The Brady Bunch Isn't Scary When Tom's On The Bench!

by metalman5050 on Jan 11, 2012 1:06 PM MST

The Patriots Offense ranks 3rd in scoring, 2nd in both the passing and total yards gained categories, but only 20th in rushing. The Defense is 15th in points allowed, 31st in both the total yards and passing yards allowed, and 17th in rushing yards allowed. Something that I found to be interesting with these stats is that it looks like when the Pats practice during the week, the Defense gets used to being beat by the Offense.

In every area that the Pat's O excels, the D is average to down right bad! With an O that ranks 20th in rushing, the D is finally able to beat them. Could it be that there is a little bit of confidence lacking in certain areas? Can we exploit them early and add to their doubts? They can obviously be beat in every category. Most certainly in the run dept., but even MORE SO in the passing game. We just need to control our possessions and create the kind of turn overs that they are un-accustomed to.

NAME............. ATT....COMP.....PCT.....YDS...AVG...YDS/G..LONG..TD...TD%...INT...INT%...SACK...RATE

Tom Brady....611.......401.........65.6.....5235...8.6.....316.4......99.....39....6.4.....12.....2.0........32......105.6

Opponents......619.......386.........62.4.....4977...8.0.....293.9......58.....26....4.2.....23.....3.7........40........86.1

We know this guy pretty well. He's another one of the QB's who broke the 5k yards passing this season. But the stats of the Patriots opponents this year are very close in all but one major category, interceptions.

A +11 in that stat goes a long way to help them win the close ones. The team has only fumbled 4 times, (Brady twice) and lost one of them, while collecting six of their opponents fumbles. Winning the turn over battle has helped them a lot.

RUSHING

NAME..................................ATT...YDS....AVG...LONG...20+...TD...YDS/G

BenJarvus Green-Ellis......181....667.....3.7.......18.......0.......11.....41.7

Stevan Ridley........................87....441.....5.1.......33.......5.........1.....27.6

Danny Woodhead...............77....351.....4.6.......12.......0.........1.....23.4

Green-Ellis and Gronkowski have combined this year for 29 of the Patriots 61 TD's, but rushing TD's acount for less than a third of the total. Not surprising as much as these guys like to throw. "BenJee" got all but 7 of the rushing TD's, and Gronk even got one! Watch out for that trick play Denver.

Ridley, whoever he is, looks like the better back on paper. Does anyone know why he isn't the feature back? It just doesn't seem like these guys get used properly.

RECEIVING

NAME.........................REC...TAR....YDS....AVG...TD...LONG...20+...YDS/G....YAC....1DN

Wes Welker................122....172....1569...12.9.....9......99........21......98.1.......732......77

Rob Gronkowski........90....124....1327...14.7....17.....52........22......82.9 .......656......69

Aaron Hernandez......79....113 .....910....11.5.....7......46........12......65.0.......519......46

Deion Branch..............51......90......702....13.8.....5......63.......10.......46.8.......332......37 He's the sleeper.

Chad Ochocinco.......15......32......276....18.4.....1......53.........3.......18.4.........51......13

Wes Welker may get targeted more but in the red zone Gronk is the go to guy. With almost 15 Y/Catch and 17 TD's, Gronk is the guy to double in the red zone. The problem is that Deion Branch has almost 14 Y/Catch, and although he is targeted half as much as Gronk and Welker, Brady doesn't care who it is that's open.

Brady tends to find the open man more often then not. That is why it is so tough to slow these guys down. Remember the only TD that Ocho got this year? Brady certainly needs to have our guys in his face, and very quickly! He can get it going with those quick three steps. When Brady is uncomfortable, we know what happens.

It is important for us to shake him up right from the start and be relentless. Hopefully RobunkVonDoom find themselves un-stopable Saturday night. Brady has been sacked 2 times per game on the average. Perhaps we can triple that stat.

DEFENSE:

...............................TACKLES................. SACKS..................................INT....FUMBLES

NAME........................SOLO...AST...TOT...SACK...YDSL...TLOSS...PD...INT....FF

Jerod Mayo LB.............58.......37.......95.......1.0........5.............4........4......2......1

Kyle Arrington CB......66.......22.......88.......0.0........0.............1......13......7......0

Devin McCourty CB...65.......22.......87.......0.0........ 0 ........... 5......12......2......0

Rob Ninkovich LB......43.......31.......74.......6.5.......54............2........4......2......1

James Ihedigbo S......46.......23.......69.......0.0........ 0 ............1........1......0......0

Patrick Chung S...........37.......25.......62.......1.0........ 3.............0........4......1......0

Vince Wilfork NT........29.......23.......52.......3.5........18............5........3......2......1

Andre Carter DE........31.......21.......52.....10.0........70............5........1......0......0

Mark Anderson DE...18........11.......29.....10.0 .......75............1........1......0......0

The Pat's got 8 more sacks, 11 more INT's and 2 more FF than their opponents.

