balfan23
MVP
I agree on point one ball security ... I never bother to state turnovers as a key in any game. It just goes without saying.Keys to the game aside from the obvious ball security..
-motion often to sniff out the man coverage, when you find cover zero, make them pay, run everybody hot on fly routes with max protect, if Hollywood can outrun somebody hit him, if Boykin or andrews is singled give them some chances to make a play, or simply let Lamar gash the dbs who have their backs turned
-if they decide they wanna switch it up for confusion sake and run a lot of zone and 4 man rushes, spread them out, work the seams, vary Hollywood’s route tree, use nick Boyle and isolate the creases in the front after you spread them out. keep with the motions so you can sniff out man and single coverage though, anytime you see it you send the house deep, this is key imo.
-power runs all across the front, not read option with power concepts, I’m talking real power, under center, i-formation, strong/weak side FB, jumbo sets with powers lined up at TE, give us the threat of bootlegs constantly, if we’re gashing them in the run game then Lamar will become LETHAL on bootlegs, they will commit to stopping the run and even if they spy the backside Lamar will make a guy miss, if you have Hollywood backside the corner can’t contain and if he does we have a TD.
This game is all about overpowering their front, forcing the front to commit, then isolating their corners and safeties and forcing them to make a decision to contain one of 2 deadly playmakers on every possible snap. When Lamar drops back, we need to make a defender decide whether they’re gonna worry about Hollywood scoring or Lamar picking up a run, you do that by forcing the front to cheat to one side with a power run game.
I expect they are going to absolutely sell out to stop the power run game. If they see play-action, they man up and focus on keeping the integrity of the pocket in tact and no worry 1 bit about bringing direct heat on Lamar. The only sacks that will come will come where they keep Lamar in the pocket, no one is open, he holds the ball and the pocket finally collapses. They watched the tape of Seattle killing themselves by playing man and at the same time trying to get after Lamar and getting scattered on their front. With a stacked box and man cover, this may provide a mismatch for Andrews and I'm hoping for a nice rebound game for him. This also should give us some downfield opportunities to Hollywood and Boykin. We need to hit on at least one really big play that results in a TD.
For our D, as always tight cover on NE - especially Edelman - is needed as they love to get the ball out of Brady's hands in a flash. Thankfully, I think we now have the personnel to do that. They'll try deep shots here and there and we're just going to have to hold up with guys on an island. Given we'll be focused on the pass, the front are going to have to be stout when NE mixes in the run.
Basically we need a big game from everyone - but we get that, we should at least keep it close. Then it could come down to the one place where we always have the clear advantage - Tucker vs. anyone