Kontradiction
4x Covid Survivor
- Joined
- Jan 6, 2009
- Messages
- 2,100
- Reaction score
- 2,318
- Points
- 113
- Location
- Jacksonville Beach, Florida
Figured while Game Pass was free, and I had some time to kill, I would do a film session for every game in the 2019 season. For time's sake, I'm just going to break down the big plays for each game. Naturally, I'll start off with the ass kicking we delivered to Shitsdirt in Week 1. If you guys find that I'm off on anything (personnel, coverage, etc.), feel free to weigh in. I'm certainly no expert and am not infallible.
Q1:
1. 7:50/2nd and 10/NE ball: Patriots come out in 11 personnel on offense. Burkhead and Izzo to Brady’s right and Edelman, Dorsett, and Gordon are bunched to Brady’s left. The Steelers come out in straight Cover-2 formation and do a terrible job disguising it pre-snap. Brady isn’t fooled. Burkhead moves in motion pre-snap and is covered by Bush. Bush is exceptionally athletic, so it isn’t a terrible match-up for Pittsburgh. Burkhead runs a crosser while Izzo looks to run a quick out, but he’s only there to provide a pick for Burkhead. Bush was also taking outside shade on this one, so it left him at an immediate disadvantage anyway. Brady’s first read looks to be either Gordon or Edelman on this one, but there is too much traffic. Gordon with the crosser on the other side while Edelman and Dorsett both run vertical routes, clearing out the trash. Result is a 17 yard gain and a first down. Interesting that Izzo was immediately flagged for OPI on the play after this. Watching this one, it was clear that the refs knew they missed one and were watching him intently.
2. 5:35/1st and 10/NE ball: Patriots are once again showing 11 personnel, with White on the field instead of Burkhead this time. Steelers once again respond with Cover-2, not even bothering to try to disguise this time around. Edelman, Izzo, and Dorsett are bunched to Brady’s right while Gordon is to Brady’s left and White is in the offensive backfield. Brady unloads it quickly to Edelman, with Dorsett and Izzo out in front as blockers. Both safeties take the cheese immediately and commit to bringing down Edelman. What’s interesting is that Edelman is actually looking deep here, and Gordon is wide open on the skinny post. Edelman has a touchdown there if he wants it. In the meantime, White has snuck out of the backfield and into the flats on the other boundary and now he has three linemen out in front of him with plenty of daylight. End result is a 32 yard gain.
3. 4:55/1st and 10/NE ball: Same personnel on both sides – Patriots in 11 personnel. We just tore them up with this personnel package. Edelman, Izzo, and Dorsett are bunched to Brady’s right while Gordon, the Z, is just off the LoS to Brady’s left with White split out wide as the split end. This looked like a miscommunication on the Pittsburgh side of the ball. I say this because the FS drops and shades to the left boundary. Gordon’s man actually blitzes indicating he believes the coverage to be Cover-1 and expects the safety to come in underneath and pick up Gordon. He does not. Gordon runs a crosser and is wide open with a ton of daylight. Brady diagnosed this immediately, pre-snap. We’re going to miss that kind of recognition. Dorsett runs the 9-route while Edelman runs a deep corner. Gordon breaks a shoe string tackle and dives into the end zone. Touchdown.
Q2:
1. 7:46/3RD and 1/Pittsburgh ball: Isolating this play because, prior to that, the Steelers were finding some success on the ground. Steelers come out in 11 personnel. Patriots are in a Nickel base. Lots of movement along the line of scrimmage for the Pats, disguising their coverage well here. Patriots playing Cover-1 with McCourty the single high safety in centerfield. Pouncey attempts a slide block on Collins, who has crossed the LoS free, but can’t get there quickly enough. We will miss that athleticism at LB. Collins knifes through the LoS and brings Conner down for a four yard loss.
2. 3:54/1st and 10/NE ball: Pats once again attacking them in 11 personnel after a huge gain by Edelman the play before. Pittsburgh shows Cover-2 but this is really Cover-1 after the snap with the safety jumping up to help double Gordon, who had been a pain in the ass to this point, in man. Why the Steelers have three LBs on the field at this point is beyond me as White is the lone back and he’s not a between-the-tackles kind of guy, but I digress. Brady looks off the FS who moves toward Gordon as well and catches him flat footed as Dorsett blows by him on the 9-route. Easy pitch and catch. Touchdown.
