Winning Plays Without Superior Talent

[T-RO]

If there’s one thing the Patriots have shown the league..is that superior talent doesn’t always win. Sometimes the chess aspects of football trump athletic superiority.

If you look at specific downs it’s readily apparent, as with these examples from 2017:

• Dal-SD game: Lewis is positively blanketing a SD receiver but Rivers throws back shoulder. Nothing Lewis can do. His perfect athleticism and coverage is whipped.

• Dal-Wash game: I see a down where the Skins are blitzing and La’el has two guys he needs to block. No skill in the world is enough for that task and Dak is sacked

• Dal-KC game: KC has way more speed on the field than Dallas, but the Cowboys destroy the Chiefs with a superior game plan and scheme.

Next...I’ll discuss some common techniques where NFL teams win plays—with lesser talent

 

[T-RO]

I’m sure others here can improve upon my list but here are ways teams often win NFL plays despite a lack of better athletic talent:

-Gadget plays. I look back to the Pats-Jags game last year and it was clear that the Jaguars were physically dominant. Coach Bill turned to *multiple* trick plays in the second half and the Pats pulled a comeback and won.

-Can’t block a guy? There are ways to get a stud defender that is kicking your ***...to run himself right out of a play with a draw or reverse.

-Screens. Getting whupped by an opposing rush? Turn the opposing team’s speed against them

-Traps. Here you get the advantage of sniper blocking.

-QB scramble/run. These can break the heart of a defense that has otherwise stopped a play

-Pick passes where WR cross paths and create a pile-up of traffic for DBs

What I’m curious to look at is how Dallas will look this season in employing these measures...and stopping them when on defense.

 

[T-RO]

Sean Lee is our Belichick on defense. He may be the NFL’s best defender at sniffing out opposing offense’s “chess-moves”. Sean also loves to hold a ball-carrier so that a teammate can dish a hit or dislodge the ball.

DeMarcus Lawrence is not just physically dominant. He is extremely savvy.

One devastating trick that DeMarcus will do...is he’ll run laterally and erase the blocks that his teammates face, allowing a free-run for a fellow rushman.There was one play I saw where he picked off *two* opposing o-linemen with what were basically blocks—and then he was still able to get to the quarterback himself.

On the downside for the defense, Jaylon wasn’t very astute reading plays and discerning deceptions last season and it’s likely LVE won’t be very good at it during his rookie season.

Our secondary is young so they might not yet grade out highly in reading and playing mind-games. Here is where a trade for Thomas could be huge.

 

[T-RO]

Offensively there is no doubt that Austin was brought in to perform as x-man on the chess board. In addition to the 5-10 touches he’ll get per game, he will be repeatedly used in ball fakes. So far we’ve seen him in camp as pure receiver, but we will surely see half his action in reverses, pitches and screens.

The beauty of the Dallas power game is that Dallas can employ devastating play-action passing off that. If defenses must obsess to stop Zeke...that really could open things up.

Meanwhile Dallas is trying to raise the ante on opposing defensive coordinators by using Cole in more unpredictable ways. With Dez gone we now will have receivers that can run full route trees. I have seen in camp where we used some pick w/our recievers as well.

We don’t feature any Moss or Megatron freaks amongst our receivers. Our physical talent isn’t elite in size or in speed. So we will need to win the Patriot way: timing, precision, picks, back-shoulder passes.

 

[T-RO]

To complete the multi-post review:

-In just his third season Dak hasn’t yet acquired the experience where he’s going to be top ten in reading defenses and out-smarting opponents. He will compensate partially by his ability to hurt defenses with his legs and w/play fakes.

-Dallas coaches are much better than many here appreciate. But we all agree that Garrett isn’t a top ten coach when it comes to out-foxing opponents. Marinelli had a superior scheme going in ‘16, but defenses have answered. He’ll need to draw up some fresh magic.