) perspective always felt he was too limited in coverage and that contributed significantly to the weak pass defense, and his lack of pass rushing also took away some of that threat.  Putting Collins in the middle, and shifting Hightower really helped solidify the defense from game 4 (of course, Browner helped too). 
 
That said, I think we may miss his absence next week in clogging the middle for Lynch.  KC showed that we can be gashed by a physical running game.  Am I remembering correctly that after the Baltimore running game was gashing us we put Branch in for a lot of plays?  Will he fill the middle?
 
Ben Volin made a great point on 98.5 and said the Pats tend to struggle against teams that run the zone blocking scheme aka Baltimore and KC and Miami, Seattle does not run this type of blocking scheme which could help us limit Lynch. 
 

H78

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I wonder if we'll see less Jones and more Ayers in this game. Ayers seems to be pretty good at filling gaps and generating pressure up the middle, which should help in the running and passing games, and to my eyes Jones has had a problem setting the edge and generating consistent pressure, which could be a problem against both Lynch and Wilson.
 
Along those lines, I'm a little worried that the Patriots are going to come out and try to play zone, with a focus on containing Lynch and Wilson at the expense of opening up the intermediate passing game. I think that would be a HUGE mistake against Seattle and allow them to dink and dunk their way to long drives, which would limit our own chances against their tough defense.
 
All I hope is that the Patriots come out aggressive by playing man coverage, occasionally run blitz, and occasionally blitz Wilson with both DE's focusing more on contain than trying to sack Wilson. I think they can generate pressure up the middle, but they will have to make sure to keep the outside closed off if Wilson tries to scramble toward the sidelines. If he's going to run, try to make him run between the tackles.
 

H78

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Also, someone on 98.5 made a great point yesterday - try to get Gronk matched up on Thomas and/or Sherman early. Even if it's a screen where he then purposefully bulldozes either one after the catch, you have to test their ability to tackle early on. If they can't wrap up, particularly Sherman, screen his ass to death until he proves he can stop it.
 

hittery

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I'm not sure where to post this, but if anyone here is going to Glendale, could you pm me? I'm interested in t-shirts or other mementos from my fantasy Superbowl matchup.
 

DanoooME

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jsinger121 said:
 
Ben Volin made a great point on 98.5 and said the Pats tend to struggle against teams that run the zone blocking scheme aka Baltimore and KC and Miami, Seattle does not run this type of blocking scheme which could help us limit Lynch. 
 
Ben Volin is totally wrong.  Tom Cable has long been one of the disciples of the ZBS,
 
Here's more than you'd ever want to know about it.
 

Shelterdog

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DanoooME said:
 
Ben Volin is totally wrong.  Tom Cable has long been one of the disciples of the ZBS,
 
Here's more than you'd ever want to know about it.
 
Every NFL team runs at least some zone blocking so Volin's point is stupid.
 
The other way you can tell whether a team runs zone blocking schemes is to watch them play.  If all five linemen are essentially moving in the same direction doing essentially the same thing it's zone blocking (the pulling and the trapping and the whamming is generally power). The hawks do a shitload of this.
 
And Volin is an idiot so you get what you deserve if you listen to him.
 
EDIT: cleaned up some shit and to note that the Gibbs comments in that link are amazing. Oh, and I guess it's fair to say that the backside guys cut a bunch in zone blocking schemes).
 

Byrdbrain

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DanoooME said:
 
Ben Volin is totally wrong.  Tom Cable has long been one of the disciples of the ZBS,
 
Here's more than you'd ever want to know about it.
Volin is pretty much always wrong. If I recall properly he was adamant prior to the season that Browner was going to says play RCB because that is what he did with the Seahawks and the Patriots would be dumb to expect him to do something different here.
 

bankshot1

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H78 said:
Also, someone on 98.5 made a great point yesterday - try to get Gronk matched up on Thomas and/or Sherman early. Even if it's a screen where he then purposefully bulldozes either one after the catch, you have to test their ability to tackle early on. If they can't wrap up, particularly Sherman, screen his ass to death until he proves he can stop it.
Yup.
 
If BB managed the '04 MFY he would have bunted on Schilling.
 

dynomite

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DanoooME said:
 
Ben Volin is totally wrong.  Tom Cable has long been one of the disciples of the ZBS,
 
Here's more than you'd ever want to know about it.
This is a really incredible article. I don't mean to ask others to do heavy lifting, but I think if someone were to make a "a When the Seahawks have the ball" thread this should be in the first post and required reading.

I could listen to Gibbs talk about blocking forever. And I absolutely loved hearing his disgust at the individual linemen on each play who didn't use proper technique.

This is going to be a massive test for the Patriots defense, Belichick, and Patricia.

Edit: whoops, someone did make that thread...
 

Leather

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Should really put the extra practicing bit in there somewhere.
 

WayBackVazquez

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The line on this game has already moved 2 points in the Patriots' direction. Opened at Seattle -1, and I'm seeing Pats -1 at most places now.
 
Edit: Looks like Seattle was actually favored by as much as 2.5 initially.
 

