Purple & Black Make You Black & Blue

Posted by Kevin Walsh September 30, 2009 at 4:34 pm

The Ravens are coming to town and many analysts are crowing about how tough they are.  It’s true, not only is Baltimore 3-0, they play with a kind of intensity and toughness that harkens back to the Chicago Bears and the 46 D.  When you have Ray Lewis plugging up the middle it’s tough sledding.  “Tough nose football,” Kevin Faulk told me in the locker room.  “Whaddaya do, just give it back?”  I asked.  ”You have to.  You have to,”  he answered. 

 

 But who says these birds can’t be had?   Tom Brady and the offense really got it rolling against the other birds of prey, and imagine if they can improve the red zone production just a smidge?  I say Baltimore could get a spanking of its own.

 

And the Pats D?  It’s among the best in the league in all the important categories.  So for all those analysts and fans raving about how good Baltimore is, be prepared to eat crow.  It could happen.  Yes I know ravens and crows are different bird species.  I’m just having fun with word play.

Reed ‘Em and Weep

Posted by Mike Giardi September 30, 2009 at 4:17 pm

One of the big challenges facing the Patriots this week is how they’ll deal with Ravens safety Ed Reed. The 8-year NFL vet is the rarest of rare breeds, with the ability to freelance and not get burned.

“That’s what makes him such a great player,” says Tom Brady. “It’s things where its not really his responsibility, but he makes a play on the ball. And then when you think, okay, he’s really undisciplined back there and try to take advantage of it, he’s right where he should be, playing his responsibilities

Reed has 44 interceptions since entering the league in 2002. No player in football has more. With some players, those results can be directly related to luck, a bad quarterback or a bad route. But Brady knows better than that.

“We always say there’s guys that guess, but he’s a guy that guesses but always gets it right. So to me, he’s not guessing, its knowing.”

The Ravens secondary had struggled a couple of weekends ago against San Diego, but instead of backing off their usual aggressive stance, they remained in attack mode against the Browns. 4 interceptions and just 3 points allowed. Now on their worst day, the Pats are offensively superior to Eric Mangini’s team, but thus Sunday’s game is just as big a test as that Jets loss two weeks ago, probably more so because Gang Green has no one who even remotely resembles Ed Reed.

Crazy Night at Fenway

Posted by Kevin Walsh September 29, 2009 at 11:27 pm

Really it was an el stinkeroo until the 8th inning.  Until then the best part was the two stooges doubling as Major League umpires behind the plate in the stands ringing up batters like the real deal.  I thought it was very funny, clever too.  I just happened to be sitting next to Major League Umpire Supervisor Kevin O’Connell in the press box.  He wasn’t amused.  But even he would admit it beats the dorks with cell phones waving at the tv cameras.  But everybody forgot about the fugazy umps when the Sox went wild in the eighth and almost tied it.  Too bad they couldn’t push it over the top.  That would’ve been wicked cool. 

Bull Runs Over Junior Seau

Posted by Adam Hart September 29, 2009 at 12:54 pm

I thought he was retiring to surf and battle sharks, not be a rodeo clown. He reportedly suffered just “minor bruising,” though. Read more

Come Together

Posted by Mike Giardi September 27, 2009 at 10:45 pm

Tom Brady is not himself yet. That much remains true after the Pats 26-10 win over the Falcons. Read more

A ‘W’, But Work Remains

Posted by Adam Hart September 27, 2009 at 7:30 pm

Although the score was close for much of the game, it never seemed that way from watching the Patriots and Falcons square off in a 26-10 victory for New England. Read more

Patriots with an Attitude

Posted by Kevin Walsh September 27, 2009 at 6:58 pm

Now that’s more like it.  The Patriots imposed their will on the Falcons.  They moved the ball at will, running and passing.  If they could only do in the red zone what they do everywhere else on the field, it would’ve been a bloodbath.

And it’s about time Tom Brady showed some serious fire on the sideline if not directly calling out Joey Galloway and other receivers guilty of dropped passes–Julien Edelman, Benjamin Watson, Brady did so indirectly.  Nothing motivates receivers more than a ticked off quarterback.  If he’s annoyed with you, is he going to throw your way?

But there’s room for improvement for Tommy too.  He overthrew the receivers plenty of times and his pace seems off, throwing too many hot-to-handle balls.

But if you’re a fan, you probably had a ball today because the Pats won and won big.  It’s something to build on and miles better than that dumper of a game last week against the Jets.

