Bucky Brooks: Indianapolis Colts' defense can stymie New England Patriots

[krunk]

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000459422/article/indianapolis-colts-defense-can-stymie-new-england-patriots

 

 

I like this one because it shows some of the mistakes we made, but it also includes breakdowns of when we defended the Pats running game the way it should have been executed.  Basically we just need to clean up a couple things to get it right.  He has a good suggestion on defending Gronk as well.

 

Also suggestions on how to attack Pats passing game.

[Football Knowledge]

Colts don't have the personnel and intel to do so... Patriot's offense is a MUCH bigger challenge than the Broncos across the board

[swifty1812]

Colts don't have the personnel and intel to do so... Patriot's offense is a MUCH bigger challenge than the Broncos across the board

Wow thanks for the insight, but I will say that there are only two players on NE's offense that truly scare me this time around and that is Gronk and Brady. NE doesn't have the WRs I think are needed to really exploit us this time around. Especially if Stork is out.

 

So if we can find a way to limit Gronk, I don't have much of a worry about the rest of the WR. They don't have the top flight guy that would normally give Toler fits, and Vontae is a top 5 CB so I have faith in him to shut down anyone that lines up accross from him.

 

Add in that we will have Arthur Jones back, I really don't fear the running game like earlier in the year. You know since those yards were put up against DL consisting of a guy that has been inactive the past two weeks.

[krunk]

Colts don't have the personnel and intel to do so... Patriot's offense is a MUCH bigger challenge than the Broncos across the board

 

He just showed you on film it's possible.  There is zero to fear about the Pats ground game other than the Colts making their own mistakes.  It has nothing to do with personnel at all, the film clearly shows it had more to do with the Colts making errors in execution.  When the play was executed properly the play was stuffed for a loss in the backfield.

 

 

I DON'T FEAR the Pats running game!  The onus is on the Colts to execute properly.

[SteelCityColt]

Pretty decent article, thank you for sharing. I think a lot people mistake failing to execute and some poor discipline for us having a poor defense. We've shown in spells we can slow down if not stop the best when the players execute and don't commit silly penalties (I'm looking at you Freeman ). Considering we don't have one "premier" pass rusher let alone the 2/3 that some teams have it's a small miracle the amount of sacks/pressure we've been able to generate. 

[SteelCityColt]

He just showed you on film it's possible.  There is zero to fear about the Pats ground game other than the Colts making their own mistakes.  It has nothing to do with personnel at all, the film clearly shows it had more to do with the Colts making errors in execution.  When the play was executed properly the play was stuffed for a loss in the backfield.

 

 

I DON'T FEAR the Pats running game!  The onus is on the Colts to execute properly.

 

Yes but his name is Football Knowledge so all your points must be invalid

[BlacknGold77]

59, 43, 42 and 595 rushing yds + 12 rushing TD

 

technically there's a chance a custodian can hook up with a supermodel, doesnt mean its going to happen

[Smash Mouth]

Colts don't have the personnel and intel to do so... Patriot's offense is a MUCH bigger challenge than the Broncos across the board

I disagree with your post. The Colts have demonstrated that they can play defense against the Pats for 3 quarters before they wear down.  The defense needs more help from the offense.  We need sustained drives that result in TDs and need to get into the 4th Q and make it a one-possession game.  We can't turn the ball over.  Period.  We have rarely played complimentary football against the Pats - that's  a must this weekend.

[Roboturner913]

Yeah, and they supposedly didn't have it in them to beat the Broncos either.....blah blah blah. If the last two weeks have taught us anything it's that the Colts defense, and especially the secondary, poses a major problem for the Pats offense. Those little WR's are going to wilt against the physicality of the Colts' DB's. That leaves it up to Gronk and the running game to get it done. And frankly, I don't think that's enough offense.

 

Colts don't have the personnel and intel to do so... Patriot's offense is a MUCH bigger challenge than the Broncos across the board

[ProblChld32]

Great visuals, Thanks for sharing !

[BrentMc11]

Yes but his name is Football Knowledge so all your points must be invalid

I want to throw the red challenge flag contesting one's football knowledge 

[bababooey]

Colts don't have the personnel and intel to do so... Patriot's offense is a MUCH bigger challenge than the Broncos across the board

Thanks Skip

[SteelCityColt]

I want to throw the red challenge flag contesting one's football knowledge 

 

I'm sorry Coach, we're in side the two minute warning for this topic, you can't challenge. 

[BrentMc11]

I'm sorry Coach, we're in side the two minute warning for this topic, you can't challenge. 

OK then.......            

[radiogirl]

Yes but his name is Football Knowledge so all your points must be invalid

HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!

