Know the Enemy:  New England Patriots

The immovable object vs. the irresistible force

Series:  Steelers lead 13-9, last won in Foxborough in ’97. 

Injury report:  click here

Mike Tomlin Press conference:  click here

Patriots Conference call:  click here

 9-3…Raise your hand if you gave this team even half a chance to have this record in August.  But now we’re entering a stretch run for the playoffs with 2 tough games ahead and this team needs to show more consistency on offense if it plans to make a splash in postseason.  Coming off of two less than dominating wins,  now have a 3 game division lead (including tiebreaker) and control their own destiny.  It was an ugly win Sunday night over Cincy,  the Steelers tried their best to give the game away,  but Marvin Lewis and his gang tried even harder not to take it.  The defense continued its run toward excellence as I remember a 4^th QTR Carson Palmer statline that read 13/33 at one point.

Week 14 brings the elite.  The hated New England Patriots.  The Steelers are early week 14 pt dogs heading to Foxborough and need to play with a  chip on their shoulders.  We seem to be getting healthy at the right time as it looks like Troy Polamalu,  Santonio Holmes,  and Marvel Smith all have a chance to suit up and play.  Lets Hope.  New England is coming off of 2 grind it out last minute victories that have left their bodies and psyches bruised a little and hopefully it’s the right time to catch them.  Randy Moss was quoted in an interview this as saying his body is tired and he needs Coach Belicheck to go easy on them this week,  but knows it wont happen.  His response to being called out by Ron Jaworskie of taking plays off was as eloquent as Randy has ever been,  “Man,  I play when I want to play”.  End of story.  New England is only the 5^th team since the 1970 merger to start 12-0 and the current Steelers are not unaware of what it takes to end a long Patriot winning streak as they put an end to a 21 game streak in 2004.  There isn’t a man,  woman,  or child that resides in Steeler Nation that doesn’t dispuise everything that franchise stands for as QB Tom Brady proudly wears 2 superbowl rings we handed to him on a silver platter.  I wont harp on spygate,  as I don’t believe it effects this game in anyway as new systems on both sides of the ball have changed the teams dynamics.

The Offense:  led by OC Josh McDaniel

Single back,  shotgun formation straight out of page 1 of Mack Browns Football 101 at Texas.  So simplistic Vince Young could run it,  yet so complicated noone can figure it out how to stop it.  It reinforces the fact that the game isn’t all “X”’s and “O”’s,  its “Jimmies and Joes”.  They have phenomenal athletes on offense and an arsenal of weapons.  It all starts up front with OL play.  The have been a rock.  McDaniel has changed their philosophy to pinch their splits to combat interior pressure and roll protection playside.  Its leaves the backside tackle on an island but Brady’s awareness and quick release help combat that.  The 3 interior OL are credited with a grand total of one sack b/c of this with the tackles making up the bulk of the statline.  LT Matt Light has played well this year,  but has shown to be susceptible to speed and rip moves.  If you get in his head,  he gets out of his game and the penalties and sacks start to rack up.  Silverback is just the man to do it as he has an underhook and body lean to crash the outside shoulder as well as anyone in the game right now.  I fully expect NE to show some early 2 TE sets to see if they are able to run the ball against a 7 man front.  I hope big Casey ate his Wheaties this week as he’ll be forced to go no huddle for 60 minutes.  They wont be able to run the ball and once they figure that out it will be back to 4WR sets 2X2 or 3 ‘n 1 stacked with Randy Moss alone on one side.  Brady calls the plays at the line once they come in barking bogus signals to his wideouts then calling the protections once he identifies the Mike.  He’ll then communicate with his wideouts which direction he is going.  His eyes tell the story as he stares down his playside coverage before the snap.  We all know the weapons they throw at you with Welker running underneath and Stallworth YAC he racks up.  What scares the hell out of me is the back coming out of the backfield and the TE up the seam.  5 guys in a route and all can ball,  how do you stop it?  Heath Evans is the only real goal line threat in the run game and his best and only attribute is he’s got size and body lean and always falls forward.  If Mike Vrabel or Junior Seau catch a red zone TD someone needs fired.

