Lomax to Green 84
Hall of Famer
And here is how:
This game reminds me a whole bunch of 2001 away game versus the Philadelphia Eagles. Cards come off an awful home game, things are going no where and they are headed to a seemingly unbeatable destination.
Lets get back to the Atlanta game this Sunday. Anyone watch the Monday night game against New Orleans. Sure it was tough on the Falcons to be playing against a team (Saints) who had the entire nation on their side. But beyond that obvious advantage, some major flaws were uncovered that the Cardinals can also exploit on Sunday:
1. First the most obvious: Micheal Vick is a terrible passer. Great runner, terrible in the pocket or out of the pocket as a passer. New Orleans has average linebackers at best, but they played an extremely smart game. Linebacker play if an absolute must to neutralize Vick's strengths.
2. Force Vick to run between the tackles and force him to throw from the pocket. Blitz from the corner with our outside backers and Adrian Wilson.
3. Don't overpursue and give the cutback to Dunn. The Falcons run a Broncos cutblocking/zoneblocking system that is all about the cutback. Play disciplined, stay in your gaps and blitz like hell from the corners and Dunn can be had with alot of negative runs. He is an amazingly patient runner who waits for the cutback and then explodes. If the Cards can run blitz off the corners, they can take that away.
4. Offensively the Falcons love to pressure the quarterback. I know, it should be a nightmare for Warner, but the key will be swinging James out of the backfield and dumping over the Falcons linemen who are also awesome at knocking down passes. Its this very reason why I think Leinart was considered because he is taller and doesn't get alot of passes knocked down.
5. Attack DeAngelo Hall. He is awesome, but he is also cocky as heck and is convinced he can single handedly shut down either Boldin or Fitzgerald. If he is on Boldin, throw a bunch of drag routes and let Boldin beat him up, if its Fitzgerald go deep and throw the fade over and over again.
6. Run between the tackles. Scrap the stretch play (not a good idea versus a defense predicated on speed), put Femi in at fullback and run from a traditional 2 back set, 1 tightends and 2 wide recievers. formation for much of the game.
It can be done. Not all is lost.
This game reminds me a whole bunch of 2001 away game versus the Philadelphia Eagles. Cards come off an awful home game, things are going no where and they are headed to a seemingly unbeatable destination.
Lets get back to the Atlanta game this Sunday. Anyone watch the Monday night game against New Orleans. Sure it was tough on the Falcons to be playing against a team (Saints) who had the entire nation on their side. But beyond that obvious advantage, some major flaws were uncovered that the Cardinals can also exploit on Sunday:
1. First the most obvious: Micheal Vick is a terrible passer. Great runner, terrible in the pocket or out of the pocket as a passer. New Orleans has average linebackers at best, but they played an extremely smart game. Linebacker play if an absolute must to neutralize Vick's strengths.
2. Force Vick to run between the tackles and force him to throw from the pocket. Blitz from the corner with our outside backers and Adrian Wilson.
3. Don't overpursue and give the cutback to Dunn. The Falcons run a Broncos cutblocking/zoneblocking system that is all about the cutback. Play disciplined, stay in your gaps and blitz like hell from the corners and Dunn can be had with alot of negative runs. He is an amazingly patient runner who waits for the cutback and then explodes. If the Cards can run blitz off the corners, they can take that away.
4. Offensively the Falcons love to pressure the quarterback. I know, it should be a nightmare for Warner, but the key will be swinging James out of the backfield and dumping over the Falcons linemen who are also awesome at knocking down passes. Its this very reason why I think Leinart was considered because he is taller and doesn't get alot of passes knocked down.
5. Attack DeAngelo Hall. He is awesome, but he is also cocky as heck and is convinced he can single handedly shut down either Boldin or Fitzgerald. If he is on Boldin, throw a bunch of drag routes and let Boldin beat him up, if its Fitzgerald go deep and throw the fade over and over again.
6. Run between the tackles. Scrap the stretch play (not a good idea versus a defense predicated on speed), put Femi in at fullback and run from a traditional 2 back set, 1 tightends and 2 wide recievers. formation for much of the game.
It can be done. Not all is lost.
When was the last time that you saw Warner throw a fade route to Fitz? I cant remember one. I do remember McClown trying it though. Man would I love to see this, because when we are at a 3rd and 4 from the 4, Boldin and Fitz generally have single coverage.
