kerouac9
Klowned by Keim
In looking at this week’s tape, I wasn’t really interested in looking at drives, since there weren’t many on either side of the ball. What I was interested in looking at is how the Cards were able to contain the Tom Brady and the New England Patriots’ pass offense in clear passing situations. I was also interested in what New England was doing to put the clamps on a productive-if-not-prodigious passing offense that seemed to have favorable talent matchups for the Cardinals.
So I’m going to look at a handful of high pressure passing-down plays to see what happened and what went right (or wrong).
CARDS ON OFFENSE
1Q: 3-7-NE 39 (10:40) (Shotgun) 4-K.Kolb pass short middle to 85-E.Doucet to NE 27 for 12 yards (28-S.Gregory, 24-K.Arrington).
11 personnel, Bunch formation right, Fitz split left. Sherman’s in the backfield
Pats showing 2 safeties deep with man underneath, left safety shading well over to Fitz’s side. Three down linemen.
Inside slot WR motions wide right, corner follows.
Corners playing press technique.
New England rushes four.
NO ONE gets off the press. Nobody. Fitz is getting pushed around, and none of the receivers have any separation whatsoever. Fitz and Roberts are running verticals, Heap runs a skinny post.
Both safeties drop well deep, with the left safety shading over to Fitz’s side.
Doucet’s outlet route on a short cross, and Kolb delivers the ball.
Really good protection by the OL; Kolb delivers to Doucet in a TIGHT window.
2Q: 3-6-ARI 45 (6:11) (Shotgun) 4-K.Kolb left guard to ARI 48 for 3 yards (95-C.Jones). FUMBLES (95-C.Jones), RECOVERED by NE-27-T.Wilson at NE 48. 27-T.Wilson to NE 48 for no gain (63-L.Sendlein).
11 personnel with Fitz right and 2 WRs left. Sherman is on Kolb’s right, Heap lined up as an H-back on the left side.
New England has 2 down linemen, 1 safety deep. Roberts’ man is playing press technique, inside-outside coverage on Fitz with the outside man playing off-man coverage.
New England rushes four with one safety deep, press on the right receivers, zone from the two linebackers.
Fitz is legitimately double-covered on his eight-yard out. Neither of the WRs can get off the press.
Daryn Colledge allows immediate pressure up the middle, but Kolb niftily moves pass the rusher. Unfortunately, it’s just as Adam Snyder gives up on his man, sack, fumble.
There was no chance that this play was going for a first down, but you probably can’t drop the ball in that situation. Kolb was moving forward in the pocket.
2Q: 3-13-ARI 26 (3:46) (Shotgun) 4-K.Kolb pass short middle to 86-T.Heap to ARI 38 for 12 yards (54-D.Hightower).
11 formation with Fitz split right, Sherman on Kolb’s right, Heap on a narrow split, and Roberts and Doucet wide left.
Pats have four down linemen and two safeties deep. Corners playing trail technique (not quite off-man, not really press).
Three man rush.
Fitz gets triple coverage from safety, LB, and CB on the snap, running a “flag” route (show post at 10 yards, then break out and up).
Doucet and Roberts get pressed off the line of scrimmage. Heap gets a free release to the linebacker. Roberts, Doucet, and Heap all run comebacks at the sticks.
Heap does a good job coming back the ball, but can’t catch it and run.
Good protection, but they were only rushing three.
3Q: 3-5-NE 44 (10:59) (Shotgun) 4-K.Kolb pass incomplete short right to 36-L.Stephens-Howling.
20 personnel with Roberts and LSH in the backfield. Fitz split wide left, Doucet and Roberts on the right.
New England has three down linemen and one safety deep. Eight men in the box. Fitz’s man is playing press technique, Roberts’ man is playing off man with inside leverage. There’s NO ONE deep on Fitz’s side of the field, but there’s a safety in the box on his side.
Interesting little Pistol formation, with Kolb a yard and a half in front of the backs.
Four man rush, and the box safety bails to play inside-out double coverage on Fitz.
Screen play. Roberts cracks back on Doucet’s man, but the OLB gets a free release into the backfield, and yet another Cardinal slip screen dies.
