Anatomy of a 4th Down Stop

[Direckshun]

1st quarter, 9:33, Patriots up 7-0, ball on the Chiefs 9 yard line:

It is 4th and inches. Brady is under center and the Pats are all OL and TEs, save for Gillislee in the backfield, and Hogan out wide with Mitchell covering.

The Chiefs have Ford and Houston off the edge, with Peters and Parker monitoring the TEs out to the right side of the line. DJ is shuffling presnap to get everyone set -- he already knows where the play is going. Berry patrolling the middle. The DL is all in four point stances with Jones, Logan, Bailey, with Ramik Wilson buried in there somewhere.

The ball is set. Brady calls the snap.

Logan is double-teamed and pushed about a couple yards off the LOS, while Chris Jones juts through the left side of the line, blowing up his side of the line. Ford is walled out of the play by a lineman.

But that's not where the play is run. It's run behind the RG, and Bailey immediately grabs the RG on the snap and shoves him upright and back to where the center was (currently getting push on Logan). The guard is stymied and shoved backwards, clogging the hole Gillislee was supposed to hit.

Houston and Berry hit the gap that Bailey has cleared for them. Houston darts through it, carrying Solder with him. DJ follows Houston's lead, carrying Gronkowski with him, and between the bodies of Gronkowski and Solder, Gillslee hits a wall.

The other TE out right darts out to Parker, leaving a certain All Pro safety completely untouched. Berry knifes between Houston and DJ and finds the legs of Gillslee, freezing him with still a half a yard to go.

Gillislee isn't finished, and can still fall forward -- theoretically. But Logan has recovered and Bailey throws his blocker off, and both collapse on Gillislee, burying him to the turf and ending the down short of the 1st down marker.

Turnover, Chiefs.

[ThaVirus]

Originally Posted by Earthling

I was really surprised Brady didn't do a qb sneak. I think a younger Brady would, as he has numerous times in the past. Momentum changing stop by the Chiefs. Hell yeah !!!

I thought the same thing.

I think, either they didn't have confidence in their interior line beating our bigs or they didn't want to risk any injury to a 40 year old Brady. Like Manning in his last years, those injuries heal much more slowly at that age.

[Hydrae]

Originally Posted by Direckshun

Stay tuned for this afternoon.

Afternoon?

[Nickhead]

did you see the chargers fourth down attempt against denver? six offensive linemen and the rb got creamed three yards deep .

but yeah... good defenses stop weaker offenses.

[Pueblo Chieftan]

it's a game of angles and inches and ..lol

[jettio]

Seems to me that the Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch pre-game show infected Belichick's brain.

Going for that 4th down instead of a FG was a total disrespect move. Pats drive opening kickoff for TD, Chiefs fumble on 1st play from scrimmage. Made a lot more sense to take the 3 points to go up 10-0, than to listen to the dummies in the stands.

[Amnorix]

So, from a Patriots perspective, I absolutely hated the play-calling there. Belichick certainly does believe that if it's "fourth down and the length of my dick" (a quote of his apparently) that he's going to put it on the team to just man up and get that. I think, especially early in the season, he was trying to instill that mentality/toughness/physicality that they can go do that if they need to.

But seriously, I hated it. Seemed like a 1984 Hogs Redskins type football. Power formation and run it up the gut. Really? Makes no sense to me at all. Either take the 3, or do soemthing a LITTLE more clever than show an obvious power run and run it up the gut.

AND THEN DO THE EXACT SAME THING AGAIN LATER IN THE GAME. WHISKEY TANGO FOXTROT?!?

I hated the playcalling for most of the game, to be honest. But everyone here will just say it's sour grapes or whatever, so I'm not going to bother talking much about it. Chiefs clearly outplayed the Pats and deserved the win. I'm not one to blame coaches often, but I thought the coaches sucked as well as the players for huge stretches of that game.

[Amnorix]

Originally Posted by ThaVirus

I thought the same thing.

I think, either they didn't have confidence in their interior line beating our bigs or they didn't want to risk any injury to a 40 year old Brady. Like Manning in his last years, those injuries heal much more slowly at that age.

Pats almost never do QB sneak out of THAT formation. That formation took QB sneak away. Usually we do the QB sneak after going 4 or 5 wide.

[Halfcan]

Originally Posted by Amnorix

So, from a Patriots perspective, I absolutely hated the play-calling there. Belichick certainly does believe that if it's "fourth down and the length of my dick" (a quote of his apparently) that he's going to put it on the team to just man up and get that. I think, especially early in the season, he was trying to instill that mentality/toughness/physicality that they can go do that if they need to.

But seriously, I hated it. Seemed like a 1984 Hogs Redskins type football. Power formation and run it up the gut. Really? Makes no sense to me at all. Either take the 3, or do soemthing a LITTLE more clever than show an obvious power run and run it up the gut.

AND THEN DO THE EXACT SAME THING AGAIN LATER IN THE GAME. WHISKEY TANGO FOXTROT?!?

I hated the playcalling for most of the game, to be honest. But everyone here will just say it's sour grapes or whatever, so I'm not going to bother talking much about it. Chiefs clearly outplayed the Pats and deserved the win. I'm not one to blame coaches often, but I thought the coaches sucked as well as the players for huge stretches of that game.

Must have been a pretty hard crash down to earth for the Pats- they were convinced they had the Greatest team ever assembled.

[noa]

For one of those two plays, I would have gone for a kill shot and try to catch us off guard with a longer pass.

[Amnorix]

Originally Posted by Halfcan

Must have been a pretty hard crash down to earth for the Pats- they were convinced they had the Greatest team ever assembled.

Losing Edelman hurt obviously, but also having Mitchell out means it was Amendola, Hogan, Gronk and the new kids that need time to assimilate. But it's only September, and the Chiefs had a great game plan and played very well. Not too many teams have Peters/Berry, including unfortunately the Chiefs themselves for the rest of the year.

Suspect the Patriots will improve during the course of the year as usual and as Brady develops a better connection with some of the new offensive pieces he has.

For the record, it's pretty easy to stomach a loss in September, no matter how ugly, when you've won 2 out of the last 3 Super Bowls and been to 7 straight AFCCGs.

[Direckshun]

That receiving corps, with Brady, is enough to be Super Bowl caliber, though.

The big injury is Hightower. If Hightower returns full force, then the Pats will, as always, be favored in the playoffs against probably everyone so long as they're at home.

On the road against the Steelers and Chiefs, it'd be dicier, but never cast doubt on the GOAT QB.

[Amnorix]

Originally Posted by Direckshun

That receiving corps, with Brady, is enough to be Super Bowl caliber, though.

The big injury is Hightower. If Hightower returns full force, then the Pats will, as always, be favored in the playoffs against probably everyone so long as they're at home.

On the road against the Steelers and Chiefs, it'd be dicier, but never cast doubt on the GOAT QB.

Hightower supposedly has a sprained MCL. Will likely be back for week 2.

Agreed that the offense is ok as it stands -- just can't take too many more hits. Hightower is HUGE for the defense. Cant' really afford to lose him.

[Direckshun]

Kind of shocking how skinny the Pats roster is, considering they threw a lot of money around this offseason.

Lose Trey Flowers and they'll have no passrush. Lose Hightower and they have no ILB. Lose McCourty and they lose their everything guy in the secondary.