Q3:
1. 13:27/3RD and 10/Pittsburgh ball: Steelers come out in 11 personnel, Pats match this with their Nickel base. McCourty and Harmon are both on the field for this one. Pre-snap, Roethlisberger motions the TE into the backfield. Pats look like they’re coming on Cover-0 with both McCourty and Harmon up on the LoS. At the snap, they retreat back with McCourty taking on what looks like the Robber role. Roethlisberger catches Harmon peaking into the backfield, recognizes that he has Washington (who I think will be a very good receiver for them) one on one with J. McCourty, and uncorks a pretty deep ball. Harmon is late getting over to help and the result is a 45 yard gain for the Steelers.
2. 8:13/3rd and 10/NE ball: Pats once again in 11 personnel and Steelers match that with Nickel. Izzo is now being used as an inline blocker in pass pro, lined up next to the RT. Brady sends Edelman in motion and forces the Steelers to declare zone coverage. Steelers tried to disguise with Cover-2 but this becomes Cover-4/Quarters after the snap with the two corners, FS, and SS all taking a quarter of the field. Dorsett absolutely blows by the FS, who was flat footed (not sure if he was expecting help here or not), on the skinny post. Touchdown. Easy pitch and catch.
3. 4:39/2nd and 6/NE ball: Pats come out in 10 personnel this time and the Steelers match that with nickel. Brady motions Burkhead out of the backfield and out wide as the split end. Brady with an empty backfield. Pittsburgh shifts Bush (a LB) onto Gordon and the CB takes Burkhead. They were trying to disguise their coverage here, but Brady isn’t fooled. Bush is quick, but a LB on a WR is always a mismatch. This is man all the way. Steelers were in Cover-2 and both the safeties were deep at the snap. Gordon blows by Bush, who has inside shade, immediately. The FS comes up to double him and Gordon catches him flat footed and blows by him on the skinny post. The ball gets there before the SS does. Result is a 44 yard game and Brady’s 88th 300-yard passing performance all-time.
Q4:
1. 4:24/1ST and 10/Pittsburgh ball: Steelers in 00 personnel as they try frantically to get something, anything going. Patriots are in Dime and are staying extremely aggressive in Cover-1 with McCourty as the single high safety. This is his play. This play is a great example of why McCourty has always been underrated by Pats fans, and the NFL community as a whole. Roethlisberger tries to look him off but McCourty stays home. Roethlisberger guns it back to the other side to Washington, running the 9-route. McCourty flips his hips as fluidly as they come, beats Washington to the spot, and picks off the pass. That’s game.
---------- Post added at 02:40 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:37 PM ----------
As a follow-up, as I was going over the film from this game and, in essence, re-watching it, the one thing that stood out to me was how explosive Dorsett was when he was healthy. The dude can flat out fly when he's got two good wheels.
Q1:
1. 7:50/2nd and 10/NE ball: Patriots come out in 11 personnel on offense. Burkhead and Izzo to Brady’s right and Edelman, Dorsett, and Gordon are bunched to Brady’s left. The Steelers come out in straight Cover-2 formation and do a terrible job disguising it pre-snap. Brady isn’t fooled. Burkhead moves in motion pre-snap and is covered by Bush. Bush is exceptionally athletic, so it isn’t a terrible match-up for Pittsburgh. Burkhead runs a crosser while Izzo looks to run a quick out, but he’s only there to provide a pick for Burkhead. Bush was also taking outside shade on this one, so it left him at an immediate disadvantage anyway. Brady’s first read looks to be either Gordon or Edelman on this one, but there is too much traffic. Gordon with the crosser on the other side while Edelman and Dorsett both run vertical routes, clearing out the trash. Result is a 17 yard gain and a first down. Interesting that Izzo was immediately flagged for OPI on the play after this. Watching this one, it was clear that the refs knew they missed one and were watching him intently.
2. 5:35/1st and 10/NE ball: Patriots are once again showing 11 personnel, with White on the field instead of Burkhead this time. Steelers once again respond with Cover-2, not even bothering to try to disguise this time around. Edelman, Izzo, and Dorsett are bunched to Brady’s right while Gordon is to Brady’s left and White is in the offensive backfield. Brady unloads it quickly to Edelman, with Dorsett and Izzo out in front as blockers. Both safeties take the cheese immediately and commit to bringing down Edelman. What’s interesting is that Edelman is actually looking deep here, and Gordon is wide open on the skinny post. Edelman has a touchdown there if he wants it. In the meantime, White has snuck out of the backfield and into the flats on the other boundary and now he has three linemen out in front of him with plenty of daylight. End result is a 32 yard gain.
