New England Patriots 2nd round game

[NEhomer]

It's true that the Pats have to show up but none of the three teams we could face this round looked very intimidating.

I was most impressed with San Fran yesterday.

 

[BigKen]

There are always match up problems. Hilton is fast but he's not a great route runner. He's best if he's running straight. Logan Ryan would be best to cover Hilton with a safety always covering the top. Then you have Brazill who's very fast and small (5'11") and third guy is Darrius Heyward Bey...remember him? #1 NFL pick by the Raiders. Then there's Fleener. Fleener will be a problem so I think Talib has to shadow him due basically to size. The secret is to crush the pocket and keep a wolf hanging near the line of scrimmage and once Lucjk starts to float, his job is to after him. The best guy for the job is Fletcher.

The good thing here is that the Patriots can cheat because the Colts don't have a serious run threat and the Pats defense doesn't have to worry about a 100-150 yard per game threat.

I'm pretty sure that Belichick will have a few twists designed to screw up Luck's rythm. I just hope it's not a beautiful warm, calm night in Foxboro........a little chill and a breeze is all I ask.

 

[MrMoJoRisin63]

The Colts are a better team then people know. The Pats have got to find a way to beat Luck up they have got to keep him under pressure. The Colts run game does not worry me, it's a matter of keeping Luck off balance, knocking their receivers in the mouth at the line of scrimmage to screw up the timing. We have got to run a lot and run early hopefully that will keep pressure off Brady.

 

[cdumler7]

Some of you might want to go look at the Indy rushing stats. They might not have a ton of yards per game rushing but their yards per carry is pretty decent. Brown is tearing it up this year with a 5.3 average and my guess is with NE struggling some against the run with all of the injuries you will get a heavy dose of him carrying the ball. Also don't think Richardson will get much playing time with his fumble Saturday and lack of production this season so the run game for Indy could be pretty decent. Not great but not as bad as some of you sound like you think it is.

 

[SDGuy73]

Patriots vs Colts this will be a very entertaining game to watch. Colts coming back to win in the biggest point deficit in playoff history. This will be like the old days a shootout. Who ever has the ball last wins.

Actually, the biggest playoff come back was by the Bills against the Oilers. Down 32 in the second half.

 

[NEhomer]

Pats are 7.5 pt favorites?

I don't think it should be more than a touchdown.

 

[Bruschi_Warrior]

When it comes to the Dolts running game, I would not worry too much about the Patriots ability to contain them. Over the last five weeks of the regular season, the Patriots, over the four previous weeks of the Bills game, have held the following running backs to an average:

Ray Rice/Bernard Pierce - 21/71, 3.5 YPC
Lamar Miller/Daniel Thomas - 20/77, 3.8 YPC
McGahee/Ogbonnaya - 19/42, 2.4 YPC
Tate/Johnson - 25/115, 4.3 YPC

Also, the Patriots have appeared to be doing a much better job in stopping the leaks up the middle. I am not too worried about Richardson (he simply has been shit this year) and Brown can be easily contained.

In term of TY Hilton, the Patriots are going to deploy a Cover 2 scheme against him. They should use someone like Talib with McCourty over the top so that Talib gets him at the line of scrimmage and knock him in the mouth and with McCourty providing support on the backend. Hilton is much less effective when he is confronted at the line of scrimmage.

The other wideouts on the Dolts are irrelevant expect for maybe Whalen as a slot receiver.

 

[Drawmeomg]

Some of you might want to go look at the Indy rushing stats. They might not have a ton of yards per game rushing but their yards per carry is pretty decent. Brown is tearing it up this year with a 5.3 average and my guess is with NE struggling some against the run with all of the injuries you will get a heavy dose of him carrying the ball. Also don't think Richardson will get much playing time with his fumble Saturday and lack of production this season so the run game for Indy could be pretty decent. Not great but not as bad as some of you sound like you think it is.

When your yards per game sucks and you've got a strong passing attack, your yards per carry will be inflated by the fact that opposing defenses are selling out against the pass. They're not the worst rushing team ever, but they're not good.

 

[briz almighty]

i would put dennard on hilton he would beat that little shrimp to a pulp. then you give him help deep with mccourty. talib can do the same too they will probably mix it up, they could put talib on fleener but im not so sure they need to. fleener isnt that good. if hilton goes to the slot dennard and talib wont be able to press him so i guess arrington / ryan will be lined up on him with some safety help. im not worried about their wrs, if talib, dennard are healthy starting outside with mccourty deep i like this talent against any wr core in the league.

Luck scrambling worries me pats get burned on that alot, they cover well then the play breaks down and the qb runs kill us. happened against carolina with newton. thats why i wanted a fast beast like Irvin to chase qbs down. but i dont think it matters, i dont see indy outscoring the pats offense.

 

[Bruschi_Warrior]

i would put dennard on hilton he would beat that little shrimp to a pulp. then you give him help deep with mccourty. talib can do the same too they will probably mix it up, they could put talib on fleener but im not so sure they need to. fleener isnt that good. if hilton goes to the slot dennard and talib wont be able to press him so i guess arrington / ryan will be lined up on him with some safety help. im not worried about their wrs, if talib, dennard are healthy starting outside with mccourty deep i like this talent against any wr core in the league.

Luck scrambling worries me pats get burned on that alot, they cover well then the play breaks down and the qb runs kill us. happened against carolina with newton. thats why i wanted a fast beast like Irvin to chase qbs down. but i dont think it matters, i dont see indy outscoring the pats offense.

Hey Briz - you know who I want shadowing Luck? We have a speed beast at linebacker named Jamie Collins.

Collins will fuck his shit up.

 

[briz almighty]

yea hes the guy to spy him. hes not in irvin league speed wise but hes our fastest most athletic new linebacker so you let him chase down luck. i think they put collins on fleener too and hes more athletic than fleener its a good matchup for us.

 

[Drawmeomg]

Hey Briz - you know who I want shadowing Luck? We have a speed beast at linebacker named Jamie Collins.

Collins will fuck his shit up.

Yeah, Collins should be able to keep Luck contained. I never like having to spy a QB though. Makes it that much harder to rush the passer/cover everyone. That's just one of those things a QB like Luck forces you to do, though.

 

[cdumler7]

When your yards per game sucks and you've got a strong passing attack, your yards per carry will be inflated by the fact that opposing defenses are selling out against the pass. They're not the worst rushing team ever, but they're not good.

Well then all the top passing teams except Green Bay must stink because of the top 5 passing teams only one also has a good yards per carry average. Now for the Colts I would say they are a good rushing team except when Trent Richardson is in. He has been a huge bust so far since he came into the NFL. Without him in though the Colts average over 5 yards per carry with Brown and Luck both being able to run the football. If Indy is smart Richardson just won't see the field except for a handful of plays.

 

[Drawmeomg]

Well then all the top passing teams except Green Bay must stink because of the top 5 passing teams only one also has a good yards per carry average.

What?

I'm not saying if you can throw the ball, your running game gets a boost (that's true, but not the point). I'm saying that if you can't run the ball and rarely try, and you can throw the ball, when you do run the ball, you get a lot more yards than you would otherwise.

If you're a great running team, you'll have a good yards per carry AND good average yards per game. If you only have the yards per carry, you're not a great running team.

 

[Southieinnc]

What?

I'm not saying if you can throw the ball, your running game gets a boost (that's true, but not the point). I'm saying that if you can't run the ball and rarely try, and you can throw the ball, when you do run the ball, you get a lot more yards than you would otherwise.

If you're a great running team, you'll have a good yards per carry AND good average yards per game. If you only have the yards per carry, you're not a great running team.

I concur.....