2 Things About the Pats that make me feel confident

RockHawk · Jan 20, 2015

Some random thoughts (sorry Kearly) that I've had about the Patriots that I wanted to get your responses on to validate if I'm an idiot, which is probably the case.

1 - Several members of the Denver Broncos SuperBowl team last year stated that they weren't properly prepared for the physicality of the Seahawks game on both sides of the ball. They hadn't played a team like ours and it showed. So looking at this Patriots squad, the only teams I can see one could argue are tough, physical squads would be the Buffalo Bills (on defense), and maybe the Ravens to a certain extent.

So I can't help but feel that with our Seahawks going through another slew of tough, physical games throughout the last 2 months, the Pats simply won't be able to match our play throughout the game. You can't imitate it in practice.

2 - The read option. In looking again at the Pats schedule this year, they have not played an offense that features the read option or a QB & RB combo that provides the threat from both like ours. The only teams that have even lightly employed a read option look is the Jets (c'mon, really?) and the Vikings (uh huh...) but I don't have to even try and show how ridiculous a comparison is on those. Only the Colts might be the closest, but they hardly ever used a read option look.

So am I crazy in thinking these things give us a huge advantage in 2 weeks?

HeatEquation · Jan 20, 2015

Buffalo twice, Detroit, Baltimore, Jets twice. I think this team is very well prepared:

Hawks46 · Jan 20, 2015

The read option might. Ninkovich is a damned good player, but he isn't all that fast. Wilson can beat him to the edge when he needs to.

Bellichik is also a damned good coach and he pulls a lot from college, so I really don't think it will be huge. He'll have his guys prepped correctly, but it's up to them to diagnose and execute on the field.

Our physicality won't have the same effect it did on the Broncos. Like you mentioned, the Bills have a damned good DL (better than our current one) and the Ravens do as well (also better than our current DL). The thing that will be hard for them to adjust to is our entire team speed on defense. We're the fastest team defense in the NFL, and add to that the physicality from top to bottom and it will probably tell on them.

The Ravens ran the ball well on the Pats, and Kubiak employs a ZBS very similar to ours. If we can run the ball, keep Brady off the field, keep the defense fresh, and wear down the Pats' DL, I feel good about the game.

Seahawk Sailor · Jan 20, 2015

Sounds spot on to me. Those are the two areas I'd feel most confident about when thinking about the Patriots. Add that to the fact that we really haven't used the read option keeper that much recently, so they don't have as much recent footage on it to study, and they don't know if we've been adding wrinkles into it that we haven't done yet in a game.

And speaking of which, I might add a third point to your write-up, but one that would apply more to any team, not just the Patriots. We came out in the Super Bowl last year with something brand new--the Percy Harvin fly sweep--that we hadn't shown all year, and it wiped the floor with the Denver Broncos. We may well be working on yet another wrinkle that we've been saving for the big dance. We've stressed all year that we just need to play Seahawks football and we'll make it there. Well, Seahawks football may have another development as yet unseen. And if so, things could get very, very interesting.

Sarlacc83 · Jan 20, 2015

Belicheck relies on a lot of trickery (and cheating), but when you run things straight up, with this team's speed, it negates any creative advantage pregame planning will have.

Seahawkfan80 · Jan 20, 2015

Seahawk Sailor":224ykr2a said:
Sounds spot on to me. Those are the two areas I'd feel most confident about when thinking about the Patriots. Add that to the fact that we really haven't used the read option keeper that much recently, so they don't have as much recent footage on it to study, and they don't know if we've been adding wrinkles into it that we haven't done yet in a game.

And speaking of which, I might add a third point to your write-up, but one that would apply more to any team, not just the Patriots. We came out in the Super Bowl last year with something brand new--the Percy Harvin fly sweep--that we hadn't shown all year, and it wiped the floor with the Denver Broncos. We may well be working on yet another wrinkle that we've been saving for the big dance. We've stressed all year that we just need to play Seahawks football and we'll make it there. Well, Seahawks football may have another development as yet unseen. And if so, things could get very, very interesting.

