[h1]
Breaking down Pats' creativity[/h1][h3]Belichick complements on-field talent with league's most innovative plays[/h3]
When it comes to NFL teams, on-field talent combined with strong quarterback play tends to trump all. However, when skill level and all other elements are equal, creative play-calling can be the difference.
This can make play-calling the most valuable asset a team possesses, but just as on-field talent is not evenly distributed, some teams are much better at utilizing creative play-calling than others.
There are many clubs that could vie for the honor of top spot in this area, but the one that has the strongest claim is the
New England Patriots. With Bill Belichick and his offensive coordinators there is a long history of coming up with some of the most innovative play calls and game plans in the league. The thing is, the creativity extends to the defense as well, and that trend has continued this season.
There are countless examples we could look at, but we'll point out some just from this season:
[h3]Defense[/h3]
This past offseason the Patriots made significant strides to stockpile their secondary. Their efforts were so successful that it was clear this group could arguably be as strong as the Seattle Seahawks'
Legion of Boom.
This upgrade in personnel gave Belichick and his staff, namely defensive coordinator Matt Patricia, so much faith in their pass coverage prowess that they decided to adopt a seemingly risky approach against the powerful
Denver Broncos offense in Week 9.
Peyton Manning is known for his ability and willingness to change a play call from a run to a pass if the opponent implements a loaded defense. At the most basic level, a loaded defense occurs when there are more players in the box (the area between the tackles and back to the linebacker level on the defensive side of the line of scrimmage) than the offense has blockers.
Teams are understandably hesitant to do this against the Broncos, as it almost assures that Manning will hit big plays in the passing game. The stats back this up: According to ESPN Stats & Information, Manning is 46-for-63 for 519 yards, 13 touchdowns and zero interceptions when passing against loaded defenses this season. It'd be an understatement to say it's been a losing strategy.
This did not stop the Patriots from using the loaded defense approach on 27 of Denver's offensive plays. Twenty-four of these occurred when the Broncos were behind on the scoreboard and thus should have been expected to pass, so it wasn't a matter of game situations dictating the move.
Denver had some success passing against this front in the first quarter (6-for-7 for 72 yards) when New England was still waiting to see whether the gambit would move the Broncos into being a one-dimensional offense. Once they saw this was the case, things went south in a big way for Denver, as the Broncos netted 98 offensive yards on 22 loaded defense plays over the rest of the contest (if penalty plays are included in the analysis).
One reason the ploy worked is that Manning had shown this year that he would not attempt play-action passes against a loaded defense. Coming into that game, the Broncos' offense had seen a loaded defense on 97 snaps and attempted a play-action pass against that front only nine times (four of which were screen passes). That trend continued in this contest, as Manning attempted only three play-action passes against a loaded defense and completed two of them for 31 yards.
This isn't the type of move that is likely to work a second time around, but the Patriots saw a way they could dictate the flow of play-calling against arguably the best offense in the NFL and made the maneuver work like a champ.
[h3]Passing offense[/h3]
One of the main play-calling edges New England gets in the passing game is via the creative use of sucker plays.
Sucker plays are variations of the Joe Gibbs 1980s Washington ******** sucker boot play described by Paul "Dr. Z" Zimmerman in his book, "The New Thinking Man's Guide To Pro Football."
The primary concept for this play type in today's NFL is to have the entire offense roll to one side of the field and then have a tight end on the rollout side fake a block, then sneak underneath the overpursuing defense and run in the other direction. He can then either continue on what is now a crossing route or, if the play has enough time to develop, he can turn upfield on a wheel route after completing the crossing route.
Many teams use these types of plays, but what gives New England the edge in this area is its willingness to add not just one but two more variations to it on one play. Once again, this element showed up during the Denver game.
Late in the third quarter the Patriots were up 37-21 and had a second-and-4 at their own 47-yard line.
Tom Brady faked a handoff as the offensive line and two tight ends on the front side of the play all blocked as if it were a stretch running play to the left side.
Brady then dropped back and waited as tight end Michael Hoomanawanui finished with his run fake and then wheeled upfield and down the seam of the Broncos' defense. Denver linebacker
Nate Irving bit on the play-action and block fake and when Hoomanawanui turned upfield, Irving was too late to stop a 16-yard completion that ended up being nullified by an illegal motion penalty.
To run the sucker play from a stretch play rather than a rollout added one difficult element to defend, but it also required changing the receiver running the sucker play to start from the front side of the play. That kind of dual variation is the type of thing that makes defensive coordinators and defenders lose sleep at night.
[h3]Rushing offense[/h3]
The Patriots have also showed a penchant for an incredibly diverse set of rushing play types.
A terrific example of this occurred on the third series of their Week 2 game against Minnesota.
New England's first run on this series was a counter play to the right side. The mindset here was to bring a pulling lineman and lead back and try to blast a hole in the Minnesota defensive front. After that play gained 5 yards, the Patriots then ran a similar type of counter play to the left that gained 3 yards.
It sounds pretty basic so far, but that's when New England started mixing things up.
The next play was a jet sweep to
Julian Edelman. On this run, Edelman came in motion parallel to the line of scrimmage and Brady called for the snap right as Edelman was about to reach him. Brady handed the ball off to the sprinting Edelman, who hit the corner and broke a tackle to gain 9 yards.
At this point, Minnesota had to think about stopping power football up the gut and quick plays to the outside. Three plays later, New England gave the Vikings even more to think about when it motioned a wide receiver by Brady (thus making the defense think about another potential jet sweep) and then ran a wham play. The wham is a short trap that allows a defensive lineman (in this case the nose tackle) to go unblocked by the offensive lineman in front of him. This usually causes the defender to burst upfield, quickly and that's when the trap is set, as the lead blocker seals him off and opens a big gap in the defensive line for the running back to go through.
Stevan Ridley gained 11 yards on this play, but it was reduced to 2 yards due to an offensive holding call.
New England wasn't finished showcasing its rushing playbook, as on the very next play it ran an inside draw play that gained 7 yards.
The variation showed on this drive alone was enough to make the Patriots' rush play-calling stand out, but they also have wrinkles to these plays in other games, such as running a jet sweep to a tight end (as they did to
Tim Wright in their Week 8 game against Chicago) and using a roll draw play that utilizes a draw play out of a half-rollout by the quarterback.
[h3]Bottom line[/h3]
There are dozens and dozens of examples I could point to, but this just serves as a primer.
New England has the talent to match up against just about any team in the league, but it doesn't want to rely on talent alone. The elements listed above are the types of subtleties that can go unnoticed at first glance, but they make putting together a defensive game plan to stop the Patriots' attack that much more difficult.
,can't wait for tonight. Hoping the hoody can continue that unbeaten streak against Luck so far.