Its cliché and we’ve heard it all year,  but pressure the QB and hit the WR’s.  They’re starting to feel it.  Rex Ryan uncharacteristically took a page out Mr. LeBeaus play book Monday night overloading pressure to one side as they roll protection and it seemed to work.  NE didn’t have that much of an answer..  BLT is usually of the mindset of just bringing the house,  but it worked.  Im not sure if it’s a blueprint or not,  as NE could just be a in a flat 2 game lull just like the Steelers were against NYJ and MIA.  The ILB’s are a huge key in this game as they’ll need to shut down the underneath stuff early and often.  Its proven to be key to double Moss and and play 9 on 10 with them.  I sort of like the matchup of Townsend on Welker in the slot as DeShea is at his best against smaller WR’s withing 10yds of the line of scrimmage and I fully expect McFadden can play the physical game it takes to contain Stallworth.  But never put it by Bill Belichick to start in some exotic formation to get the #1 pass D on its heels.  He knows you cant spread this team out like you could when Cowher wore the headset.  Take a note from ’04 and it will tell you every time Troy is in single high,  Brady’s going deep. 

The Defense:  Led by DC Dean Pees

Standard 34 base,  single gap cover 2.  Zone dog with outside technique on the perimeter and  SS dictating underneath coverage.  All that means is they try and play the same thing we do,  they’re just not as good at it.  They’ll go a lot of single high safety looks early until they build a lead keeping Rodney Harrison up in the run game to combat screens and TE digs while rushing the passer if unassigned.  The front 3 (Warren,  Wilfork,  Seymour,  and Jarvis Green)  are immovable on paper.  The strength of the unit.  This was to be Vince Wilforks coming out year and it started just that way.  But over the last 2 weeks I watched OC’s Mike Flynn and Jamaal Jackson toss him like a rag doll which almost leaves the slightest glimmer of hope Sean Mahan stands a chance, but don’t count on it.  The key matchup here is watching Richard Seymour teeing off on Kendall Simmons when Ben takes his drop,  and it wont be pretty.  Until recent,  I would’ve said  you cant move the interior of this line and run plays to interior will go nowhere,  but they’re off their game right now.  Only zone style stretch plays have seemed to work and that could’ve been the fact the newly acquired Adalius Thomas was manning the middle until an injury forced Rosey Colvin to IR.  The inside is now manned by the ageless wonders Tedy Bruschi,  Junior Seau,  and Chad Brown.  An exploited matchup waiting to happen due to lack of interior speed at LB.  It should really hamper their underneath coverages in that alignment and force them to more nickel looks than they’d like.  Neither Marvel nor Max Starks should have much problems with Adalius Thomas coming off the edge.  He was great in BLT coming from different angles,  but straight up he’s not that vicious.  The secondary is opportunistic.  They like to jump routes and are susceptible to double moves,  especially CB Asante Samuel,  who is a very good CB.  Opposite of him is the weak link,  Ellis Hobbs who’s turning in a season much like the one Ike Taylor had last year.   The secondary also lacks ideal speed but every single one of them has ideal ball skills and route recognition,  staples of a Belicheck defense. 

The Steelers need to set the tempo and execute. Get FWP in space and let the wideouts run off safeties to exploit Hines Ward and TE matchups underneath.  Ball control is must to keep Brady on the sideline.  Heath Miller and Matt Spaeth are both mismatches for the ILB’s and a hamstring may keep SS Rodney Harrison out of the game.  Harrison isn’t the player he once was,  but is the captain of that back 7 and just seems to know where the ball is going.  [cough]signal stealing[cough].  Just as he jumped the TE route to Jerame Tuman in the 2004 AFCCG when the entire staff told the rook,  Big Ben,  that he would do exactly that and to hit the post to Hines Ward over the top. Result,  pick 6.    Its time to unleash the playbook.  Get Willie matched up on LB’s in the passing game and wide on run plays.  We have 2 Xtra large TE’s brought in for the purpose of sealing LB’s on the edge and now its time to execute.  Limit the sacks,  limit the penalties and get a hat on a hat.  It’s the simple lack of fundamentals that gets this unit in trouble.  The pieces are there,  use them. 

Special Teams

Ellis Hobbs is the return man.  While not flashy,  he gains field position and is very good at it.  He lacks breakaway speed,  but took one to the house from the back of the end zone early on this season.  The offense has been so dynamic that the NE punter hasn’t even had enough attempts to be able to register amongst league leaders. 

One thing of note a bright spot for the Steelers,  was a ST’s turnover last week against Cincy.  Hard to believe,  but Carey Davis made a play and Andre Frazier had a couple of nice tackles on returns.