What should NE do in the rematch vs Pitt?

[Soko]

Assuming they meet again in the playoffs, of course. Jacksonville’s hype has been building and could jumble up the seeding or knock somebody out in the post season, but most people expect the Patriots and Steelers to meet again - probably in Foxboro. 

What are some adjustments that need to be made in order for take II to go a little smoother?

- The third down defense was abysmal. IIRC, a decent amount weren’t third-and-short too. Situational football at the end of the game withstanding, the Pats need to be better on third down. 

- Keep restricting Bell. Early on, NE did a solid job bottling up Bell and seemingly lost that ability once Brown went out. The front 7 may get a little boost if Van Noy plays in the rematch, but the edges need to be set going forward. Roberts got embarrassed a decent amount of times IIRC.

- Pressuring Ben. There were some instances where the defensive line actually got there, but missed the tackle. Ben had a couple moments where he looked 10 years younger on Sunday, and we can assume that he’ll be on his A-game again. The pass rushers need to get there and wrap him up when they get the chance. 

- Consider changing the matchups in the secondary. Gilmore seriously struggled vs Bryant and while some of those were just great plays made by the receiver, you’d still hope for a better performance for a premiere (paid, a least) CB. Before Rowe was injured, he was playing well and could be a guy to take on Martavis if Gilmore struggles again - I’d give Stephon the first half and switch him out if he continues to get beat. Hopefully we see more J. Jones in January. 

- Beating man coverage. Getting Hogan and maybe even Mitchell back would be huge, but there’s a chance they don’t play the way we expect them to. When the Steelers got into some of their press looks, there were some struggles. The Pats receivers need to be schemed open while taking advantage of the running backs against LBs. We can’t completely lean on Gronk again, if not for the likelihood of the Steelers adjusting, then on Gronk’s usage. 

- Stick with the run/McDaniels. Dion was having some good success against this team running the ball and hopefully Rex is back by the time these two teams meet again. A little more consistency in the run game would do a lot. Josh had some really questionable play calls on Sunday and a better called game on offense would’ve really changed the scope of things. 

- Finally, figure out what we’re going to do with Brown. I imagine the Pats will come in with the same mindset that they started with: Butler with help on Brown, Gilmore on Bryant. It wasn’t so bad early on and even though he didn’t play for most of the game, AB was limited when he was on. It may not be a bad plan, but the coverage will need to stay tight. I’m not 100% how that’ll be if their squad is healthy. 

What the Pats need to keep doing:

- Protect Brady. Although he was sacked just once, he got pressured a decent amount - one of which forced an interception that changed the momentum and another was the difference between a field goal and a conversion. Still, I think we can take another similar performance against this team and pull out a win. 

- Gronk keeping on being Gronk. Nuff’ said. 

- Harmon was the most consistent defender on the team (Butler, Flowers HM). Made the huge play to win and also a handful of big tackles. He’s no all-pro, but he held the D together and we may need another great performance in January. 

[Pats#1]

Can't give up every damn 3rd down conversion and contain the edges so we can't get abused on those outside runs.

[Hunter2_1]

Nice thread @Yin-Yang 

Firstly, we need to secure the HFA - which means winning out. Getting into Mass will be huge. 

We also need to appreciate that we faced a Pittsburgh offense operating the best gameplan possible (until the end). They weren't overly aggressive, they took what we gave them, and they really rode Bell. I'd be dissapointed if they played as flawlessly as they did a second time, but let's assume they do. Let's also assume Brown plays.

- Before Brown went out, we actually corralled him well enough, limiting him to catches in front of our defenders. His big gain was YAC after a missed tackle. So, priority 1 is No Missed Tackles. We have proven we can do this in the first game vs Miami where our tackling was unrelentingly good and afforded them NO YAC.

- We mostly played 4 down linemen with (Lee, Guy, Brown, Flowers) and occasionally blitzed Roberts or Chung. On obvious passing downs it was 3 with Butler instead of Brown. Was this good enough to pressure Ben? Can we afford to rush any more? Probably not. So, creativity with pass rush is my second priority, because I don't think our stock 3 / 4 down linemen plus a blitzer is good enough

- On third down, they often ran motion with a WR from one side to the other, and he was often trailed. He was usually always running shallow crosses, and they usually picked them up. Harmon stopped one with a great read, after Rowe couldn't get to JJSS. He came crashing down and blew up the shallow cross for a 3rd down stop. Here's their play art

 

So, expect short crossing routes on third down. I also don't want Rowe on JJSS, because there were 2 or 3 times on 3rd down where he just couldn't keep up. Butler on JJSS. I suspect this is why they dropped Flowers a few times, to clog the shallow lanes. Their first annoying 3rd down conversion was JJSS motion, Rowe follows, and he runs a shallow cross and gets separation. THEY ALWAYS DO THIS.