[ColtStronger]

Colts don't have the personnel and intel to do so... Patriot's offense is a MUCH bigger challenge than the Broncos across the board

Tell me your not being serious, right?  Patriots offense is a much bigger challenge, how so?  Broncos RB was one of the top leading rushers since week 8 of the regular season, and Broncos WR's put the Pats WR's to shame.  D Thomas E Sanders vs B Lafell D Amendola and Julian Edelman.  None of Pat's WR are any good, Brady is just a great QB that makes his receivers look good.  Julius Thomas may not be a Gronkowski, but he isn't too bad either.  Broncos OL is better than Pats, especially since Stork is out now!  I would rate Brady over Manning of course, only because it's the post season and Manning was injured tho. 

 

So please tell me how much better the Pat's offense is than the Broncos?

[ThatOneColtFan]

There really isn't much to fear about the Pats ground game. Krunk is right, we just need to cut down the mistakes and poor tackling.

They aren't a great running team and their backs aren't scary.

[Superman]

Tell me your not being serious, right?  Patriots offense is a much bigger challenge, how so?  Broncos RB was one of the top leading rushers since week 8 of the regular season, and Broncos WR's put the Pats WR's to shame.  D Thomas E Sanders vs B Lafell D Amendola and Julian Edelman.  None of Pat's WR are any good, Brady is just a great QB that makes his receivers look good.  Julius Thomas may not be a Gronkowski, but he isn't too bad either.  Broncos OL is better than Pats, especially since Stork is out now!  I would rate Brady over Manning of course, only because it's the post season and Manning was injured tho. 

 

So please tell me how much better the Pat's offense is than the Broncos?

 

Broncos definitely have better personnel, but I agree that the Pats will be a bigger challenge. The Broncos didn't attack our defense very effectively. As a matter of fact, they played right into our strengths. 

 

Our pass defense is best on the outside, soft in the middle. Yet, the Broncos only attempted 16 of 48 passes across the middle. Part of the reason is that they wanted to get the ball out of Manning's hands quickly, which they did, but a lot of his initial reads were to the outside, not the middle. They didn't try anything deep down the middle, no posts, no deep crosses, nothing. As a result, while Manning was 11/16 with a 6.75 yards/attempt average in the middle, he was only 13/26 to the outside, with a 3.85 yards/attempt average. They hardly ran any pick/rub plays, they tried a thousand screens, which we were ready for, but they dropped at least two of those. Because of this strange approach, we were able to blitz a little more often than we'd normally blitz Manning (27% this matchup, only 7.5% in the midseason matchup last year). They tried to quick pass against a team that is determined to play press coverage.

 

They also attempted to run the ball into the teeth of our defense. Only one offense has been effective at that this season, and that's the Pats. The Broncos had decent success with this, but most of that was on a handful of plays. They had runs of 9, 22 (which should have been stopped for a couple of yards), 10 and 14 yards. The other 16 run plays gained a total of 33 yards. Of those, only 3 attacked the edge. In Week 11, the Pats ran at the edge 21 times for 6.8 yards/attempt. The Pats don't even have that great of an offensive line, but they ran end arounds, they ran off tackle, etc., and coupled with our sloppy play, they had great success. 

 

The Pats are going to have a much better gameplan than the Broncos did. They used a 6th OL 49% of the time in Week 11, lining up in that double strong formation. I assume they'll go back to that well, but knowing Belichick and the Pats, I could be totally wrong. They don't have the horses to try to beat us through the air, like the Steelers did, but they can use bunch/stack formations in tight splits in order to get guys open. I'm certain they'll come across the middle more than 33% of the time. They'll probably try to get Vereen one-on-one against a LB or safety on the outside. 

 

Not taking anything away from our defense, because our guys simply outplayed their guys. But that gameplan the Broncos showed was ill-conceived and predictable, and worse, it was poorly executed. I don't think the Pats gameplan will be poorly executed, whatever it is, and I'm certain it won't be ill-conceived. If it's predictable, that will only be to the extent that it's successful.

 

So yeah, I think the Patriots' offense is going to be tougher than the Broncos offense' was last week.

[bradys chin]

I think the colts fans are underestimating Edelmen. He's not the biggest WR or the fastest but is a lot like Welker use to be.Obviously I think the Pats will win but I'm always nervous. Anything can happen. If the colts win the rivalry will be back on. What is will the Indy sports writer calling Belichick mean? That's really funny if u think about it. Somebody needs to shut Richard Sherman up! Please. Much respect to the colts since Bill Polian left

Edited January 17, 2015 by 21isSuperman

[jabbanobadda]

I predict multiple 3rd and long incompletions followed by a yellow flag for PI  3 seconds later.

[ColtStronger]

Broncos definitely have better personnel, but I agree that the Pats will be a bigger challenge. The Broncos didn't attack our defense very effectively. As a matter of fact, they played right into our strengths. 