4Q: 3-6-ARI 26 (8:43) (Shotgun) 4-K.Kolb pass short middle to 85-E.Doucet to ARI 26 for no gain (96-J.Cunningham; 75-V.Wilfork). NE-75-V.Wilfork was injured during the play. shovel pass
11 personnel with Fitz split right, Doucet and Roberts left, Sherman(?) in the right backfield. Heap’s on a narrow split.
New England shows a stacked box with one safety deep on Fitz’s side, Fitz’s corner in press technique, nine men in the box.
Four man rush, but it’s an inside WR screen. It’s a stacked box, so it has no chance whatsoever. New England has six defenders lined up on the left side of the formation, so I guess you can see it has a chance, but the right side defenders are pointing at the line pre-snap.
Daryn Colledge makes the brave decision not to block anybody, but Adam Snyder gets a late lick in on Vince Wilfork.
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My take: I hate the design of this passing offense, especially in terms of what I saw from New England. Fitz doesn't have anyone right now who could've taken advantage of some pretty below-average New England corners, and that's a long-term problem.
I have no idea why teams aren't pressuring Kolb all the time.
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CARDS ON DEFENSE
2Q: 3-9-NE 49 (14:53) (Shotgun) 12-T.Brady pass incomplete short right to 85-B.Lloyd.
New England lines up in 11 personnel with Woodhead(?) in the backfield on Brady’s right, Gronk on the left.
Cards have 1 down lineman (Dockett), 2 safeties deep. All three corners are playing press technique, with Gay on Welker in the slot.
Four man rush with man behind. Cover-2. Great coverage across the board. Brady delivers the ball to Lloyd (covered by Peterson) just as Gronk comes open in the middle of the field.
Campbell starts the play in a two-point stance. He’s such a monster.
Awesome coverage by Peterson. Brady wasn’t under great pressure here.
2Q: 3-10-NE 10 (2:00) (Shotgun) 12-T.Brady pass deep left to 83-W.Welker ran ob at NE 35 for 25 yards. NE 83-Welker 558th career reception, franchise record (Troy Brown).
New England runs 11 personnel with Gronk backfield left, Woodhead right, and Welker flexing into the slot left.
Cards have two down linemen, two deep safeties. Peterson and Gay are playing very, very off-man. Looks like a cover-4 before the snap, then Wilson drops down and Rhodes drops back.
Four man rush with zone underneath and one safety deep.
Great play design on the left side with the outside receiver going vertical drawing the safety over the top, and the slot receiver running a deep flag route under the outside corner.
Brady’s OL buys him enough time for the play to develop, and Welker gets a record.
3Q: 3-10-ARI 33 (13:03) (Shotgun) 12-T.Brady pass incomplete short middle to 83-W.Welker.
Pats have 11 personnel with Gronk left with Welker in the slot, Edelman split wide left, and Lloyd on the right.
Cards have 2 down linemen, 2 deep safeties. Peterson’s playing press on Llyod, Flemming is off-man, and Gay is playing trail technique with inside leverage.
Cards show blitz with 6 men on the line at the snap. Then Peterson shows blitz from the outside and Wilson rotates over to Lloyd’s side. I have no idea what’s going on.
Cards have a 4 man rush with 3 coming from the right side of the center, 3-deep coverage behind.
Washington plays great trail technique on Gronkowski. William Gay continues to make Wes Welker sad.
4Q: 3-12-ARI 18 (2:49) (No Huddle, Shotgun) 12-T.Brady pass short left to 11-J.Edelman to ARI 5 for 13 yards (23-J.Fleming)
New Engalnd in 11 personnel with Welker on the left, Edeleman in the backfield, and Lloyd and Gronk on the right. Weird personnel arrangement that I’m not sure I got right.
Cards have three down linemen, two deep safeties. Both corners are playing off-man, Gay in the slot playing trail technique on Welker(?).
Four-man rush with Dockett on an inside stunt. Cards play Cover-4 with man underneath.
This is the same route concept that New England ran late in the 2nd quarter above, and it’s executed just as well here. This time Edelman comes out of the backfield into the flag route behind Welker’s vertical route.
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My Take: I like the way that Josh McDaniels draws up plays. Our defense just matched up great with these guys. It'd be interesting to know what would happen if the Pats actually had Hernandez for the whole game, because New England is a matchup nightmare when he's on the field. But our guys hung tough.