3. 4:55/1st and 10/NE ball: Same personnel on both sides – Patriots in 11 personnel. We just tore them up with this personnel package. Edelman, Izzo, and Dorsett are bunched to Brady’s right while Gordon, the Z, is just off the LoS to Brady’s left with White split out wide as the split end. This looked like a miscommunication on the Pittsburgh side of the ball. I say this because the FS drops and shades to the left boundary. Gordon’s man actually blitzes indicating he believes the coverage to be Cover-1 and expects the safety to come in underneath and pick up Gordon. He does not. Gordon runs a crosser and is wide open with a ton of daylight. Brady diagnosed this immediately, pre-snap. We’re going to miss that kind of recognition. Dorsett runs the 9-route while Edelman runs a deep corner. Gordon breaks a shoe string tackle and dives into the end zone. Touchdown.
Q2:
1. 7:46/3RD and 1/Pittsburgh ball: Isolating this play because, prior to that, the Steelers were finding some success on the ground. Steelers come out in 11 personnel. Patriots are in a Nickel base. Lots of movement along the line of scrimmage for the Pats, disguising their coverage well here. Patriots playing Cover-1 with McCourty the single high safety in centerfield. Pouncey attempts a slide block on Collins, who has crossed the LoS free, but can’t get there quickly enough. We will miss that athleticism at LB. Collins knifes through the LoS and brings Conner down for a four yard loss.
2. 3:54/1st and 10/NE ball: Pats once again attacking them in 11 personnel after a huge gain by Edelman the play before. Pittsburgh shows Cover-2 but this is really Cover-1 after the snap with the safety jumping up to help double Gordon, who had been a pain in the ass to this point, in man. Why the Steelers have three LBs on the field at this point is beyond me as White is the lone back and he’s not a between-the-tackles kind of guy, but I digress. Brady looks off the FS who moves toward Gordon as well and catches him flat footed as Dorsett blows by him on the 9-route. Easy pitch and catch. Touchdown.
Q3:
1. 13:27/3RD and 10/Pittsburgh ball: Steelers come out in 11 personnel, Pats match this with their Nickel base. McCourty and Harmon are both on the field for this one. Pre-snap, Roethlisberger motions the TE into the backfield. Pats look like they’re coming on Cover-0 with both McCourty and Harmon up on the LoS. At the snap, they retreat back with McCourty taking on what looks like the Robber role. Roethlisberger catches Harmon peaking into the backfield, recognizes that he has Washington (who I think will be a very good receiver for them) one on one with J. McCourty, and uncorks a pretty deep ball. Harmon is late getting over to help and the result is a 45 yard gain for the Steelers.
2. 8:13/3rd and 10/NE ball: Pats once again in 11 personnel and Steelers match that with Nickel. Izzo is now being used as an inline blocker in pass pro, lined up next to the RT. Brady sends Edelman in motion and forces the Steelers to declare zone coverage. Steelers tried to disguise with Cover-2 but this becomes Cover-4/Quarters after the snap with the two corners, FS, and SS all taking a quarter of the field. Dorsett absolutely blows by the FS, who was flat footed (not sure if he was expecting help here or not), on the skinny post. Touchdown. Easy pitch and catch.
3. 4:39/2nd and 6/NE ball: Pats come out in 10 personnel this time and the Steelers match that with nickel. Brady motions Burkhead out of the backfield and out wide as the split end. Brady with an empty backfield. Pittsburgh shifts Bush (a LB) onto Gordon and the CB takes Burkhead. They were trying to disguise their coverage here, but Brady isn’t fooled. Bush is quick, but a LB on a WR is always a mismatch. This is man all the way. Steelers were in Cover-2 and both the safeties were deep at the snap. Gordon blows by Bush, who has inside shade, immediately. The FS comes up to double him and Gordon catches him flat footed and blows by him on the skinny post. The ball gets there before the SS does. Result is a 44 yard game and Brady’s 88th 300-yard passing performance all-time.
Q4:
1. 4:24/1ST and 10/Pittsburgh ball: Steelers in 00 personnel as they try frantically to get something, anything going. Patriots are in Dime and are staying extremely aggressive in Cover-1 with McCourty as the single high safety. This is his play. This play is a great example of why McCourty has always been underrated by Pats fans, and the NFL community as a whole. Roethlisberger tries to look him off but McCourty stays home. Roethlisberger guns it back to the other side to Washington, running the 9-route. McCourty flips his hips as fluidly as they come, beats Washington to the spot, and picks off the pass. That’s game.
---------- Post added at 02:40 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:37 PM ----------
As a follow-up, as I was going over the film from this game and, in essence, re-watching it, the one thing that stood out to me was how explosive Dorsett was when he was healthy. The dude can flat out fly when he's got two good wheels.