Welker Out, Moss In

Posted by Adam Hart September 27, 2009 at 11:58 am

The New England Patriots announced the inactive players for the team’s Week 3 contest against the Atlanta Falcons. Depth is lacking at receiver and cornerback. Read more

The Blueprint

Posted by Randolph Charlotin September 26, 2009 at 10:52 pm

The Patriots offense was virtually shut down by the New York Jets. QB Tom Brady was unable to get the offense into the endzone and was constantly rushed by a relentless New York blitz. It got people saying the Jets had the blueprint for beating the Patriots and with the rest of the league as witnesses, every opponent will follow suit.

 

Don’t believe it. This blueprint talk is garbage. It was the same thing people were saying after the Super Bowl XLII loss to the New York Giants. If this blueprint talk was true, then New England shouldn’t had won eleven games last year without Brady.

 

There are three reasons for why there isn’t a universal blueprint for beating the Patriots:

 

Philosophy – Rex Ryan is the rookie head coach of the Jets that cultivated his defense from his days with the Baltimore Ravens. Rex has a twin brother, Rob, who was the defensive coordinator of the Oakland Raiders. Rex believes in a 3-4 while Rob operated a 4-3.

 

Despite the relationship, the two brothers don’t share the same philosophy. And within the fraternity of coaches, the philosophies are as different as the coaches who teach the systems.

 

Every defense is as unique as the fingerprints of the architects that designed them. Even when they studied under a coach, they will make changes to the approach to make it their own. Former Philadelphia defensive coordinator Jim Johnson, who passed away this off-season, lives on through Sean McDermott. But McDermott, while running a lot of the plays taught to him by Johnson, made changes and adjustments to the defense to make the Eagles defense unique.

 

Take Sunday’s opponent, Atlanta, for instance. They might believe in letting the front four rush the passer while covering the secondary in a zone defense. With DEs John Abraham and Kroy Bierman, the Falcons have the ability to create pressure without blitzing, or at least not blitzing as much as the Jets did last week.

 

The Falcons watched how the Jets attacked on defense, and Atlanta might be so impressed by the performance that they incorporate some of what New York did last week. But defensive coordinator Brian VanGorder won’t copy exactly what the Jets did. That won’t happen. He has his philosophy that he believes in and he will stick with it.

 

Believing in the blueprint theory would be like former head coach Tony Dungy switching from his Tampa-2 defense to blitzing almost two dozen times. It never happened before and no coach would make similar radical changes like that from week to week.

 

System – The Jets play a 3-4 defensive alignment. And year after year, it seems another team switches from a 4-3 to a 3-4. But there still is a majority of teams playing a 4-3 front. Remaining on the Patriots schedule are four teams that play a 3-4 defense: Baltimore, Denver, Miami, and the Jets.

 

A 4-3 can be blitz-heavy, but to do it like a 3-4 would involve a little more creativity by substituting players frequently and using a lot of zone blitz principles. The substitutions become clues, reducing the element of surprise.

 

A 3-4 can better mimic what the Jets did, but it takes more than just running the same blitzes. The execution of the plays makes all the difference.

 

Players – Gang Green has a pair of safetys (Kerry Rhodes and Jim Leonhard) that are very good blitzers. ILB Bart Scott is excellent coming from any direction. Behind them are cornerbacks they trust in one-on-one situations (Darrell Revis and Lito Sheppard). Not every team has all those elements on their defense.

 

Any 3-4 defense can get their hands on the Jets playbook and run the plays as scripted, but they won’t always execute the plays as effectively because of the ability of the individuals running the plays.

 

The method isn’t as important as the objective, which is to cause pressure. There’s hundreds of ways to rush the passer. Overload blitzes worked well for the Jets, but other teams can get the job done with line stunts, corner blitzes, or with just the down linemen, if they’re talented enough.

 

Throughout the league there are 32 blueprints for playing defense. As for a universal blueprint to beat the Patriots or any team, it doesn’t exist.

 

As taken from www.randolphc.com. Any questions or comments can be sent to talktome@randolphc.com.

Making a Difference

Posted by Mike Giardi September 26, 2009 at 9:57 pm

At the trade deadline, I gave the Red Sox a thumbs up for getting Victor Martinez for a couple of low minor leaguers. In retrospect, I wasn’t nearly as effusive with my praise as that deal warranted. Read more

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