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As always, if you have specific plays or moments that you want to have looked at, please let me know. It's easiest if you can give a play time for me to locate it on the film. No, I still don't know which plays Michael Floyd was in the game.
So I’m going to look at a handful of high pressure passing-down plays to see what happened and what went right (or wrong).
CARDS ON OFFENSE
1Q: 3-7-NE 39 (10:40) (Shotgun) 4-K.Kolb pass short middle to 85-E.Doucet to NE 27 for 12 yards (28-S.Gregory, 24-K.Arrington).
11 personnel, Bunch formation right, Fitz split left. Sherman’s in the backfield
Pats showing 2 safeties deep with man underneath, left safety shading well over to Fitz’s side. Three down linemen.
Inside slot WR motions wide right, corner follows.
Corners playing press technique.
New England rushes four.
NO ONE gets off the press. Nobody. Fitz is getting pushed around, and none of the receivers have any separation whatsoever. Fitz and Roberts are running verticals, Heap runs a skinny post.
Both safeties drop well deep, with the left safety shading over to Fitz’s side.
Doucet’s outlet route on a short cross, and Kolb delivers the ball.
Really good protection by the OL; Kolb delivers to Doucet in a TIGHT window.
2Q: 3-6-ARI 45 (6:11) (Shotgun) 4-K.Kolb left guard to ARI 48 for 3 yards (95-C.Jones). FUMBLES (95-C.Jones), RECOVERED by NE-27-T.Wilson at NE 48. 27-T.Wilson to NE 48 for no gain (63-L.Sendlein).
11 personnel with Fitz right and 2 WRs left. Sherman is on Kolb’s right, Heap lined up as an H-back on the left side.
New England has 2 down linemen, 1 safety deep. Roberts’ man is playing press technique, inside-outside coverage on Fitz with the outside man playing off-man coverage.
New England rushes four with one safety deep, press on the right receivers, zone from the two linebackers.
Fitz is legitimately double-covered on his eight-yard out. Neither of the WRs can get off the press.
Daryn Colledge allows immediate pressure up the middle, but Kolb niftily moves pass the rusher. Unfortunately, it’s just as Adam Snyder gives up on his man, sack, fumble.
There was no chance that this play was going for a first down, but you probably can’t drop the ball in that situation. Kolb was moving forward in the pocket.
2Q: 3-13-ARI 26 (3:46) (Shotgun) 4-K.Kolb pass short middle to 86-T.Heap to ARI 38 for 12 yards (54-D.Hightower).
11 formation with Fitz split right, Sherman on Kolb’s right, Heap on a narrow split, and Roberts and Doucet wide left.
Pats have four down linemen and two safeties deep. Corners playing trail technique (not quite off-man, not really press).
Three man rush.
Fitz gets triple coverage from safety, LB, and CB on the snap, running a “flag” route (show post at 10 yards, then break out and up).
Doucet and Roberts get pressed off the line of scrimmage. Heap gets a free release to the linebacker. Roberts, Doucet, and Heap all run comebacks at the sticks.
Heap does a good job coming back the ball, but can’t catch it and run.
Good protection, but they were only rushing three.
3Q: 3-5-NE 44 (10:59) (Shotgun) 4-K.Kolb pass incomplete short right to 36-L.Stephens-Howling.
20 personnel with Roberts and LSH in the backfield. Fitz split wide left, Doucet and Roberts on the right.
New England has three down linemen and one safety deep. Eight men in the box. Fitz’s man is playing press technique, Roberts’ man is playing off man with inside leverage. There’s NO ONE deep on Fitz’s side of the field, but there’s a safety in the box on his side.
Interesting little Pistol formation, with Kolb a yard and a half in front of the backs.
Four man rush, and the box safety bails to play inside-out double coverage on Fitz.
Screen play. Roberts cracks back on Doucet’s man, but the OLB gets a free release into the backfield, and yet another Cardinal slip screen dies.
4Q: 3-6-ARI 26 (8:43) (Shotgun) 4-K.Kolb pass short middle to 85-E.Doucet to ARI 26 for no gain (96-J.Cunningham; 75-V.Wilfork). NE-75-V.Wilfork was injured during the play. shovel pass
11 personnel with Fitz split right, Doucet and Roberts left, Sherman(?) in the right backfield. Heap’s on a narrow split.