Are NE's CB's Twins? They look a lot alike, but it's the stats that trip me out. Almost identical stats until you see the INT's and Arrington leads by 5 this year. Those two CB's, and the two LB's Mayo and Ninkovich, dominate in the Tackling Dept., and the two safeties clean up whats left.

Is it just me or what? Don't any teams throw against these guys, because the Pass Defended stats sure look low to me?

DE's Carter and Anderson have 20 of the Patriots 40 sacks and the majority of the rest are gathered up by the LB's. The D-line is pretty good against the pass, but tends to get gouged by good run games.

I really feel that our chances to score on this team are great! I also think that who ever does win the turn over battle will most certainly win this game. Winning that stat doesn't always guaranteed a win, but I believe that it will be the case on Saturday. I like our chances to stop Tom and company on two or three of their possessions, but I feel real good about our ability to score on them!

If you have any idea why the Pass Defensed stats are so low I'd sure like to see it.

This is a Fan-Created Comment on MileHighReport.com. The opinion here is not necessarily shared by the editorial staff of MHR

Tweet Comment 47 comments | 3 recs |

Do you like this story?

Comments

Stevan Ridley is a rookie

and started to get more carries when Benny injured his toe. He’s shown some real promise and looks to have his snaps increased as he’s been doing well.

Benny is the feature back because he’s not fancy, but he almost always gets positive yards and more often than not tends to eke out a few more yards even after a play looks dead. He is excellent in the red zone and has never fumbled the ball away – in college or in the pros. Ridley was lucky against the Bills, in that the ball was knocked loose by a defender but it went out of bounds.

Keep the faith!

by Marima on Jan 11, 2012 2:02 PM MST reply actions

Excellent! Thanks for that!

What’s up with Carter and Anderson? Is this a normal year, a break out year, or whats the deal on them? I don’t know many of the players other than the marquee guys, which i suppose is normal coming from a Bronco fan.

It is better to keep silent, and appear to be wise, then to ramble on aimlessly and remove all doubt! The Wisest Man, Solomon.

by metalman5050 on Jan 11, 2012 2:19 PM MST up reply actions

They were free agent pick-ups this year

Pats fans were surprised as anyone at they’re professionalism and production. Class locker room guys and hard workers. They became fast fan favorites. I was nervous when Carter went down with his knee injury, but pleasantly surprised at how well Anderson stepped in for him under the circumstances.

Keep the faith!

by Marima on Jan 11, 2012 2:36 PM MST up reply actions

Aaha, I couldn't remember hearing about either one and that's why.

Are they both healthy now?

It is better to keep silent, and appear to be wise, then to ramble on aimlessly and remove all doubt! The Wisest Man, Solomon.

by metalman5050 on Jan 11, 2012 2:41 PM MST up reply actions

No - we lost Carter for the season

Too bad because he was voted to the Pro Bowl – an honor he won’t be able to participate in. He’s a genuine good guy so I hope he comes back next year healed up and ready to play.

Keep the faith!

by Marima on Jan 11, 2012 2:55 PM MST up reply actions

Wow, get both those guys healthy and what a difference that will make for you guys.

It is better to keep silent, and appear to be wise, then to ramble on aimlessly and remove all doubt! The Wisest Man, Solomon.

by metalman5050 on Jan 11, 2012 5:34 PM MST up reply actions

His Daddy was our cornerstone on the Orange Crush Defense

Was pleased to see him have such a great year. Bummer that he got hurt, but not before he proved himself.

by shasta77 on Jan 11, 2012 6:53 PM MST up reply actions

Great breakdown 5050!

Here’s my theory on why passes defensed is low:
Because the Pats run defense is weak most teams drive between the 20’s with mostly runs and a few short passes. Then when they get to the red zone they bring the safetys closer since there’s no deep threat and play for a forced field goal. This is a pretty simple but effective strategy that works for 2 reasons.
1) The Pats O is so prolific that they know you can’t beat them with FG’s
2) By forcing teams to execute more plays the likelihood of a miscue is increased due to the percentages as well as the tendency of teams to start pressing later in the game.

