|
People act like what Belichik is doing this year with the heavy blitzes and man coverage is new. They started it last year towards the end of the season. They did it heavily against Rapistburger in the Pitt game and barely lost. Then they pounded San Diego with it in the divisional round and pounded the chiefs in the first half of AFCC. The 2nd half of that AFCC is a recipe how to counter it.
IMO it's moreso to make up for the pass rush deficiencies than it is anything else. In a base 4 man rush Belichik probably has bottom 5 pass rush personnel, and it's been that way most of the time since Chandler Jones left. But he messes with pressures and is consistently able to get rush production by creating free runs at the QB & matchups: DE against TE, LB against RB. The "amoeba" looks prevent the QB & Oline from getting clean reads & the secondary forces the QB to hold the ball. It's definitely a synergy where the sum is way way greater than the individual parts. Most of that front 7 are slapdick castoffs from other teams, and they were castoffs for a reason.
|