New England shows a stacked box with one safety deep on Fitz’s side, Fitz’s corner in press technique, nine men in the box.
Four man rush, but it’s an inside WR screen. It’s a stacked box, so it has no chance whatsoever. New England has six defenders lined up on the left side of the formation, so I guess you can see it has a chance, but the right side defenders are pointing at the line pre-snap.
Daryn Colledge makes the brave decision not to block anybody, but Adam Snyder gets a late lick in on Vince Wilfork.
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My take: I hate the design of this passing offense, especially in terms of what I saw from New England. Fitz doesn't have anyone right now who could've taken advantage of some pretty below-average New England corners, and that's a long-term problem.
I have no idea why teams aren't pressuring Kolb all the time.
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CARDS ON DEFENSE
2Q: 3-9-NE 49 (14:53) (Shotgun) 12-T.Brady pass incomplete short right to 85-B.Lloyd.
New England lines up in 11 personnel with Woodhead(?) in the backfield on Brady’s right, Gronk on the left.
Cards have 1 down lineman (Dockett), 2 safeties deep. All three corners are playing press technique, with Gay on Welker in the slot.
Four man rush with man behind. Cover-2. Great coverage across the board. Brady delivers the ball to Lloyd (covered by Peterson) just as Gronk comes open in the middle of the field.
Campbell starts the play in a two-point stance. He’s such a monster.
Awesome coverage by Peterson. Brady wasn’t under great pressure here.
2Q: 3-10-NE 10 (2:00) (Shotgun) 12-T.Brady pass deep left to 83-W.Welker ran ob at NE 35 for 25 yards. NE 83-Welker 558th career reception, franchise record (Troy Brown).
New England runs 11 personnel with Gronk backfield left, Woodhead right, and Welker flexing into the slot left.
Cards have two down linemen, two deep safeties. Peterson and Gay are playing very, very off-man. Looks like a cover-4 before the snap, then Wilson drops down and Rhodes drops back.
Four man rush with zone underneath and one safety deep.
Great play design on the left side with the outside receiver going vertical drawing the safety over the top, and the slot receiver running a deep flag route under the outside corner.
Brady’s OL buys him enough time for the play to develop, and Welker gets a record.
3Q: 3-10-ARI 33 (13:03) (Shotgun) 12-T.Brady pass incomplete short middle to 83-W.Welker.
Pats have 11 personnel with Gronk left with Welker in the slot, Edelman split wide left, and Lloyd on the right.
Cards have 2 down linemen, 2 deep safeties. Peterson’s playing press on Llyod, Flemming is off-man, and Gay is playing trail technique with inside leverage.
Cards show blitz with 6 men on the line at the snap. Then Peterson shows blitz from the outside and Wilson rotates over to Lloyd’s side. I have no idea what’s going on.
Cards have a 4 man rush with 3 coming from the right side of the center, 3-deep coverage behind.
Washington plays great trail technique on Gronkowski. William Gay continues to make Wes Welker sad.
4Q: 3-12-ARI 18 (2:49) (No Huddle, Shotgun) 12-T.Brady pass short left to 11-J.Edelman to ARI 5 for 13 yards (23-J.Fleming)
New Engalnd in 11 personnel with Welker on the left, Edeleman in the backfield, and Lloyd and Gronk on the right. Weird personnel arrangement that I’m not sure I got right.
Cards have three down linemen, two deep safeties. Both corners are playing off-man, Gay in the slot playing trail technique on Welker(?).
Four-man rush with Dockett on an inside stunt. Cards play Cover-4 with man underneath.
This is the same route concept that New England ran late in the 2nd quarter above, and it’s executed just as well here. This time Edelman comes out of the backfield into the flag route behind Welker’s vertical route.
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My Take: I like the way that Josh McDaniels draws up plays. Our defense just matched up great with these guys. It'd be interesting to know what would happen if the Pats actually had Hernandez for the whole game, because New England is a matchup nightmare when he's on the field. But our guys hung tough.
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As always, if you have specific plays or moments that you want to have looked at, please let me know. It's easiest if you can give a play time for me to locate it on the film. No, I still don't know which plays Michael Floyd was in the game.
