mistaowen":16psrsfw said:
We looked fantastic at the end of the game sending blitzes on Kirk Cousins even if he is a rookie. Now I doubt we send that type of heat every single down, but having Clemons out must make our coaches realize we need to get creative to get pressure, especially if we as fans can see it. Bruce and Scruggs really started coming hard in their base packages as well after Clem went down, directly at the QB not dancing outside, so maybe the light finally went on for Bruce?
If we don't get pressure I can see this game ending in 14+ point loss.... their passing game is full of allstars. But like you said, the Cards got pressure on Matty Ice and he isn't the same QB when that happens. He likes to force throws when his pocket is collapsing and that bodes very well for our ballhawking secondary if we can jump it. I imagine we will see Earl covering over the top on Browner's side for most of the game and hoping Sherm can do his thing 1 on 1.
I bet we are going to see a whole lot of Marshawn to help keep them off the field a la Giants versus Brady in both superbowls.
Here's the thing though - we as fans see a heavy blitz against a rookie backup who enters the game in the fourth quarter trailing by ten points. We then see the blitz having success. If we tried that tactic against Matt Ryan, you're essentially saying - get to the QB or we're going to get burned. No grey area there. Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, Matt Ryan - these guys WANT you to blitz. Kirk Cousins doesn't know what he wants as a rookie backup.
We as fans can say, 'well that worked'. But there's a reason why the coaches are sticking with the four man rush. We're not leaving ourselves open to the big play and if we do create pressure we have a lot of opportunistic players in position to capitalise. I have no doubt that we'll continue doing this against Atlanta, hoping that we get the occasional stop and keep them to three points on drives rather than seven. And we want to play our offensive scheme and score more points than them. That's how we'll look at it. That absolutely has to be the game plan. If they go this way and we lose I won't complain because I don't think the alternative of blitz, blitz, blitz will work any better. I think we'll be destroyed doing that.
Maybe they do get creative on some select plays? The thing is, who do you blitz? I think our LB's need to sit in coverage. Earl needs to stay deep and help out the corners. Kam needs to watch Gonzalez. I'm not sure they have many options here.
And one other thing I think may be our downfall - the corner/safety blitz from their defense. They use it a LOT. Washington had success with it last week. Could be an issue.
BlueTalons":16psrsfw said:
I say we bring the house on blitzes until the Falcons prove they can beat it. If it works keep doing it. If not bring out the Bandit!
It'll be a long day if we do this IMO.