The answer on O:
Much more variety on the offense (just because you can get 3 or 4 yards every run doesn’t mean you should run every 1st and 2nd down.) Constantly change formations and playcalls from them. The Pats will adjust schemes faster than anyone if they can dial in what you’re doing and it only takes a couple of stops for them to gain the advantage.
The answer on D:
Don’t worry about Brady beating you because he will anyway. You can choose your poison and the teams that have chosen to blitz often with much variety and keep him in reaction mode do better than those that don’t. note: no one actually stops this O for a full game unless he just has one of those way off days (Washington) which are pretty rare. So you can either take your chances and get a big play here and there hopefully turnovers and sacks to kill drives or you can die the death of a thousand cuts and let him disect your D just as Rogers and Brees do regardless of how many DB’s you drop.

Remember we debated this strategy ad nauseum the last game with many people saying you can’t blitz him frequently. We all now know that didn’t work.

Go big or go home Broncos!

"I wouldn't call it Tebow Time I'd call it Bronco Time"- Tim Tebow

by asinsoin on Jan 11, 2012 2:20 PM MST reply actions 1 recs

Sounds right to me.

It is better to keep silent, and appear to be wise, then to ramble on aimlessly and remove all doubt! The Wisest Man, Solomon.

by metalman5050 on Jan 11, 2012 2:32 PM MST up reply actions

Your wrong about the run defense. lol

we are top 10 team against the rush. Pretty much when spikes and chung play (spikes rotated in later in the game against you guys in our last meeting).

Teams can pass against us simply because our scheme is a bend but dont break defense. Essentially:

A) Stop the run, and make teams earn their yardage
B) Prevent the deep pass
C) Stiffen up as they get closer to the redzone.

I’ll take 11 players with heart on the field over 11 guys with just talent. Talent is fleeting, it goes away over time. Heart is what drives you to be better. To push yourself beyond what you think your capabilities are. To show us that when you strive, all things are possible.- SMP

by Jack'sAxe on Jan 11, 2012 5:54 PM MST up reply actions

30th in the league on runs up the middle

That’s the soft spot, Spikes and Chung in place or not. We love to run up the middle, and that was where many of our 167 yards in the first quarter of the last meeting came from. Question will be what do you expose by protecting a clearly vulnerable spot? Good teams find it and exploit it. The burden is on our coaching staff to know that BB will protect this area, leaving something else available. If we put together a good scheme, and execute it, then we’ll be in a similar spot to NE using Hernandez to gash us last game. Will be fun to see how it plays out.

by shasta77 on Jan 11, 2012 5:59 PM MST up reply actions

Spikes not playing in the first quarer that much hurt, but yeah it was a bad performance.

But we stopped the run in the other 3 quarters.

And yeah you guys rushing for that much in the 1st hurt our rating. BUt it is true. Our run defense, especially when spikes and chung are in, is a big bright spot in our defense.

by Jack'sAxe on Jan 11, 2012 6:23 PM MST up reply actions

Hmmm, I'm going to be watching that part of the game.

I’m just hoping for a mistake free game on our end of the ball. I’m sure you are hoping for the same. Thanks for the comments Axe

It is better to keep silent, and appear to be wise, then to ramble on aimlessly and remove all doubt! The Wisest Man, Solomon.

by metalman5050 on Jan 11, 2012 6:01 PM MST up reply actions

We can't beat these guys can we? They'll have to beat themselves...

Win, lose or draw, we are the Denver Broncos! 13-3 Baby!!! Until we ain't!

Follow @bfree2bronc

by bfree2bronc on Jan 11, 2012 2:24 PM MST reply actions

Well said! I have a feeling in my gut about this one, and it's a good feeling.

Thanks for the comments asinoin.

It is better to keep silent, and appear to be wise, then to ramble on aimlessly and remove all doubt! The Wisest Man, Solomon.

by metalman5050 on Jan 11, 2012 2:30 PM MST up reply actions

You enjoy indigestion?

/just kidding

Keep the faith!

by Marima on Jan 11, 2012 2:38 PM MST up reply actions 1 recs

LOL...It's the Orange cool aid doin it!

It is better to keep silent, and appear to be wise, then to ramble on aimlessly and remove all doubt! The Wisest Man, Solomon.

by metalman5050 on Jan 11, 2012 2:42 PM MST up reply actions

Nice post by the way

Appreciate the numbers charted like this.

Keep the faith!

by Marima on Jan 11, 2012 2:53 PM MST up reply actions

Your welcome Sir.

It is better to keep silent, and appear to be wise, then to ramble on aimlessly and remove all doubt! The Wisest Man, Solomon.

by metalman5050 on Jan 11, 2012 3:55 PM MST up reply actions

We can beat them Bfree!

But it will have to be a near perfect performance in all 3 phases.

