Some musings

We gashed the Patriots with the run last time. Look for them to try to do something to prevent that. They are not going to count on getting the TO’s they got last time. Couple that with what we were able to do yesterday, our offense is going to be an enigma. They may have to pick their poison and hope for the best, especially if Tebow is on like he was yesterday. I would look for them to bracket DT (especially if Decker is a no go) and man up on everyone else. I imagine their safeties will play more disciplined in light of yesterday’s game. The Hoodie is probably preaching that as we speak. I think we go back to the run until something else opens up. If we are patient with the run, the pass will open up like it did yesterday.

New England will undoubtedly try to beat us with their offense. They’re going to try to get off to a fast start. Denver needs to go back to that tried and true method of rattling Brady early. Our young safeties need to build on the game they had yesterday and try to limit Gronk and Hernandez. Once again, go back to what got us here, grind the clock down to limit their offense, and play lights out defense. We don’t want this to become a track meet. especially if DT is drawing safety help. Royal and Willis need to step up their games another notch this week. Look for Fells and Rosario to play big roles as well.

1. I think it is a little of both. Ike Taylor is probably a little better than Goodman, but like Andre’, his better days are behind him. The Steelers rely on LB’s Harrison and Woodley to create the pressure, NT Casey Hampton to plug the middle and Fire Zone Blitz Troy Polamalu.

1. I believe a lot of the play calling differences from previous games had the dual purpose of changing things up for the playoffs and messing with Belichick’s head for this week. That may be a reach of course, but it’s my theory.

If you will remember in Week 9 against the Raiders, the big game plan method against Tebow was to make him beat you with the pass. Everyone already knew he was a running threat, so stuff the box. That leaves the long ball as the solution to this dilemma and since it was also well known that Tim had an accuracy problem, so stacking the box was worth the risk. Blitzing was another option, especially on 3rd downs and normally, that calls for the screen pass (or the Draw play). Here is where it gets tricky. If you have an aggressive pass rush (or blitz), a screen pass works. That worked against the Raiders because they were just trying to Tee off on Tebow (convict mentality) with no discipline. After that game, the Defenses our team faced were disciplined and maintained their gaps and lanes, mostly because they actually played defense and weren’t goons. Well, if the rush is disciplined like that, it nullifies the screen play call. As far as the quick timing routes and slants, their are varying opinions and I would say that there is no one absolute answer. The timing routes would have a low chance of completing because of Tebow’s long wind up. That can be improved of course and I think the WR’s could improve on getting off press coverage, which disrupts the timing also. On the slant routes, Tim has shown a tendency to shy away from attempting the tighter throws, some of that is the accuracy thing and some undoubtedly comes from the coaches telling him to err on the side of caution and him not wanting to make a mistake.

I think we will see the same type of game plan this week, with a couple more new wrinkles thrown in. The Broncos will run, run, run again and try to mix the pass at unexpected times.

is that NE has more to worry about and Tim has confidence in what he sees down the field. The secondary we will face this week is the worse secondary we have faced since the last time we played the Pats.

My hope is that Tim doesn’t hold on to the ball as much as he did before because he can see something he likes and let it rip.

This Steelers game should also help our rushing attack. NE won’t stack the box with 9… and might be hesitent to stack it with 8 knowing that 1 on 1 they don’t have the corner talent to gaurd DT. If they stack 8 and double DT…. thats 10 players and no safety help on the other side of the field.