Pass Rush and Coverage

crystalline

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In the game ball thread Wilfork's performance was discussed. Here's at least one play where he looked great. He blew up that OL.
 

Super Nomario

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I'm doing some more film analysis, and the Patriots used these kind of pressure concepts a lot. The play before the Ayers sack, they had Collins and Hightower both show A-gap blitz, but this time Collins dropped back and Hightower rushed, pressuring Manning into an early throw. On the play right before the Edelman return TD, Collins faked a blitz, which distracted the center enough for Easley to shoot the A-gap and force an early throw.
 
I'll be interested to see how much they use this going forward. It's a nice use of Collins' and Hightowers' blitzing abilities.
 

crystalline

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Those LB blitzes seemed new during the Denver game. I recall seeing a lot of straight up 4 man DL rushes, over and over again, in earlier games. I also don't remember a lot of effective LB blitzes over the past few years. But I am not a film expert and I'm just watching the TV broadcasts.

Is it true that Belichick and Patricia pulled all this out for the Denver game? Were these blitzes used more by Belichick in the early to mid 2000s?

Someone suggested it was because Chandler Jones was out so they needed to create pressure creatively. Given the success do you think we'll see more fancy blitzes going forward?

Edit: oh, and we didn't see many CB blitzes, correct? Is that the line between Rex Ryan's defenses and Belichick? I remember Revis playing for the Jets blitzing Brady occasionally.
 

dbn

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crystalline said:
Those LB blitzes seemed new during the Denver game. I recall seeing a lot of straight up 4 man DL rushes, over and over again, in earlier games. I also don't remember a lot of effective LB blitzes over the past few years. But I am not a film expert and I'm just watching the TV broadcasts.

Is it true that Belichick and Patricia pulled all this out for the Denver game? Were these blitzes used more by Belichick in the early to mid 2000s?

Someone suggested it was because Chandler Jones was out so they needed to create pressure creatively. Given the success do you think we'll see more fancy blitzes going forward?

Edit: oh, and we didn't see many CB blitzes, correct? Is that the line between Rex Ryan's defenses and Belichick? I remember Revis playing for the Jets blitzing Brady occasionally.
 
I don't have much to add to this discussion as far as film study, etc., (though I LOVE the work that some members are doing in that regard) but as to the bolded I can remember over the past few seasons Arrington blitzing now and then, with generally good success. 
 

Stitch01

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Bruschi said they didn't really blitz per se, most of the time there were only four rushers coming, they just threatened the A-gap a lot and the 4 guys coming came from different places
 
Think they only CB blitzed once, Arrington didn't get there and they gave up a 20 yard ish pass.
 

amarshal2

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Just like to add some positive reinforcement for the readability, simplicity, and length of this piece. Great work.
 

Super Nomario

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crystalline said:
Is it true that Belichick and Patricia pulled all this out for the Denver game? Were these blitzes used more by Belichick in the early to mid 2000s?

Someone suggested it was because Chandler Jones was out so they needed to create pressure creatively. Given the success do you think we'll see more fancy blitzes going forward?
That's the $1000 question. It'll be interesting to see how much they use these schemes going forward. Denver spent almost the entire game in shotgun and rarely aligned the TE tight to the formation, which limits the options when it comes to blocking schemes, because you don't have the ability to slide protection and still account for an edge rusher with the TE. Whether or not they use the A-gap blitzes moving forward, it's on tape now, which means opposing offenses have to respect it if the Pats walk a LB up to the A-gap. That can affect blocking schemes and leave one-on-one opportunities for other rushers.
 
Stitch01 said:
Bruschi said they didn't really blitz per se, most of the time there were only four rushers coming, they just threatened the A-gap a lot and the 4 guys coming came from different places
This is right - PFF charts it as just 8 blitzes in 59 dropbacks (13.5%) - average league-wide is more like 30%, though the Pats tend to be closer to 25%. I should be more careful with terminology; I tend to say "blitz" as a verb for a not-on-the-line pass rusher rushing the QB, whether or not the play is technically a "blitz" (the noun, i.e., 5 or more rushers).
 
Stitch01 said:
 
Think they only CB blitzed once, Arrington didn't get there and they gave up a 20 yard ish pass.
That's what PFF says, too - just one DB rush, by Arrington.
 

Stitch01

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I use blitz the same way, which is why Bruschi's insight stuck.  It was a great game plan, BB and Patricia deserve a lot of credit.
 
Great article, I'll echo others in saying the information is presented in a really strong and easy to understand manner.
 

Saints Rest

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What I found interesting was the way they used HT and JC interchangeably which, I would guess, would make the OL have to plan for both to rush the A gaps when it might mean one, the other, both, or neither might rush. Add in the way Ayers and Nink were doing something similar from the edges and you end up with a huge number of combinations that the OL and Manning had to guess at.

All of this stems from the fact that BB and MP could rely on the DBs to handle the coverages.

I wonder when the MLBs threaten the A gap rushes how often it is scripted as to their end execution and how often (if ever) it is the player option depending on what he sees.
 

crystalline

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Cool stuff. I am really really excited to see the defense for the rest of the season. While it may be that my memory is incomplete, for the first time in many years, on Sunday it felt like the defense had a chance of stopping Manning and forcing a 3rd and out. In past years I remember feeling like the only way the Pats would win was via offensive explosion, and if Peyton had the ball I'd be waiting white-knuckled for a fluke fumble or interception because the defense had no chance.
Awesome game. And thanks for the nice article.
 

SoxVindaloo

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Super Nomario said:
That's the $1000 question. It'll be interesting to see how much they use these schemes going forward. Denver spent almost the entire game in shotgun and rarely aligned the TE tight to the formation, which limits the options when it comes to blocking schemes, because you don't have the ability to slide protection and still account for an edge rusher with the TE. Whether or not they use the A-gap blitzes moving forward, it's on tape now, which means opposing offenses have to respect it if the Pats walk a LB up to the A-gap. That can affect blocking schemes and leave one-on-one opportunities for other rushers.
 
This is right - PFF charts it as just 8 blitzes in 59 dropbacks (13.5%) - average league-wide is more like 30%, though the Pats tend to be closer to 25%. I should be more careful with terminology; I tend to say "blitz" as a verb for a not-on-the-line pass rusher rushing the QB, whether or not the play is technically a "blitz" (the noun, i.e., 5 or more rushers).
 
That's what PFF says, too - just one DB rush, by Arrington.
Awesome work. It's really exciting to have a player with Ayer's skill sets to create this sort of confusion with 4 interchangeable parts.