Yea I just cringed at the thought of gronk dragging cro 20 yards. I bet it would be hard for revis to tackle him solo we eric(continental shelf lma0)smith to use his repressed black rage on welker again [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q82ic05L8Pk[/youtube]
If Hernandez doesn't play, the only way we'll see 2 TE sets is if they use a lineman at TE or sign another TE, because they are the only 2 TE's on the roster right now.
Revis on Welker. I do not care if he is not lined up outside, he gets the most balls. Branch and Ocho Cinco are average and below average receivers respectively, so I am not terribly worried about them. Figure a way to cover Gronkowski and we are all set.
Wilson actually lined up against Welker a good amount in the 2nd half of Week 2 last year after Revis went out and did an excellent job. He was dinged up though after the Eric Smith blow the helmet, but he still proved he can do it.
Week 2 last year Welker was not up to full speed because of the knee injury he suffered at the end of the previous season, so I wouldn't draw any conclusions from that game.
He had 8 catches and 2 touchdowns in Week 1 last year. I already said he wasn't his normal self though, just for a different reason.
Vince I get this completely. However, I want to see Welker jammed at the line all day long. I don't really give a crap who is on his outside/inside, unless its Gronkowski, who to my knowledge hardly ever lines up in the slot. So if Welker is in the slot we should bump him, and if he's outside bump him. Yeah its hard to get your hands on the guy, but if you keep punishing him, its going to get to him. plus disrupting the timing routes he runs with Brady are so damn critical to stopping their offense. To me it seems that anytime you can play bump and run with Welker, you do it. Agreed that Revis on Gronk all game probably won't work nearly as well as a double cover simply because of Gronk's major size advantage (both height and width) over Revis. But in key spots, like the redzone or key 3rd and 6's, Revis on Gronk I expect would be very effective. But of course, Revis matches up better with Hernandez. Hopefully Hernandez misses this week, and makes Rex's job a little easier. I want to beat them at full strength sure, but I want to beat them most of all. We need a win to right the ship and get moving in the right direction.
The only problem I have with revis on gronk is that in key situations, brady seems to always to go to welker 9 time out of 10 . I think cro might be a better option on gronk in the red zone because he doesn't have to worry about tackling him should he catch it.
I think this is going to be one of the most interesting aspects of the game. The run offense that NE showed in Oakland was something that they haven't shown before, so as such you can't say that it's a given that they can repeat it against a team that is expecting it.
This is one of the things you have to worry about with Welker. They will line him up anywhere. This is a play where they start Welker in the back field. They motion him out to the left where Branch and Ochocinco are lined up. Branch and Ochocinco run down the field. Ochocinco runs a fly pattern and Branch runs a 10 yard stop. Welker runs out into the flat and is wide open. When he catches the ball BenJarvus Green-Ellis who ran a pass pattern and Deion Branch are now blockers for Welker who gains 24 yards on the play.
Hmmm... If he's motioned to the left its easy then just switch man .... if they went right and someone has to run over it could be an issue.
Mangini and Bruschi did an excellent breakdown today on what the Jets did last game ... great scheme by Rex, and it was very disciplined jamming .. hopefully espy uploads that video
You can't jam someone at the line when they are very rarely at the LOS. It's very difficult to jam a slot WR and damn near impossible to jam one in motion.
we used our olb to jam him on the way to the qb and it was extremely effective ... i haven't seen a team even attempt that strategy this year and it's baffling to me