"I wouldn't call it Tebow Time I'd call it Bronco Time"- Tim Tebow

by asinsoin on Jan 11, 2012 2:58 PM MST up reply actions

We can bet that your statement holds true for every game in these playoffs!

Thanks for the comment.

It is better to keep silent, and appear to be wise, then to ramble on aimlessly and remove all doubt! The Wisest Man, Solomon.

by metalman5050 on Jan 11, 2012 3:57 PM MST up reply actions 1 recs

Pretty much, thanks for the post!

"I wouldn't call it Tebow Time I'd call it Bronco Time"- Tim Tebow

by asinsoin on Jan 11, 2012 10:59 PM MST up reply actions

We can beat them

But we are going to have to do what we haven’t done so far this year. Long methodical drives that eat up time and that allow our defense to rest so they can deal with Brady’s hurryup offense.

That game is what the Pats are going to force us to do – and to win we have to do it.

by yibberat on Jan 11, 2012 4:45 PM MST up reply actions

And touchdowns at the end of those drives

Field goals won’t get it done.

by BroncosRock! on Jan 11, 2012 4:56 PM MST reply actions 1 recs

I'd sure like to reverse it onto them.

The Pats get the 3’s, either three and out or 3 points. We’ll take care of the TD’s ;o)

It is better to keep silent, and appear to be wise, then to ramble on aimlessly and remove all doubt! The Wisest Man, Solomon.

by metalman5050 on Jan 11, 2012 5:37 PM MST up reply actions

i'd like to see a lot more play action

we’re the number one rush team. it wont be hard to sell the run everytime. especially since we know we can run on these guys, they’ll be expecting it. still run the ball though. slow the game down, keep brady on the sideline. seems simple, but is

by veggiezaffer on Jan 11, 2012 5:56 PM MST reply actions

I'm betting that the game plan runs fairly similar to last week. It seems like there are new wrinkles each week...

but Fox is saying it’s the same, but peeps are executing better.

It is better to keep silent, and appear to be wise, then to ramble on aimlessly and remove all doubt! The Wisest Man, Solomon.

by metalman5050 on Jan 11, 2012 6:06 PM MST up reply actions

Chung would have a hell of a lot more tackles if he wasn't injured for the majority of the season....

And he is very important to our defense. Having to defend the pass with the likes of ihedigbo and…. I believe nate jones???? In other words its just horrible. Having Chung back is great news for the pats, and if he wasn’t injured I think he would have put up almost as much tackles as Mayo this year. So no sleepin’ on him! lol

by Jack'sAxe on Jan 11, 2012 5:58 PM MST reply actions

Cool. So you got him back at just the right (wrong) time. ;o)

It is better to keep silent, and appear to be wise, then to ramble on aimlessly and remove all doubt! The Wisest Man, Solomon.

by metalman5050 on Jan 11, 2012 6:04 PM MST up reply actions

Anyone coming back for you guys that we should watch out for? 0.0

by Jack'sAxe on Jan 11, 2012 6:23 PM MST up reply actions

Ty Warren will be on the sidelines

Just waiting for his chance to exact revenge on an unexpecting WR or RB that runs too far out of bounds.

"I wouldn't call it Tebow Time I'd call it Bronco Time"- Tim Tebow

by asinsoin on Jan 11, 2012 11:02 PM MST up reply actions

Wish I could see him play.... solid all around player.

by Jack'sAxe on Jan 11, 2012 11:38 PM MST up reply actions

LOL !!

by profootballfan on Jan 12, 2012 10:22 AM MST up reply actions

I worry about his conditioning in such a big game, been out a long time

Tough coming back this late in the year and being who you would normally be. I anticipate them giving him some multiple read plays to test how quick he recognizes stuff. And long coverage responsibilities followed by running plays to test his conditioning. I use to do that all the time when calling plays, and I knew someone was just getting back into the swing.

Find out where they’re still recovering, and push it.

by shasta77 on Jan 11, 2012 6:37 PM MST up reply actions

He came back against the bills, and it was awesome seeing him in action. I expect him to be fine. Certaonly alot better than Jones or Ihedigbo....

But I see your point. :)

by Jack'sAxe on Jan 11, 2012 6:40 PM MST up reply actions

It's tough being out that long

Especially in the hype of the playoffs. Your brain/body takes a bit to get adjusted to “game speed,” and the playoffs definitely speed things up even more. Jones and Ihedigbo are a different matter. Their getting thrown into that cold, deep end of the pool. Not fun, ever.

What’s your weather looking like? Snowed like a mother in the Denver area today.

by shasta77 on Jan 11, 2012 6:56 PM MST up reply actions