 

On Offense

We will be seeing more man coverage

- Our run game was good on early downs, especially with our heavy package. Doesn't seem like they have an answer to that. Lewis with a high AVG YPC. They bit hard on play action when we had two RBs in (the Cooks grab was White and Rex on field). Get the run going early and often, play action will open up

- Use Gronk as a decoy in man coverage, because he's going to be doubled, tripled etc. Should open up someone like Cooks and hopefully Hogan by then.

- They also tended to only rush four, and sometimes it was good enough. Probably because our interior wasn't playing well enough (Thuney). Either he has to play better, or we leave White in there to pick up free rushers, and Brady has to drop deeper or roll out or something. Ideally, we'd sort out interior protection. 

 

[1ForTheThumb]

I'm pretty damn confident in Belichick, McDaniels and Patricia putting together a game plan after already seeing them once this season.

Need Van Noy to get healthy. Adding Hogan into the mix will be big because the WR's really struggled to get open. He killed them last year. Offensively, we really need Hogan and Cooks to step up. We traded for Cooks for reasons like this first match up. The Patriots are going to see a TON of man to man, press coverage going forward. Cooks was brought her to be the guy to open things up when defenses try to do that.

Defensively, I'm confident well see a much better performance and adjustments will be made.

[Apparition]

I don't think there will be one. The Jags will knock off one of these teams before it gets to that.

[Hunter2_1]

34 minutes ago, Starless said:

I don't think there will be one. The Jags will knock off one of these teams before it gets to that.

They're being overhyped, for me.

[Apparition]

Just now, Hunter2_1 said:

They're being overhyped, for me.

What's overhyped about them? They have the only truly elite defense in the NFL this year and the league's top rushing attack. Bortles has shown that he can get hot the same way Flacco and Eli Manning did.

[Hunter2_1]

Just now, Starless said:

What's overhyped about them? They have the only truly elite defense in the NFL this year and the league's top rushing attack. Bortles has shown that he can get hot the same way Flacco and Eli Manning did.

Bortles hasn't shown that, IMO. Let's see how he does against good opposition with pressure like he's never faced. Same thing for the entire team. Defense is very good, but I think a skilled OC like Haley and McD when they're having a good day can cause them a lot of problems. If they played Pittsburgh in Heinz field, how do you see it going? 

[Apparition]

1 minute ago, Hunter2_1 said:

Bortles hasn't shown that, IMO. Let's see how he does against good opposition with pressure like he's never faced. Same thing for the entire team. Defense is very good, but I think a skilled OC like Haley and McD when they're having a good day can cause them a lot of problems. If they played Pittsburgh in Heinz field, how do you see it going? 

They already crushed the Steelers at Heinz once this year. Don't see why they couldn't do it again.

[Hunter2_1]

Just now, Starless said:

They already crushed the Steelers at Heinz once this year. Don't see why they couldn't do it again.

Because the Steelers are playing at an entirely different level. That was when Bell was averaging 3 YPC. He's now averaging closer to 6.

[Apparition]

Just now, Hunter2_1 said:

Because the Steelers are playing at an entirely different level. That was when Bell was averaging 3 YPC. He's now averaging closer to 6.

Yeah, and the Jags' run defense has improved dramatically as well, with the addition of Marcell Dareus.

[Hunter2_1]

Just now, Starless said:

Yeah, and the Jags' run defense has improved dramatically as well, with the addition of Marcell Dareus.

Well, I think Pittsburgh will blow the doors off them. You disagree. Let's see them duke it out  

Hopefully...

[Pats#1]

I'm just happy we got to play them before the playoffs.

 

They finally changed up their approach and threw some new things at us and it worked. I'm confident Brady, McDaniels, and Belichick will be able to break down the film and have better success next time around.

[Hunter2_1]

Hats off to them for playing a completely different style of defense on the season, in Wk 15. 12% man coverage in Weeks leading up to us, and they played about half of their snaps in man vs us. I bet they've been practicing it, but keeping it back - bringing it out only to test it every so often. Good discipline, but by god it shows they want us bad. 

[dhunt2402]

Saints have the top rushing attack. Ultimately the Jags will lose bc they won't be able to score a TD when they need it. That will fall to Bortles, and he will Bortle it.