FL4WL3SS

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WayBackVazquez said:
The line on this game has already moved 2 points in the Patriots' direction. Opened at Seattle -1, and I'm seeing Pats -1 at most places now.
I was smart enough to place a significant wager immediately when the first line came out. I got Pats at +1.5.
 

Stitch01

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I got +3 -125 at halftime of the Pats game and tried to share that FREE MONEY opportunity in the game thread.
 

Sportsbstn

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WayBackVazquez said:
The line on this game has already moved 2 points in the Patriots' direction. Opened at Seattle -1, and I'm seeing Pats -1 at most places now.
 
Edit: Looks like Seattle was actually favored by as much as 2.5 initially.
 
Yep the line in Vegas opened Seattle -2.5 and got almost immediately crushed down to Pkem
 

Leather

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I think you're better off with the possibility of a suspension for the game still in the air.

Also; Sherman and the other Seahawks injuries news can really only get worse. Not saying it will, but you never know.
 

RedOctober3829

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drleather2001 said:
I think you're better off with the possibility of a suspension for the game still in the air.
Also; Sherman and the other Seahawks injuries news can really only get worse. Not saying it will, but you never know.
Sherman was a full participant at practice today while Earl Thomas was a DNP.
 

Matt Young's Control

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It is close to impossible to find non-deflation news about the Patriots, but I saw this update on Stork:
 
http://espn.go.com/blog/boston/new-england-patriots/post/_/id/4776843/center-bryan-stork-not-ready-for-practice
 
 
If the New England Patriots held a practice Wednesday, rookie center Bryan Stork wouldn't have participated.

That was the main takeaway from the team's projected participation report, which the club was required to submit per NFL rules. Stork, who started 12 games (including playoffs), injured his knee in the divisional round playoff win over the Ravens and didn't play in the AFC Championship Game. He was spotted walking through the locker room on Monday without the aid of crutches.
 
 

Norm loves Vera

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NFL Network is teasing they will be showing the Belichick PC this morning live at 9:30am EST.   While I am sure BB will defer all "Deflate-gate" questions to the league, It will be interesting how the non local press core will ask the same questions in 30 different ways.
 

jsinger121

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norm from cheers said:
NFL Network is teasing they will be showing the Belichick PC this morning live at 9:30am EST.   While I am sure BB will defer all "Deflate-gate" questions to the league, It will be interesting how the non local press core will ask the same questions in 30 different ways.
 
We're on to Seattle seems to be a good theme for the press conference. Over/under the number of times he mentions it in this press conference?
 

H78

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FL4WL3SS said:
Well the fact of the matter is that the Packers still had a clean play on the ball, so that's probably why nobody cares. 
 
Nobody cares because they haven't been to the Super Bowl 6 times in the last 13 years. If they win a few more, you bet your ass people will care.
 

SumnerH

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DJnVa

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The guy that "found" this was relying on a private website (coachup.com) for his info.
 

RedOctober3829

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I was thinking about this last night: do we almost want Gronk out wide by himself on Sherman's side?  That way, it opens up the other side of the field for bunch formations and better ways to get Edelman and LaFell open.
 

jsinger121

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RedOctober3829 said:
I was thinking about this last night: do we almost want Gronk out wide by himself on Sherman's side?  That way, it opens up the other side of the field for bunch formations and better ways to get Edelman and LaFell open.
 
I would be ok will that because he can be physical with Sherman and possible throw him out of the club on running plays onto the elbow.
 

loshjott

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DrewDawg said:
The guy that "found" this was relying on a private website (coachup.com) for his info.
 
Lesson: "journalists" are equally stupid and ill-informed when dishing dirt about other teams, not just the Pats.
 

TSC

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The sad thing about all the Ballghazi nonsense is that this is a really interesting game to discuss, and it seems like that isn't happening on the National level.
 
How the Patriots attack Sherman and Thomas and their respective injuries I think is what this game hinges on. If Sherman and Thomas are even slightly less effective, and the Patriots figure that out early and often - I don't think there's any way the Seahawks offense keeps up with the Pats. 
 

DaughtersofDougMirabelli

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https://twitter.com/MikeReiss/status/558310844568989697
 
DT Chris Jones, who missed the AFC Championship Game with an elbow injury, is wearing a brace over his left elbow as he heads to practice.
 

Super Nomario

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jsinger121 said:
 
I would be ok will that because he can be physical with Sherman and possible throw him out of the club on running plays onto the elbow.
The other thing they can do is try to run at Sherman and make him tackle Blount. That's not really fun for corners even if they're healthy.
 

Shelterdog

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It's terrific to be this far into the season and only be down one starter (Mayo) and a handful of players who might possibly have been contributors if healthy (Dobson, Easley, Dennard and Buchannan)-none of whom had actually contributed meaningfully this year.   
 

FL4WL3SS

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Shelterdog said:
It's terrific to be this far into the season and only be down one starter (Mayo) and a handful of players who might possibly have been contributors if healthy (Dobson, Easley, Dennard and Buchannan)-none of whom had actually contributed meaningfully this year.   
Ridley
 

Stitch01

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Thats why I feel confident going into this one.  Pats are the healthier team (they did lose Ridley too)
 
EDIT: whoops, late to the party with Ridley