Chris Johnson and then Ryan Williams...

[ARZCardinals]

dang...some of you should just mow your lawn instead of watching the game


bunch of debbie downers

 

[kerouac9]

I believe we will be blitzing quite a bit in this game so it will be tough. Peterson sticks to Lloyd, a safety or Washignton on Gronk, same goes for Hern, and Welker gets our number two. The key for the Cards will be press coverage on Welker, Gronk and Hern when they blitz to take away Brady's quick passing options which is something we don't do much of. I am interested in seeing what sort of game plan Horton comes up with, but that is what I would do.

Fair enough. I don't think that you can beat the New England Patriots by blitzing them any more than I think you can beat Peyton Manning by doing so. I think that we have the talent with our Front 3 + Acho to pressure Brady if we can be creative with how we bring them; the New England offensive line is still a work in progress (n.b. Brady's broken nose and 4 QB hits against a talent-poor Tennssee rush unit).

So much depends on Jameel Fleming being healthy. I think you can press William Gay on Welker when he's in the slot and feel like you can win that matchup sometimes. I like Adrian Wilson on Gronk and Washington or Rhodes on Hernandez. I think we'll see a lot more of Rashad Johnson playing deep safety (he didn't play a single defensive snap last week) to free up coverage options underneath.

This defense are good tacklers, and that's important. The issue will be if Kevin Kolb looks like himself and the game gets out of hand in the first two quarters. I still have no faith that this offense can bring us back from a two-score deficit.

 

[Mulli]

Gronk will eat AW's lunch.

 

[kerouac9]

Gronk will eat AW's lunch.

In the red zone, I think you're probably right. Wilson just doesn't have the lateral mobility. But Rob Gronkowski doesn't have amazing speed on par with Jermichael Finley, Jimmy Graham, Antonio Gates, or his teammate Aaron Hernandez. He's just an incredibly physical player who creates challenges especially when he's placed in-line.

In the red zone, I'd probably bracket Gronkowski between Daryl Washington and Kerry Rhodes. I have a lot of faith in Kerry Rhodes's ability to cover laterally in a short area.

 

[Cheesebeef]

man... this game is gonna be boogalay-uglayyyy!!!

 

[Chopper0080]

Fair enough. I don't think that you can beat the New England Patriots by blitzing them any more than I think you can beat Peyton Manning by doing so. I think that we have the talent with our Front 3 + Acho to pressure Brady if we can be creative with how we bring them; the New England offensive line is still a work in progress (n.b. Brady's broken nose and 4 QB hits against a talent-poor Tennssee rush unit).

So much depends on Jameel Fleming being healthy. I think you can press William Gay on Welker when he's in the slot and feel like you can win that matchup sometimes. I like Adrian Wilson on Gronk and Washington or Rhodes on Hernandez. I think we'll see a lot more of Rashad Johnson playing deep safety (he didn't play a single defensive snap last week) to free up coverage options underneath.

This defense are good tacklers, and that's important. The issue will be if Kevin Kolb looks like himself and the game gets out of hand in the first two quarters. I still have no faith that this offense can bring us back from a two-score deficit.

You are right in that ideally you would get pressure with a four man rush, and play a man 2 deep coverage behind it. This would allow you to press underneath and have two safeties over the top to cover any mistakes.

However, very few teams in the NFL can do this, and it is a much better strategy to blitz a top QB than to fall back and play zone. Blitzing forces man coverage which puts pressure on the QB to make a better throw while, as you know, zones have holes in them which great Qbs tend to pick apart.

 

[kerouac9]

You are right in that ideally you would get pressure with a four man rush, and play a man 2 deep coverage behind it. This would allow you to press underneath and have two safeties over the top to cover any mistakes.

However, very few teams in the NFL can do this, and it is a much better strategy to blitz a top QB than to fall back and play zone. Blitzing forces man coverage which puts pressure on the QB to make a better throw while, as you know, zones have holes in them which great Qbs tend to pick apart.

The entire philosophy of the Zone Blitz concept is to be able to create pressure with inferior talent by having guys that can succeed in a number of roles, either pursuit, coverage, or rush. I'd argue that there are maybe a majority of teams in the NFL that can create pressure with 4 rushers and playing 7 back, although I'd prefer that you not ask me to.

I don't mind playing Cover-0 or Cover-1 against the Pats with man underneath. I think there are battles we can win if we double-cover the right guys. I don't think you can win against Brady by rushing 4 and playing zone behind them; we're too young at CB to handle passing off guys.

In the majority of cases, I agree with you that you'd prefer trusting your personnel and pressure schemes in zone blitz, but against ultra-elite QBs like Rodgers, Brady, Peyton Manning and Drew Brees, you need to just let your guys run with their receivers and beg Brady to tuck and run or audible to a run play.

I think we can win the matchup battles most of the time, and prevent YAC yardage the rest of the time.

 

[MadCardDisease]

man... this game is gonna be boogalay-uglayyyy!!!

I know. I'm just hoping we get out of there healthy. I can easily see our defense being on the field for 80 something plays.

Our OL is going to be eaten alive out there. I doubt Williams or Wells even have a chance to make it to make it back to the LOS without getting hit. I'm guessing Kolb sees a ton of 3rd and longs.

 

[Bodha]

Chris Johnson is the most overrated player in the NFL. I was shocked when he did run for 2K, back when he did.

The guy is an open field runner. Hed probably be great on kickoff or punt return. He is not a bruiser or power runner. He needs gaping holes to do anything, and will rarely break a tackle.