NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS VS TENNESSEE TITANS
David against Goliath ... a very clever Goliath, who will surely take away his slingshot from David. With Golia we mean Belichick and the Patriots and with slingshot we mean the racing game of the Titans, their best weapon, which is why Mariota wants to win if she wants to exploit her arm and her receivers will absolutely have to win one-on-one matchups for people like Matthews and Wright could be a problem against Butler and Gillmore. Certainly it will not be a problem for Delanie Walker who, in my opinion, will be the true difference maker of the game given her skills as a blocker and a receiver. Defensively, Jurrell Casey will make the difference by putting pressure on the inside, forcing Brady out of his pocket and throwing unfamiliar to his style. Very important will be Putting Ryan and a safety in double marking on Gronkowski since if you limit the number 87 the Patriots attack has found some problem in producing yards and TD with its wide receivers.
New England watching the Titans race against the Chiefs will certainly understand that the short throws like slants, crossing, quick out are extremely effective against the defense of LeBeau that is more focused on not granting yards on the run and big plays. Relying on Brady's innate ability to throw against zone defenses in exactly the conflict zone will force the Titans to change their approach which is usually a blitz zone and this could lead to confusion for mates especially if runningbacks are involved and tight ends in short and fast pitches. Matt Patricia and Bill Belichick will obviously play 8 in the box for most of the game and with the defensive end in the contain version or with a linebacker (Van Noy) in spy to keep Mariota in the pocket limiting the potential and the danger of a lot. McCourthy will be called with Chung for sure to double up against Walker in almost all the launch situations especially on the Crossing routes where the tight end of the Titans is lethal and where he has the opportunity to turn the corner and produce so big plays.
PITTSBURGH STEELERS VS JACKSOVILLE JACKSONVILLE
The first match of the season saw the Jaguars win at Heinz Field with an amazing test of the defense that forced Big Ben to launch 5 interceptions (maximum in his career).
As for the Steelers if they want to win this game will certainly have to change something in their playbook, the first thing is certainly to run more the ball than the first time and force the linebackers to play closer to the line of scrimmage and especially to slow the fearsome passrushers of the Jaguars. From the point of view of the launches probably will see more bunches and stack formations in order to force the defense of Jacksonville to play more in the area and avoid the pressure that has literally killed them in the first match, plus they could put Brown in slot so removing from the marking to Ramsey's man who would not follow him in that position. Defensively for the killer bees the order is quite predictable "if Bortles wins it to do it" In the previous season in fact the quarterback of the Jaguars had launched only for 98 without TD.
The Jaguars offensively will have to bet on a ground and pound exploiting the absence of Shazier forcing Mitchell to play in the box to limit Fournette, if this were to succeed Bortles' chances to make a good game would get up having the weapon of play action available. Just the ability of Bortles not to grant turnovers in my opinion will determine the chances of winning his team. Defensively Jacksonville will have to prepare to play more in the area than he would like and moreover by exploiting the area you can open scenarios of blitz even from secondary giving very different looks that could confuse Roethlisberger.
MINNESOTA VIKINGS VS NEW ORLEANS SAINTS
They have already met at the first of the season but everything has changed why Vikings vs Saints in my opinion is one of the most uncertain games of the playoffs of recent years.
The Saints with an amazing attack will face one of the strongest and most complete defenses of the NFL, to win New Orleans will have to be patient and not irritate if they can not put together the numbers that usually do. Brees will have a difficult task that will be to look for alternatives to Michael Thomas since it will be marked to man by Rhodes for those throughout the game, credible alternatives and that could create quite a few problems to the Vikings are: Kamara from the backfield and beyond, Ginn from the slot and try some play action in the short-medium range given the reactivity of Minnesota linebackers will be difficult to try big plays. The role of Ingram and the line has never been so important, since when Minnesota's defense gave way it did so on power runs.
Defensively the Saints will rely on Cameron Jordan with probably 4-5 men in pressure to force Keenum to make mistakes, it is not recommended to send massive blitz on him given his excellent season in escaping the pressure and making big plays. If New Orleans wants to win, he will have to remove these big plays when he collapses his pocket, and to do so, Williams and Lattimore will have to mark Diggs and Thielen as a man with nothing at all.
The hosts offensively will not have to give the world the right to grant turnovers, rather to force the Saints to a game of punt and field positions where they would be the defenses to lay down the law. Keenum will be called to his debut in the playoffs to distribute uniformly the throws between Thielen, Diggs, Rudolph and McKinnon thus making his attack a monster with more heads difficult to predict and stop. Defensively, Smith will be the key man as he will take care of Kamara in the reception phase and races out of the tackles, plus Rhodes and Waynes will have to be good at forcing Brees to throw the ball between the numbers where linebackers like Barr await them. and Kendricks able to cover excellently and intercept the ball thus giving his attack an important boost to score points.
PHILADELPHIA EAGLES VS ATLANTA FALCONS
The Eagles are the first seeded that will play the divisional game from underdog, psychologically this gives him a considerable advantage as they will have the excuse Foles, will be just the quarterback of the Eagles to play with the clarity needed to give the chance to his defense and the racing game to win it. The last performances of the Eagles have left many doubts and not only Foles is the culprit seen the inconsistent performance of offensive and secondary line, all things to eliminate you want to advance in the playoffs. The attack will be based on Blount, Ajayi and Smallwood which will share a very substantial first impact load while the receivers and tight end will have to sacrifice more than usual in blocking and being ready for the opportunities that could happen to him from any screen and play actions. Defensively the key will be pressure on Ryan with front 7 Jenkins doubled on Jones who will probably be marked by Mills and stop Freeman forcing him to run between the tackles.
The Falcons offensively will have to say I do not win but at least do not suffer in the line of scrimmage the physicality of the various Cox, Graham and Long. If this happens they will have a very good chance of winning counting their offensive weapons and the secondary mediocrity of their rival lords who grants many big plays when the pass rushers do not score within a few seconds of the snap.
Coach Quinn, an experienced defensive strategist and a 46-point estimator, will have a favorable matchup against a team that will race a lot, which is why Keanu Neal will play in the box with Ricardo Allen only in the center safety in order to force Foles to run along where he knows he is always a risk given the athleticism of the defenders in the NFL of today. With Alford and Trufant to man on the most external wide receivers the real problem will be Nelson Agholor in slot, one of the best in this role that would have a favorable matchup against Poole who is an excellent tackler but does not have the speed to stay with 13 of the Eagles.
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