NFL: BELICHICK'S PATRIOTS & THE BRONCOS CHALLENGE
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UNTIL AFTER THE CURRENT NFL SEASON, “SPORTS NOTEBOOK” WILL POST NEW EVERY MONDAY INSTEAD OF ON TUESDAY, continuing with a new post every Friday. Editor, Marvin Leibstone. Comments to: mlresources1@aol.com
NFL --- FREQUENT observations of Bill Belichick, and of what he’s done for the New England Patriots as head coach, signals, to this writer anyway, a prevailing wisdom regarding the NFL game, in that Belichick seems to believe, along with most other NFL coaches, that professional football is untamable without unexpected and whipcracking actions annulling an opposing team’s well-rehearsed playbook---it’s that Belichick is exceptionally good at making such happen.
Winning, for Belichick, has much to do with reacting to factors of the moment, with doing all that can be done to stay ahead of an opposition’s choices, limiting an opponent's ability to achieve anything of significance. This is what makes Belichick the coach with an ace up his sleeve, no! many aces up both sleeves of that hoodie, in order to keep events from moving in directions that are more difficult to control than others.
As with many coaches obsessing mastery, Belichick favors the high speed and deep attack, plus an aggressively mobile defense, hoping to keep his team’s vulnerabilities from being viewed and exploited, always looking for new ways to undo an opposition’s maneuvering. Belichick’s therefore a believer in “surprise” as a strategy, which is probably behind his intense search for information about any opposing team and his extraordinary ability to comprehend an adversary’s tactics in the early minutes of a game, after which he orders corrections needed to oppose that enemy offense or defense. The Patriots are not a very readable franchise because of this---during a game, Belichick can change plans on the spot, altering what the opposing team thinks it knows about the Patriots offense and defense.
Against the Denver Broncos on Saturday, Belichick could have more ideas for more strikes and counterstrikes than any opposition could expect, some of it based on info from film and informants, in addition, of course, to Belichick’s field assessments. It shouldn’t surprise if former Broncos coach, Josh McDaniels, briefed Belichick on Broncos weaknesses and strengths long before the Patriots re-hired McDaniels. So---against the Patriots, the Broncos pass protection for its quarterback, Tim Tebow, will need, along with the Broncos defense squad, the quick snap and pounce of an endangered but brave wolfpack.
Surely any new tactics ordered by Belichick on Saturday, or innovated by Patriots QB, Tom Brady, will need to be shot down by the Broncos defense "at take-off," otherwise the Patriots might achieve what its defense usually hopes to establish---“shock and disorientation" creating turnovers favoring Brady and his receivers. Here’s when Denver
In addition to the Broncos needing a defense with enough radar and fast responsiveness for spotting and spoiling Brady’s moves, an imperative for them will be to provide enough freedom for Tebow to pass accurately, to hand off the football and to leap over or charge through the Patriots defensive line, which is possible against a Patriots defense that’s been ranked low in the NFL, which reflects that there’s a gap between Belichick’s intentions and what the Patriots defense can actually do. And it shouldn’t be forgotten that when the Broncos lost to the Patriots in December, it was due primarily to three Broncos fumbles, not to the Broncos offense always being pinned back.
Always obvious, then, for Broncos head coach, John Fox, and also for Belichick, is that a team that has an effective offense enhanced by superb quarterbacking can win a game if it’s given the most turnovers achieved by an alert, fast and strong defense. The other way of saying this is that the offense with the greater number of possessions can have the better chance of winning a football game. Coach Fox will aim to have the Broncos defense return the football to Tebow as quickly as possible, primary objectives being to get the Patriots to punt, or seek the turnover from an interception. Consequently, tomorrow, and as was the case last week against the Steelers, much will be riding on the skills of Broncos cornerbacks Champ Bailey and Andre Goodman for tackling, pass interference, and for that interception placing the ball back into Tebow’s hands.
Achieving the largest possible number of possessions may be a necessity for Tebow, since he is at his best under a limited set of circumstances---the more possessions that the Broncos can have will mean the greater chance for those circumstances to appear. As fast and as powerful as Tebow is, he’s often incapable of creating his own openings for those short rushes that bring on a series of first downs and then the TD or a field goal---he needs a protection unit and fast backs creating those spaces for him, Willis McGahee to hand, flip or pass the football to, and space while on the run for passing deep to wide receivers Eddie Royal, Eric Decker and Demaryius Thomas---fortunately for the Broncos, Tebow’s pass accuracy has improved immensely since his first shot as a starting QB.
Surely the Broncos will concentrate on more than ways to execute aggressive plays. They will be paying attention to prevention of those errors that have contributed to their worst losses---fumbles, penalties, Tebow sacked, Tebow’s passes intercepted, and a reactive rather than pro-active defense. Without any doubt, of great importance to the Broncos on Saturday will be maintaining the pro-active defense, for it’s the aggressive, thus mobile and seamless defending that forces an enemy offense to be where it could only fail, keeping the opposition’s points low.
In light of the above comments, the Patriots will attempt to close spaces and limit time available for Tebow to rush and throw the football early enough for successful completions, and to keep the Broncos defense from controlling and spoiling the Brady-led assaults. With this said, the Broncos have proven that in sports the past is for records to be surpassed, events meant to be overcome, pushed aside. Crushed by the Broncos is the belief that no team finishing a season with eight wins and eight losses, thus at the margin when compared with other NFL franchises, could win a division playoff round, and they’ve done this from a poor mid-season showing, a 2-5 record.
Given the Broncos wins of the regular season, and last week’s unexpected playoff victory against the Steelers, all bets now favoring the Patriots could turn out to be “jokers in the deck” from a Tebow freed for rushes and pass completions, and by an impenetrable defense keeping Denver alive for its first Super Bowl appearance since 1999.
END/ml
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