"I just want somebody to beat the goddamned Patriots!" - Bill Maher "New Rules" on Real Time
Ho hum. Another year, another appearance of the $#%@&#% Patriots in the Super Bowl, the nation's largest sports stage. Never mind the rest of us - who'd like to see a different AFC opponent in the big game - have to put up with this repeat BS (with the Patsies managing to hog the stage most years.) And their delirious pain in the ass fans would be happy to have this monopoly extend the next 50 years, or longer.
Jacksonville came close to taking out Brady, Belichick and crew, leading 20 - 10 late in the game, but couldn't seal the deal . This was mainly because they didn't have the answers for the Patriots' D changes (or Offensive tricks) in the 2nd half. Here's hoping the Eagles do, and that maybe this post with a few pointers (which granted, they may already know) helps. Neither Janice (a Ravens' fan) or myself (Packers' fan) can tolerate another Patsy win, Lombardi trophy award etc.
It's not a top secret security matter that 99 percent of NFL fans not from New England hate the Cheatriots with a passion. Last year we came close to seeing a third Super bowl defeat handed to these insufferable mutts but the Atlanta Falcons blew it by failing to just kick a FG instead of going for an attempted TD pass from Matty Ice. The FG would have given the Falcons a two score lead late in the 4th quarter that would have been difficult to surmount. But Dan Quinn, the greedy Falcons' coach, blew it along with his offensive coordinator. The latter actually thought the yardage needed to make the FG was longer than it was. Go figure.
Now the Philadelphia Eagles have a chance to put the kibosh on these entitled bastards, for whom an entire (younger) generation sincerely believes they're owed a Duck boat parade every February. Nothing could be worse for most SB fans than another Patsy win, so I am here to provide some insights to the Eagles to ensure a 'W' and make this Super Bowl Sunday the best since the NY Giants last beat Brady's gang in Superbowl XLVI.
Steve Spagnuolo, the D -coordinator who helped the NY Giants to two SB wins over NE, delivered some terrific defensive advice to the Eagles players last week on the NFL channel show 'Good Morning Football'.
Summarizing:
- Brady likes to use a lot of clock, often taking it down below 10 seconds. The secondary has to be patient and do likewise so as not to give away its look, coverage.
- The D line has to get in Brady baby's face even it doesn't sack him. Hit him and hurry him over and over again to make him as uncomfortable as possible. (According to Stats LLC, the Giants - the only team to conquer Brady twice on the SB stage - hurried him a combined 28 % of the time in their Superbowl XLII and XLVI wins.)
- Do NOT under any circumstances allow Brady to throw for more than 20 yards a play. Spagnuolo was very clear on that, emphasizing no completions over 20 yards. The mistake the Jags made in the AFC championship was allowing the Patsies and Brady to first burn them with trick plays - then entice them to go to zone coverage (instead of man) in the 4th, leaving wide open spaces for Amendola.
- Brady and the Pats possess an almost preternatural knack for scoring before the end of the half, as they did in the Jags' game. Do NOT let them do it! That effort made it a 14-10 score after the 1st half and much easier to come from behind and best Jacksonville in the 2nd half. (The Jags' O also didn't help by having 56 secs left and doing nothing with it, not even a FG effort.)
- Be sure to hit Gronk early as he comes off the line to disrupt his timing.
As for the Eagles' offense, Spagnuolo likes the idea of using lots of varied RPOs (run -pass options). The Jags used these too but alas, could not execute effectively after Bellichick and Co. made adjustments at the half. Four three and outs basically sealed the Jags' fate.
It need not be so with the Eagles given they have the weapon to stop the Pats cold. As WSJ writer Jared Diamond put it ('Eagles Like The Jags - But Better'):
"The Eagles have the personnel to combat the problems that plagued the Falcons and Jaguars.. In addition to a dynamic first unit led by Fletcher Cox and Brandon Graham they boast a group of backups who likely could start anywhere."
This is important given you have to be able to blitz and put pressure on Bratsky Brady but at the same time not get so fatigued that you're running on fumes by the 4th quarter - enabling him and his Patsies to make a possible comeback.
My main worry is the game being played in a domed environment, which will have a temperature of 72F - way too hot for defensive "big boys" especially late in the game.
If the Eagles can surmount the overheated environment - thermal or otherwise- I am confident they can send the Patsies' fans home crying with only their $5,000 ticket stubs.
Prediction: Eagles 27 Patriots 10
So it will be the Eagles fans - nominal "underdogs" - who go home happy:
2 comments:
The Eagles might just have the defensive line to pulverize the Patriots. It pisses me off to no end that Belichick is a known inveterate cheaterl and that he's in the conversation with Vince Lombardi as the best coach of all time. That sort of shay behavior trickles down. Brady was under investigation during the Deflate Gate controversy so what did he do? Destroyed his cell phone, or as we in the legal field call it, destroying evidence.
The Giants had great D lines and beat the Pats in both of their SB appearances. Here's to the Eagles!
Totally, absolutely concur! Bellichick isn't fit to polish Lombardi's wingtips. It's like Patsies fans also saying Brady is "G.O.A.T.". when I warrant he might not even last a season in the old (late 60s, early 70s NFL) before they changed all the rules to water down the defense. He'd be pouting and whining each tome Ray Nitschke or another LB drilled him. (And there weren't that many flags back then!)
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