It used to be Willis McGahee few years ago when he was with the Bills. He would burn us for 150+ yards from scrimmage every time we faced him. Lately, it has been Wes Welker. He has been nothing short of outstanding against our D. In the last four games against us, he has 35 receptions, 410 yards and 1 TD. Not counting his second game back from injury, he then has 372 yards on 29 receptions and one TD in his last three games. That averages to nearly 10 receptions a game for 124 yards. His last game against us when healthy was a 15 receptions, 192 yard effort, adding another 11 yards rushing. That was the most annoying day last year since we apparently had the best pass D in the league. With Randy Moss now gone, the strategy should be Revis covering this little schmuck while Antonio covers Deion Branch. Antonio should not have a tough time and we all know Revis never gets a tough time. All that is left is covering their 3rd WR or a TE. Hopefully Wilson mans up from being "snakebitten" and can cover a rookie TE. Shouldn't be an issue for a rookie corner, but that is the only concern I have. If Drew Coleman is covering Wes Welker, it is going to be a long long day. What do you guys think? Do you agree with me? ps. I did not read the Jets vs. Pat thread discussion besides the OP. I'm not sure if this has been discussed, but I think it deserves its own thread. 15 recetpions and 192 yards in his last game before injury certainly deserves a separate look IMO.
Welker used to be a pain in every teams ass. Now he is what he is. A quick underneath WR who needs a legit deep threat to compliment his style. There is no longer one guy to look out for on the Pats. Nobody they have is a gamebreaker they are just going to try to nickel and dime you to death.
Although Welker always kills us I'm more concerned about Aaron Hernandez and Rob Gronkowski matched up against our safeties and LBs.
Welker had one great game against us, the game in NE last year and they don't have randy Moss for our D to worry about anymore. Other than that game he hasn't done much including only 2 TDs in his career against us.
Welker's stats over the last two years 2010 - 1 : 6 for 38, 1TD, long 11 2009 - 2 : 15 for 192, long 43 2009 - 1 : Did not play (Edelman 8 for 98, long 29) Welker had one amazing game last year. Moss is gone, allowing us to shift the defense to cover Welker better. I'm comfortable with the matchups. edit: damn it I've been junc'd
2009 - 2 : 15 rec, 192 yards. 2008 - 2 : 7 rec, 108 yards. 2008 - 1 : 7 rec, 72 yards. Those are some big games against a good pass D. He barely came back from injury in his first game this year, but the three previous games is what worries me. I think we can contain the TEs to a limited production, but Welkers shiftiness and quickness worries me. Would you rather have Revis cover Deion Branch while Cro covers Welker, or Revis covering Welker while Cro covers Branch? I think Revis needs to shut down Welker since he is the one Brady looks at when they wanna move the chains. Yes, Moss is no longer there, but Patriots have changed their offensive strategy accordingly as well.
Don't agree about covering the TEs at all. This season we have been nothing short of shit in stopping good TEs, and the Pats have 2, + Branch and Welker. We have 2 good CBs in Cro and Revis, the rest are average, Leonard can't cover TEs and nor can Smith and Pool. I would like to see what Dig can do with some press coverage. The way I'm working this out is they will always have one threat open, what we need to do is to make him have to look to see who it is, which means moving Revis and Cro about, and step up the pass rush at notch, thats how to beat him
Hernandez only has 2 catches in the last 3 games - he is now overlooked as Gronkowski seems to get the TE looks (5,1,5 recep in last 3 games) Tate doesn't see the field much as he has proven unreliable catching the ball - 0 catches last two games. Branch is there best vertical option and he isn't even that against a decent CB. They have a bunch of possession timing receivers. Hit them, mess up the timing at the line of scrimmage, give the d-line more time to pressure Brady. Can't let him go two steps and throw a screen/slant pass.
If any player could be called 'Jets Killer' in the Patriots' past, it was Kevin Faulk. But he got knocked out for the season the last time the Jets played against New England. Now Woodhead is playing that role well, and I have a feeling that Woodhead is going to feast in the flats against our shaky linebacker coverage. And of course there will be 15 Woodhead threads next Tuesday. But I think the Jets will still win.
Branch and Welker are too quick to hit at the LOS on a regular basis, they'll get around any db trying that. Moss was easy to chip and hurt his rythm. Branch is very similar to Cochery, very quick and smart, but probably a little better all around. Most importantly, healthy. He's very underrated reading the comments on this board, and if the Jets put a nickel back on him so they can cover Welker or a TE, Brady & Branch will have a field day. The big question of the week is who the Jets will match up with whom, or will the CB's just stay on 1 side of the field all day and cover whoever comes to them? Patriots have good weapons and the OL has been great in pass protection.
I don't think that the big question is who covers whom, I think that it's whether or not the Jets can put pressure on Brady. If Brady can stand tall in the pocket and read the whole field, then we're fucked no matter who's on Welker and who's on Branch--there are just too many weapons in their passing game, and there will always be an open man. The key is to make Brady move, and to hit him early so he starts hurrying his throws a little bit.
I really think that our DBs are not going to be assigned to specific players the entire game, and just play all over the field like against Baltimore, Cleveland, and Denver. It's just not necessary with such an even spread offense. (But if we play Baltimore again, Revis will be on Boldin)
That was the one allignment decision that I really despised based on what Rex has done this year. Revis being only on 3 days rest really screwed us up against Baltimore. But frankly I think it all builds to where we are now, and everybody from the top down is improving every week, which really has me excited for the next 5 games!
