Stillers-Pats AFCC Pregame Outlook
The Stillers venture to Beantown on Sunday to face the hated Gaytriots in the AFCC. Key points to look for:
Stillers have the ball:
- Anticipate a front 7 designed to stop the stutter.
Much has been about Bell’s continual stuttering, which has indeed been effective. Look for Bellichick to crash his LBs to try to bottle up Bell’s delay runs. No defense has really had success with a sustained Bell rushing attack, but leave it to Belli to come up with something to at least slow down The Toker.
- AB double.
Bellichick rarely ever will allow the best threat to beat him. Look for him to have a CB jamming AB on every snap, with either shaded or umbrella coverage behind. Haley must anticipate this, and exploit Eli, James, DHB, Bell, and even Grimble against mis-matches. This also means that Haley needs to line up AB at ANY position on the field, in order to shake the extra attention. If Haley gets stubborn and stupid by insisting AB lines up in the exact same position each play, the Pats’ plan will work. AB should line up as an X, Y, Z, W, whatever, as well as wingback, RB, TE, and what have you.
- Ben’s road timidity.
We all know the road woes of Ben the past couple of seasons. To me, it comes down to meekness and timidity. On the road, Ben tends to hold the ball forever, insisting that a receiver be at least 19 feet in the clear before delivering the ball. On the road, he’s also been wont to root himself in the pocket, rarely ever scampering for easy chunks of yardage. This chickenshoit road timidity needs to stop this Sunday.
- Greed.
Between Haley and Ben, they far too often get snookered into greed, which is what hampered last week’s offense when they continually eschewed the running game once at the 5 yard line. Coach Belli is going to use lurkers to pounce on shoddy passes, and to jump routes when Ben gets complacent. And, as noted above, Belli will smother AB and force the Stillers to take what’s given to them. Ben and Haley are often stubborn in this regard, often refusing to take what is provided.
- But, cannot be content.
This bullshoit of settling for FGs will never cut the mustard vs. Brady. This offense must be thinking 30-plus points, at a minimum, to win this game, and most likely 34.
Patsies have the ball:
- No Gronk.
Thank goodness, Gronk has been, and is, out. This fellow has eaten this defense alive. With Gronk, the NE offense has a massive advantage. Without The Gronk, the advantage is much, much smaller.
- Quick slants.
We all know the steady diet of quick slants to Edelman and Co. What we don’t know, is if Keith Buttler knows this. Jamming and disruption of these quick timing routes is absolutely imperative, rather than the Softee Sitback.
- Middle pressure.
While edge pressure on Tom Lady would be nice, on many plays Lady simply whips the pass quicker than any edge rusher can attack. It’s imperative that Tuitt, and Timmons/Shazier, get some pressure in the face of Lady and give him some legal smacks to boot. It’d be nice if the Human Oxygen Thief, Daniel McSwallers, would bat a pass or two during the game.
- Attack of the weak link.
That would be, of course, Mike Bitchell, the most over-rated FS in the NFL. Look for Tom Lady to take downfield stabs at Big Mike, who is all too often in no position at all to actually bust up an aerial pigskin.
Coaching.
Obviously, Belichick has used Stoogelin as his own personal b!tch these past 7 years or so. This really is such an unfair match-up, with Bellichick able to literally run circles around The Great Cheerleader, Mike Asslin. Sad, really.
Prediction:
This is a Gaytriots team ripe for the beating. There’s no Gronk, and the supporting weapons are rather lukewarm. The Stillers finally have all their primary O-side weapons healthy, along with a strong, healthy O-line. The defense has vastly improved with the insertion of Harrison and DuPree, along with Davis’ and Shaz’s playmaking. It’s definitely there for the taking. The biggest problem, of course, is Stoogelin himself, whose idea of an innovative game plan and sound preparation is sitting around coming up with clever clichés for his post-game babble. Another playoff run down the drain. Patsies 29, Stillers 27.
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