There has been a lot of talk this week about the Eagles having unearthed some sort of defensive blueprint for defeating the Patriots. I think this is nonsense. In the game Sunday I saw a Pats offense that was disrupted at times, but was essentially able to move the ball. Brady was still able to complete well over 60% of his passes and convert a number of key third downs. Look, if you are able to put pressure on the QB using the blitz, it's going to make his job tougher by forcing him to make quicker decisions. This is no big secret. But for the most part the Pats handled the blitz. More importantly, Brady made good decisions and did not turn the ball over.
The Eagles success in the game had much more to do with the play of their offense. A.J. Feely had a career game and Philadelphia was able to keep the chains moving, converting on 8 of 13 third downs, and on their lone fourth down attempt. The Eagles also used an ultra-aggressive offensive gameplan, recovering a surprise onside kick, and attempting several gadget plays, albeit with limited success. They were able to sustain long drives and limit the number of possessions by the Pats offense. This game showed that the best way to beat the Patriots is by having an aggressive, efficient, and mistake-free offense. Sure it may help your team's chances of winning if you can get pressure on Brady, but more importantly, your offense has to score a lot of points and take a lot of time doing it. Philadelphia's few mistakes were what cost them the game.
Podcast RSS Feed
I would agree with you, Stu. There isn't as much a blue print as some critical factors that I'll list below that may help explain the close game.
1. Mediocre teams often resort to gadget plays against a superior or aggressive defense.
2. The Pats may have been looking forward in their schedule to the Steelers match up. The coaching staff will resolve this issue in practice, I'm sure.
3. The Pats have been a pass oriented and pass first offense for the most part of the year. A good running game could have taken the pressure off of the OL and Brady by negating some of the Eagles elaborate blitz packages. The Patriots will definitely need to get their ground game in order as they head into the playoffs.
4. The Eagles blitz packages disrupted the vertical game to Moss. With less time to allow Moss to run the deep post and fly patterns, Brady was forced to throw the short and intermediate passes. Also, Moss usually likes to touch the ball and get involved in the game early.
5. People have short term memories. As much as the Vikings scored with Moss, there were games in which (some would argue that) he took some if not all of a game off.
6. Not all teams have a DL line that can generate a pass rush like the Eagles, so duplicating what the Eagles were able to do could be a huge challenge.
Those that believe the Eagles found that magic formula are smoking it. That strong D held the Pats to 31 points! OMG, 31! That must make the Eagles the best defense ever! Holding the juggernaut Pats to less than 50 points!
Hell what impressed and pissed me off at the same time was that they managed to scored 28 points. That's more than Miami and my Redskins did combined.