The Giants have been very successful at getting pressure with just their front-4 and only blitz a small amount of the time when compared with most teams.
Very good (and very fair) analysis by a Pats fan. The Giants D-Line, particularly Justin Tuck, defeated the Patriots pass-blockers. Pats Pro-Bowl LG Logan Mankins had a horrible day.
It looked from the pics that Tuck was playing the RDT spot instead of Fred Robbins (with Osi at RDE). Tuck was a situational pass-rushing DE in 2007 so that was a bit unusual but I guess they used that lineup to get pressure on Brady. Robbins is listed as the starter at RDT for the SB so the pics must have been of just some of the plays Tuck was in for.
Mankins isn't the biggest OG in the NFL at 304 lbs but Tuck only goes 268 so he's giving up nearly 40 lbs but he bullrushed Mankins and easily manhandled him in those shots.
I think the most interesting point the author brought out was that the Pats had the right gameplan to defeat the Giants' passrush, lots of screens, but it failed due to the quickness with which the Giants' DL got into the backfield and that their LBs and DBs stayed close to the LOS.
Actually, screens are most effective against teams that blitz their LBs a lot, when a team can get pressure without blitzing then screens are less effective, which is what we saw in that game. Even stranger is that they worked pretty well in the final game of the regular season when they beat the Giants 38-35. Brady threw for 356 yards in that game and was only sacked once but in the SB he threw for 266 yards and was sacked 5 times.
Still, that was two years ago and the Giants have lost several players from that defense as well as their DC. They got 11 fewer sacks last year than in 2007, partly due to injuries but also from not being able to adequately replace guys they lost. They still fielded a top-5 defense but it didn't put the same kind of pressure on opposing QBs with just the front-4 like in 2007.
