The last time this party was thrown and the Patriots were not invited the year was 1889. The Oklahoma territories had just been opened up to the American people, John L Sullivan fought Jack Kilrain in the last Bare Knuckle Boxing championship ever held and the Wall Street Journal was a rookie news paper. All kidding aside, Eight years,the enormity of that number. For eight consecutive years the Patriots have shown up at this dance and i have written this column, the last time the Pats were home this weekend The Jets (Wow another AFC EASY team) who were making their second consecutive trip to the title game faced the Steelers, Since then the Patriots have stormed this dance floor. eight times, with six different dance partners, They are four and three in this contests. here are my Monster Key to getting them to 5-3 and an unimaginable Ninth Superbowl in 18 years.
Explode then Implode
The Front seven of the Patriots D is the first key to victory.The Big boys need to explode at the line of scrimmage removing any daylight the Chiefs RB’s may be looking for. Push the KC line into the backfield , take away the space needed behind the line and in front of Mahomes they need to run their concepts.. Doing this will allow the Patriots Linebackers to be patent in their reads and not have to guess what Mahomes is going to do with a heavy first step to him or the RB which is what this system is predicated on. . Set the edge and keep Mahomes in the pocket. Collapsed on him.
Disguise Man Coverage
As in week six Brian Flores will again have his hands full. One thing he did really well in the first go round was disguise his coverage’s I want to see even more pre-snap movement on the defensive side of the ball this week , Mahomes did most of his damage in the second half when the Pats played more zone coverage, Keep him guessing then. MAN UP
Body up the Playmakers
Kelce : Get in his face – get in his head – get him to commit penalties. Look for the Pats to use a LB at the line of scrimmage and then for Chung to keep him aggravated and unproductive
Hill : The Pats need technically sound football , from snap to whistle. Hill will be all over the field. he will line up in the slot – in the backfield – out wide. Now i do not know if the Hoodie will go with Gilmour straight up on Hill or not, if he does Stephon needs to bring his A game. If not and he goes with the it takes a village approach then it gets tricky. The Safeties and Linebackers will need to be tech sound in their approach in forcing hill into trouble after the catch when he’s coming out of the backfield and in the slot, Outside Shoulder free on the outside inside shoulder free on the inside. Funnel him into bodies and to the sideline. The Safeties need to be there when they have to pass him off. All eyes on Hill … I’d go Man
NO KC YAC
Yards after Catch – Yards after Contact – No Bueno; Most of not all the damage the Chiefs did back in week six came after . I HATE AFTER ….. Wrap them up and drag them to the turf.
Run it – Run it and while We’re here. Run some more..
This will be another big Game for Sony and Sweet Feet. The Chiefs D is awful in defending the run. Let this O-Line do what it does best blow up the front and get Mr Michel and Mr White to the second level. And set up play-action
Win The turnover battle …
Don’t give this team extra possessions. PLEASE. The last time these two faced off the importance of this key was magnified three times. On 2 Mahomes INT’s and a Brady fumble. All led to points.
12 or Under you Eat for Free But The Drinking Age is 21
Expect to see a lot of Base 21 ( two Backs one TE two WR Sets ) again this week. No one on the planet uses base 21 better than Tom to get the opposition to show it’s hand. With gordon no longer a factor in the Patriots passing attack Tom will need to use more motion this week to get Hogan – Edelman and Dorsett in the right spots and exploit play action. Look for Gronk to chew up the seams and feast on yardage when the Pats go with 2 TE sets. Yes folks he’s back.
Thats it my Rabid Readers, Again soak this all in, what you and i have been a part of will never be seen in sports again… a lot has been made of the hows and whys this has gone on for as long as it has, i fact checked the easy road out of exististance in my column last week, the Gate B/s is just that and i won’t entertain those questions anymore. The Patriots winning road playoff games is out of my hands. That’s up to Tom – Bill – Josh and 70 or so other players – coaches – trainers and personnel to decide. Come sunday night, they all need to do their Jobs so i can keep doing mine..
As always you can follow/give me grief on Twitter @Tmurph207
