14 November, 2019
When Bill Belichick lucked into Rob Gronkowski in
the second round of the 2010 NFL draft, and then Aaron Hernandez two rounds
later, he not only unleashed the most terrorizing tight end-centric offense
that the league has ever seen, but they also showed the entire football world how to combat it as well...
...as he spent many high draft picks in search of
hybrid safeties with enough speed and size to hold their own against what
Belichick imagined would a growing trend in the league.
The point being that Belichick is so far ahead of
the curve, that he is the curve. Any move he makes either in personnel or
in-game expands the vacuum that exists between the Patriots and every other
team. He dictates to the other teams in the AFC East, to an extent, as to how they
view their draft boards, because as the old axiom goes, you build your team to
compete with the teams within your division.
That goes for game planning as well. But the
monstrous tight end fad never really got off the ground, leaving the Patriots
with an enormous number of safeties on their roster and very few quality tight
ends to cover. So the Patriots did what they always do: Morph into whatever
they need to be to compete and win.
New England typically had employed three safeties
as part of their Big Nickel package, reducing two of them down into the tackle
box to help with coverages underneath and up the seam, leaving their fastest
safety, Duron Harmon, to patrol the back end as the single high safety...
...his combination of speed, instincts and geometric
knowledge and implementation of pursuit angles allowing Patrick Chung and Devin
McCourty to take on tight ends and running backs at the line of scrimmage. And
the Big Nickel is still a staple of the Patriots' defense, but is now
integrated into the amoeba looks.
The only thing that opposing quarterbacks know for
sure on the amoeba packages is that if they see Harmon 15 yards or more off the
ball, at least he won't be coming on the pass rush.
But then there's that Cover-Zero package, wherein
the corners – usually Stephon Gilmore and Jason McCourty – the safeties and one
linebacker are all in man coverage, with no single-high safety at all. The idea
being that the defense bringing six pass rushers will force the receivers to
cut their routes short in order to show their numbers to the quarterback before
he gets killed.
An offense like what the Patriots possess wouldn't
be as affected by the Cover Zero as most others would, simply because New
England employs a timing-based ball-control philosophy that sees the ball come
out of Tom Brady's hand quickly, and his receivers running abbreviated
crossers, out and return routes that move the ball in increments on an average
of about six-yards per completion, plus they have perhaps the best passing back
in the league who excels in the screen game...
...while offenses like Dallas, Houston and Kansas
City employ are based on the vertical quick-strike philosophy, and would have
to make major adjustments on the fly – though all possess mobile quarterbacks
as well, the shadowing of which evens the odds in pass protection.
Against those teams, the amoeba or big nickel
packages would be more apt to result in success, as the amoeba would cause
confusion in protection package and the big nickel would provide natural shadow
coverage in case Dak Prescott, DeShaun Watson or Patrick Mahomes decided to the
tuck and run.
But that's for Belichick to figure out.
Whatever he decides to do, he has tremendous depth
in his secondary to go along with perhaps the best starting four in the league.
Jonathan Jones is a hybrid that can play corner or
safety. Terrence Brooks may be the heir-apparent at strong safety to the aging
Chung. Undrafted corner J.C. Jackson and 2019 third-round selection Joejuan
Williams are players that could be seeing a lot of playing time – perhaps even
starting – on other teams.
Covering receivers has been the least of New
England's few problems this campaign, and there is no reason to believe that is
going to change anytime soon.
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