 

Our pass defense is best on the outside, soft in the middle. Yet, the Broncos only attempted 16 of 48 passes across the middle. Part of the reason is that they wanted to get the ball out of Manning's hands quickly, which they did, but a lot of his initial reads were to the outside, not the middle. They didn't try anything deep down the middle, no posts, no deep crosses, nothing. As a result, while Manning was 11/16 with a 6.75 yards/attempt average in the middle, he was only 13/26 to the outside, with a 3.85 yards/attempt average. They hardly ran any pick/rub plays, they tried a thousand screens, which we were ready for, but they dropped at least two of those. Because of this strange approach, we were able to blitz a little more often than we'd normally blitz Manning (27% this matchup, only 7.5% in the midseason matchup last year). They tried to quick pass against a team that is determined to play press coverage.

 

They also attempted to run the ball into the teeth of our defense. Only one offense has been effective at that this season, and that's the Pats. The Broncos had decent success with this, but most of that was on a handful of plays. They had runs of 9, 22 (which should have been stopped for a couple of yards), 10 and 14 yards. The other 16 run plays gained a total of 33 yards. Of those, only 3 attacked the edge. In Week 11, the Pats ran at the edge 21 times for 6.8 yards/attempt. The Pats don't even have that great of an offensive line, but they ran end arounds, they ran off tackle, etc., and coupled with our sloppy play, they had great success. 

 

The Pats are going to have a much better gameplan than the Broncos did. They used a 6th OL 49% of the time in Week 11, lining up in that double strong formation. I assume they'll go back to that well, but knowing Belichick and the Pats, I could be totally wrong. They don't have the horses to try to beat us through the air, like the Steelers did, but they can use bunch/stack formations in tight splits in order to get guys open. I'm certain they'll come across the middle more than 33% of the time. They'll probably try to get Vereen one-on-one against a LB or safety on the outside. 

 

Not taking anything away from our defense, because our guys simply outplayed their guys. But that gameplan the Broncos showed was ill-conceived and predictable, and worse, it was poorly executed. I don't think the Pats gameplan will be poorly executed, whatever it is, and I'm certain it won't be ill-conceived. If it's predictable, that will only be to the extent that it's successful.

 

So yeah, I think the Patriots' offense is going to be tougher than the Broncos offense' was last week.

Great analysis Superman!  I definitely recognized everything you were talking about.  I think the Broncos definitely played into the Colts strengths but I do give a lot of credit to the Colts for forcing them to play that way also.  They dared Peyton to throw over the top, by pressing and releasing, but the corners were on the Bronco WR's like white on rice.  The passes over the middle mostly came from late in the 3rd and 4th quarter.  Colts gave Peyton the short passes at that point because they didn't want to be beat deep.  LB's came up and made the tackles and stopped them without giving up a big play.  Kind of like the old bend but don't break defense.

 

The Patriots are definitely going to have a better game plan, and will execute better.  I don't look for them to run the ball up the middle as much because Stork being out and Art Jones back healthy.  One thing we can agree on is BB is very unpredictable and nobody really knows how he will approach this game until the game starts.  I do look for him to do a lot of stacked formations and rub plays, if we come out and try to have the same defense we played against the Broncos.  If Pats are desperate I'm sure Bill has a few tricks up his sleeve.  He has a knack for frustrating the opposing teams and utilizing strengths and weaknesses.  Broncos might have the better personnel but Pats are better because of the coach.  Also Gillette Stadium is a very difficult place to play, so it will be interesting to see how the Colts handle that. 

[ColtStronger]

I think the colts fans are underestimating Edelmen. He's not the biggest WR or the fastest but is a lot like Welker use to be.Obviously I think the Pats will win but I'm always nervous. Anything can happen. If the colts win the rivalry will be back on. What is will the Indy sports writer calling Belichick mean? That's really funny if u think about it. Somebody needs to shut Richard Sherman up! Please. Much respect to the colts since Bill Polian left

I don't underestimate Edelman, like you said he is pretty much a Wes Welker type guy.  Although Colts CB's are VERY underestimated!  We all know about Davis, who doesn't get enough credit.  Also Toler isn't a shutdown corner, but he is physical, bigger in size, and is very athletic showing potential making plays on the ball.  Butler on the other hand is the guy that will be on Edelman the most.  I am very confident in his abilities also.  He has to be a top 5 3rd string corner in the league.  His play this season amazed me.  He doesn't have to be great, but play disciplined defense and stick to his assignment.  Don't get beat deep, and this isn't asking a lot considering his skill set!

[ricker182]

I predict multiple 3rd and long incompletions followed by a yellow flag for PI 3 seconds later.

As do I, while we don't get anything when TY gets thrown to the ground.

[jabbanobadda]

As do I, while we don't get anything when TY gets thrown to the ground.

Grrrrr....that made me so mad last game against the Pats.  TY got pinballed all over the field and no call.  We barely brushed Gronk's jersey and PI called.  If that happens today I will be more than likely shopping for a new TV tomorrow....

[Bravo]

I predict multiple 3rd and long incompletions followed by a yellow flag for PI 3 seconds later.

I have also been predicting this... This game better be called fair....

[ÅÐØNϧ 1]

Yes but his name is Football Knowledge so all your points must be invalid

maybe he's a soccer fan