We did one wrinkle of the fly sweep 2 weeks ago with #83??? Or am I mistaken?

kidhawk · Jan 20, 2015

I feel really confident about the read option giving out offense an edge. I'm less confident on them not being ready for our physicality. They will be well coached up for this game, but they have historically had a lot of trouble defending read option quarterbacks, and I think that, combined with our #1 defense is what will propel us in a very close game.

Personally, I think we'll make history in more ways than one (hint set your DVR for even more extra time than you would for a normal Super Bowl)

ManBunts · Jan 20, 2015

I think this game comes down to execution. Our physicality will help, but i don't see it demoralizing this team like it did the Broncos. We need to get our run game going early and control the ball. AND we need to hit Brady. A lot. Hard. Let his temper get the best of him. We need to cut off his safety blanket Gronk, and shut down Edelman. And watch Lafell. That guy has great hands and is very underrated. And we cannot make mistakes. We can't do what we just did and expect to win

2_0_6 · Jan 20, 2015

HeatEquation":653z2olb said:
Buffalo twice, Detroit, Baltimore, Jets twice. I think this team is very well prepared:

4 out of those 6 games were against NFL average QB's and RB's and the other two with Stafford and Flacco are not QB's that have the most mobility

Cool story though bro

gowazzu02 · Jan 20, 2015

the jets give the pats all they can handle it seems. our offense is light years beyond what the jets bring to the table....

RockHawk · Jan 20, 2015

HeatEquation":3c3puf33 said:
Buffalo twice, Detroit, Baltimore, Jets twice. I think this team is very well prepared:

I appreciate the response, but including Detroit in the list of physical teams? Not so much. And the Jets & Buffalo games were a loss and a very close loss at the end of the season, so I wouldn't consider them as good examples of how prepared your team is for our brand of "physical" football. Remember its on both sides of the ball, not just on defense. Those two examples are physical defenses with horrible offenses.

theincrediblesok · Jan 20, 2015

I'm confident as well. With the read option we can sustain drives and keep Brady off the field. Play Seahawks ball and we should be good to win.

I'm hoping the Patriots look past our team. I can see them being over confident after beating Luck and the Colts.

You give Wilson two weeks to prepare and he will destroy a team. Separation is in the Preparation.

Look after the week 4 bye week destroy the Redskins. After the bye week for playoff destroy the Panthers.

Patriots won't be able to game plan for Wilson's scrambling ability, he's going to put that on display.

Kevin Williams will finally get his ring.

Seahawk Sailor · Jan 20, 2015

Seahawkfan80":2vpty5cv said:
We did one wrinkle of the fly sweep 2 weeks ago with #83??? Or am I mistaken?

Yeah, we've run it a few more times this year, but my point was that we hadn't seen it hardly at all (if ever) prior to the Super Bowl. We took them completely off guard with a new wrinkle in our offense that no one had tape on and no one expected. That's more what I'm suggesting here. We may have been working on something most of the year in practice that will be implemented when it really counts.

kidhawk":2vpty5cv said:
Personally, I think we'll make history in more ways than one (hint set your DVR for even more extra time than you would for a normal Super Bowl)

I have that funny feeling too. Gonna be a close, wild one.

HawkFan72 · Jan 20, 2015

Pats are more physical than the Broncos, and I think they will match our physicality better than a lot of teams we played this year.

SO I don't think that point holds much weight.

But the Read Option point might have some legs.

12thbrah · Jan 20, 2015

Pats have Browner now. They'll know whats comin. Whether they'll be able to do anything about it is another question.

Gronkzilla · Jan 20, 2015

theincrediblesok":pbuizmed said:
I'm hoping the Patriots look past our team. I can see them being over confident after beating Luck and the Colts.

Hi Everyone! Not here to troll, just thought talking to some diehard Hawks fans would be equally as fun as posting on the Pats boards. Just wanted to address the above quote, there is just no chance that the Patriots look past the Seahawks. It is completely against what Belichick preaches as well as I don't know how it's even possible to look past the Super Bowl opponent being as there is no game after the Super Bowl lol.

