“Can’t you just let me enjoy the moment ? …. The Moments Over “
Ebby Calvin “ Nuke “ LaLoosh & Crash Davis : Bull Durham
We got that? Nice win, loved it, best time watching a football game in 3 years. Time to move on. The Pats turned a lot of keys last week, the most important, winning the turnover battle ( And Drake to Diggs combo), probably won them this game, but there were keys unturned, Keys ignored. Keys that need to be used this week if the Pats want to go down to Nawlins and come out of the dome with a win. And this is a needed win. I said last week right here, no moral victories. Last week was great, but to truly build culture you have to back up great wins with solid wins against teams you should beat. Here are my Monster Keys to beating the Saints.
Learn to Run The Ball
The presiding opinion of the Patriots O-line coming into this season was, well at least they can run block. Really? I haven’t seen that, forget about Butter Fingers (that finger isn’t pointed at anyone in particular), I’m talking about this line here. The Pats rank 27th in the league in yards per game and 28th in yards per attempt. I expect Terrell Jennings to finally be activated this week. Unlike last week when the Pats needed to set up the run with the pass. The Saints run light boxes on early downs. This line needs to create holes for Stevenson and control the edges for Gibson. Force the Saints to get out of their two high looks.
Motion – Motion and More Motion
Josh is going to have to use waves of motion Sunday to help Drake identify the Saints’ coverages and then Drake is going to have to recognize the mismatches and exploit them to move the chains. Find the weakest link.
Verts – Crossers – Slants & Seams
Okay I’m going to say this once and only once. GET KYLE WILLIAMS IN THE GAME. Williams is the fastest man on Planet Patriots. While I don’t see him having a huge stat day, the 5 ’11 turbo charged wideout can drag coverage out of the play with verts and deep slants. Move those safeties away from the play and allow Diggs and Boutte the room they need underneath. Matriculate the ball down the field. bust that seam and put a smile on Clazzy Clare’s face with some tight endage use. And a wheel route or three for Henderson.
Win the turnover Battle – NOLA is a +1 on the season and was a + 5 last week win vs the Giants. We all saw with our own eyes in Buffalo what turning this key can do for you.
Limit The Laundry – the Pats and Saints are both averaging around 8 flags a game. The difference is the saints are averaging far fewer free yards given up. Line up Right – Don’t Flinch. I’m sick of asking.
Own third Down – here’s the key that wasn’t turned last week that pissed me off the most. Just 33% of the Pats third downs flipped the placard to fist down last week. This number needs to be closer to 50%.
Own the Red Zone – Pats were at 50% last week , doing your job half the time gets you fired in the real world.
Dial it up
Pressure needs to come up the middle and from parts unknown. The Saints O-Line is a MASH unit and the Pats Big Sexys need to get them to bug out with pressure up the middle. The edges need to contain Kamara and Rattler. They did an Amazing job last week vs Buffalo. The front seven need to step it up again on Sunday.
Hey New Guy
Pats interim DC Zak Kuhrn needs to confuse Rattler on the back end dial up blitzes to keep Spencer guessing at what coverage he’s seeing and where the extra man is coming from. This should not be that difficult even though Rattler is a bit older than most rookie QBs – I know this is year two but he’s started fewer NFL games than The Drake, I want to see match quarters. Hell toss in cover eight. Get this kid’s head spinning.
Thats it my rabid readers, I’d love to be mean to the Saints but that’s not easy with Breezy and Sean Peyton out of town. God, I hate them both. But, I love this town, I love its people, I love its food. But on Sunday that all gets put on hold .
As always you can follow / give me grief on Twitter @Tmurph207S
