Brady Scramble vs. Jets

NOTE: The images in this post are from the HD broadcast, so click them and make them huge!

The announcers proclaimed this as a broken play and refused to comment further, probably because it's confusing. I agree that it's a broken play, but I don't understand where it broke, besides Brady's 6th sense (see below).

Formation. Double TE set with Kyle Brady (L) and Stephen Spach (R).


Here you can see the blitzing DB who was going to cover Welker. Welker realizes this too late and misses the block he had to make instead of running his route.
You can also see the free OL running looking for someone to block. He is far too slow to pick up the blitzer. If everyone had shifted over a man and he had picked up someone in front of him, the TE could've picked up the blitzer.


Somehow Brady senses that Maroney was going to get dropped for a loss by the blitzer. I highly doubt Maroney said "hold it!" or something, so I am very confused here. Brady clearly looks to Maroney, pulls it back in, and runs for it, without ever seeing the blitzer directly behind him. Two things of note here:
1) Stephen Spach is literally a nobody, so there's no way this play was designed to have Brady roll out for a scramble with Spach protecting him. (In addition, the free OL would've stayed instead of running left).
2) Maroney possibly doesn't even see the blitzer, as he misses him completely (see two frames down)



Maroney would've been dropped for a loss.



Maroney runs straight ahead, not picking up the blitz?? In addition, Spach gets beaten to the outside. It's possible he didn't even know Brady was running behind him, so...whatever.
These two factors combined limit Brady to about a yard. Luckily, Welker converts on 3rd and 4.

Opponents after playing the Patriots

Interesting fact: after playing the patriots, opposing teams have only won 4 games in their next effort.
Next is the opponents next game (4 total wins) and previous is their previous game. Previous game is just to see who we de-railed. 5 teams fell into the buzzsaw- win a game, then lose at least two in a row, starting with the Patriots.

Maroney's Push

There's been a lot of talk about LoMo's running. I don't want to get into that. However, a look back at the film when Maroney gets into a pile and gets the first down is interesting. Many have dismissed that run since he was being pushed by the offensive line. Let's see what the film tells us:
Okay, so Laurence hits two Steelers at the 26. You can see in this snap he has driven them forward, with nobody pushing him.
Here you can see his running style is actually quite good, despite the haters. As he came through the hole, he lowered his body and drove the first tackler with his shoulder. It was a big hit.

LoMo gets to about the 24, and the pile starts. LoMo's forward momentum was stopped by the third steeler running full force into the tackle (you can see him approaching in the earlier frames).
The Pile forms, and drives for a few more yards and the first down.



Side Note of interest: I'm sure we all saw Randy Moss totally destroy one of the steelers right at the end of the pile drive. Of course, it was during the play and completely legal, but he gave him quite the shove! I didn't think much of it, but if you go back to the first snapshot, you can see him dueling with his blocker. He hits Moss in the face pretty hard and gets the release. If you watch the film and keep track of Moss, you can see Moss trot towards the pile, shadowing the man he blocked(he thinks the play is over, it's not like he's going to be pushing the O-Line from behind or something). After a second or so, it's clear the play is not over, and Moss goes right for the guy who hit him in the face.
Don't mess with Randy Moss!

Brady->Moss->Brady->Gaffney

Okay, here goes my first post! Not gonna have a lot of talk here, as it's finals week...
















Here you can see the Steelers are giving Stallworth and Moss a big cushion. When the Pats line up those two on one side of the field, it's a good chance they aren't running itty bitty routes, so the cushion makes sense. However, this will come back to haunt them.

















Now you can see the only couple of defenders that were on Brady's left have totally bit on the lateral. They're running full speed towards Moss. They're so far away they wouldn't make a play anyway, but this is how the Steelers were playing- swarm to the ball, hit aggressive. In other words, Brady and co. are taking advantage of their aggressiveness and creating a lot of space.
















Donte Stallworth lays a huge block on the man who would've been first to the ball. The man who is running behind Stallworth as he lays the block gets to Moss right as he releases the ball- without Stallworth's block, Moss would've been hit after he dropped the pass for a big loss.
















The play works like a dream, despite the drop. Brady is in the middle of nowhere! In the video, you can see he has plenty of blockers, and they're all standing around doing nothing, maybe laying one block as Tom waits a few seconds for an opening.
















Gaffney WIDE open thanks to the aggressive secondary play of the Steelers. Brady actually ends up underthrowing him, so the backs catch up to Gaff, but it's too late. Touchdown!

Welcome

This site will serve as a place for me to post my film breakdown of the New England Patriots. Don't expect regular updates, but I'll do my best.