I think the read option is a valid point for attacking the Patriots defense although as a Patriots fan it doesn't overly worry me. This is primarily because Belichick is known to preach gap control, edge containment and doing your job and not more than your job. So while I envision the hawks to have some success with it (I mean, how can you contain Lynch and Wilson for 60 minutes? Not gonna happen... they are too good.) I don't see it being a kryptonite to our defense. As good as the Seahawks are, we have some bad mofos as well in our front 7.

The physical aspect of the game is obviously a factor. In the past, teams that rushed and achieved pressure with a 4 man rush while the secondary was physical against Pats receivers had success. To me, this is huge and I am really hoping the Patriots meet the physical challenge head on. Answer physicality with physicality much like what the gifs earlier in this topic show.

Either way, I cannot wait for this game and hope it is one for the ages!

RockHawk · Jan 20, 2015

Gronkzilla":2b7gz82c said:
theincrediblesok":2b7gz82c said:

I'm hoping the Patriots look past our team. I can see them being over confident after beating Luck and the Colts.

Click to expand...

Hi Everyone! Not here to troll, just thought talking to some diehard Hawks fans would be equally as fun as posting on the Pats boards. Just wanted to address the above quote, there is just no chance that the Patriots look past the Seahawks. It is completely against what Belichick preaches as well as I don't know how it's even possible to look past the Super Bowl opponent being as there is no game after the Super Bowl lol.

I think the read option is a valid point for attacking the Patriots defense although as a Patriots fan it doesn't overly worry me. This is primarily because Belichick is known to preach gap control, edge containment and doing your job and not more than your job. So while I envision the hawks to have some success with it (I mean, how can you contain Lynch and Wilson for 60 minutes? Not gonna happen... they are too good.) I don't see it being a kryptonite to our defense. As good as the Seahawks are, we have some bad mofos as well in our front 7.

The physical aspect of the game is obviously a factor. In the past, teams that rushed and achieved pressure with a 4 man rush while the secondary was physical against Pats receivers had success. To me, this is huge and I am really hoping the Patriots meet the physical challenge head on. Answer physicality with physicality much like what the gifs earlier in this topic show.

Either way, I cannot wait for this game and hope it is one for the ages!

Great post, and welcome to .NET!

Sgt. Largent · Jan 20, 2015

HeatEquation":200rjzm9 said:
Buffalo twice, Detroit, Baltimore, Jets twice. I think this team is very well prepared:]

One loss, one should have lost and one win by 2 pts? Lol, that's not "well prepared." That's OMG we don't like big physical defenses.

hawk45 · Jan 20, 2015

Gronkzilla":20katlb1 said:
In the past, teams that rushed and achieved pressure with a 4 man rush while the secondary was physical against Pats receivers had success.

Hey welcome to the board.

The physicality vs the receivers part I feel okay about (although how able Sherm will be to do the stab move with a sore elbow is a question). The pressure with the front 4 I feel a lot less okay about.

Against Carolina the pass rush disappeared after 2 series and against Green Bay the pass rush never even appeared so it could later disappear. Now contain was a priority I'm sure vs. Newton, and GB has this lauded pass-protecting OL, but I'm still not feeling great having witnessed 2 straight games with very little pressure. Although we do have some nifty drive-extending offsides penalties from Bennett as a consolation prize.

Belichick is too good a defensive coach to let us feast on read option all game long. I would like to see us run it more where Russell actually keeps it, but TBH I'm starting to doubt whether we will ever see that happen early in games. If we didn't see it when getting our faces kicked in on offense for 50 minutes I don't know what would have to happen for us to go to it earlier. I don't know that I know enough to offer actual criticism for it, I just feel it's extremely unlikely given what we've seen recently.

These two teams are both pretty balanced, I have a difficult time pointing at one or two factors or match-ups and deciding that they heavily favor one team to the point where I know how the game is going to go.

Foghawk · Jan 20, 2015

I've read a lot of good stuff in this thread regarding the physical aspect of this game. I'm curious if anyone has any solid comments on the speed of the Patriots front 7 since I have not really watched much of them this year. One of the keys in trying to contain RW IMO is speed in the front 7.

Thank you in advance for your comments.

2 Things About the Pats that make me feel confident

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