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Tale of the Tape: Week 10

Print | Comments () Posted by Albert Breer November 17, 2009 04:39 PM

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A look at what at a second look at the broadcast of Sunday's game showed ...

1) Super Sebastian: One pretty telling thing on how the coaches feel about Sebastian Vollmer came with their use of third tackle Mark LeVoir, who came in, as he often does, to help in pass protection as a tight end. Conventional wisdom would say you use him to assist in putting the breaks on Dwight Freeney. Only the Patriots didn't do that.

More often than not, when LeVoir entered the game, it was on the right side to help Nick Kaczur with left end Robert Mathis. And Kaczur, as anyone watching could tell, needed it against the explosive Mathis. LeVoir was in on the right side for Randy Moss' 55-yard catch in the first quarter, and in for another deep shot to Moss on the next series. When he wasn't in there, Kaczur got beat for two sacks and three hits on Brady by Mathis.

Vollmer wasn't perfect. He did get help to the inside, through the protection sliding to Freeney, from Logan Mankins on occasion. And on a key third-down in the fourth quarter -- which led to a field goal coming off Jonathan Wilhite's interception -- Freeney abused Vollmer with a spin move, and got his hand on a Brady throw to end that drive.

But all and all, a great, great effort by Vollmer. It's gonna be real hard to bench that kid. What happens to Matt Light? Is it possible he goes to right tackle?

2) Perfect timing: An interesting stat I came up with: The Colts went strictly with a four-man rush in the first and third quarters, and mixed it up wildly in the second and fourth quarters. And the truth is, it worked.

On 12 snaps, the Colts sent five or six rushers. Brady did register a touchdown on one of those, and completely nine of his 12 throws in these spots. But the throws were short, and rushed, and Indy did a great job of tackling on the back end there. The Patriots picked up 60 yards on those 12 throws. That's a 5.0-yards per attempt.

It really cost the Patriots on that fateful four-and-out near the end of the game. On the third-and-2 ball Jerraud Powers nearly picked off, in front of Wes Welker, a 6-man rush closed the pocket around Brady, keeping the quarterback from really stepping into his throw. That set up fourth-and-2. The Colts brought five, Brady quickly unloaded the ball, and you know what happened from there ...

3) Dealing with Dallas: The Patriots used a combination of Brandon McGowan and Patrick Chung to handle Colts star Dallas Clark, and early in the game, you could see McGowan coming right up to the line to re-route him. At times, he was bracketed, with McGowan underneath and Chung over the top, and others, the Patriots played him more straight up. Indy did adjust.

In the second half, the Colts brought back-up tight end Gijon Robinson into the game more often, and that allowed them to move Clark around more, and line him up off the line and underneath receivers to ensure a free release. The Patriots still didn't let Clark kill them, but that at least allowed Clark to get into his routes.

And with that, the Colts seemed to send Clark downfield more to clear for guys like Austin Collie and Joseph Addai underneath. You saw that at work on the Colts' second-to-last drive, which ended in a touchdown, with Addai and Collie catch-and-runs leading setting up the pass interference penalty on Darius Butler to get Indy in the red zone.

4) The Wilfork Wall: It's really gotten hard to argue the value of Vince Wilfork for this defense. No matter what front the Patriots are running, he's essential to what they do (see: what losing Kris Jenkins has done to the Jets defense), and that was evident on Sunday night.

A couple plays early in the game prove it. On one first-quarter play, he exploded so hard into Jeff Saturday that he sent the Colts center flying to the turf, and right into the legs of Joseph Addai, who stumbled into Derrick Burgess' clutches. On another snap in the second quarter, he lined up as a 3-technique tackle over the left guard's outside shoulder and worked his way down the line -- keeping blockers off him with outstanding work with his hands -- to make the tackle on the offense's right side.

What happens when you take him out? On a second-and-1 in the third quarter, Chad Simpson ripped off an 11-yard gain, because the interior linemen were able to get off to the second level and block Jerod Mayo, who had to hustle to make the tackle downfield. That defense isn't the same without Big Vince in there.

5) Rush hour: I actually think the defensive backs played a pretty good game on Sunday. Jonathan Wilhite was competitive on a lot of Reggie Wayne's catches (kind of the way Vontae Davis was close on Randy Moss the week before), McGowan seemed to do a great job on Clark, and outside of the one, big mistake on Pierre Garcon's touchdown, Leigh Bodden played well.

So where's the problem? The pass rush continues to struggle to create consistent pressure. The only sack for the Patriots came on a missed assignment by the Colts line, when shaky left tackle Charlie Johnson bit as Rob Ninkovitch took a false step to draw him up before dropping, and watched Mayo race right by him free. Burgess showed some burst early, not so much late.

To be fair, Ninkovitch and Tully Banta-Cain got hurt, and that didn't help. Still, when the Patriots did beat Peyton Manning on Sunday, it seemed to be through coverage, and not pressure.

QUICK HITCHES: The Colts put Wayne in the slot quite a bit -- a move they use to kill New England in the AFC title game three years ago -- and that made it difficult on the Patriots to cover him. They simply didn't have a guy who could match up with him underneath. ... Gary Guyton's been solid, but had a rough day on Sunday, struggling against the run. ... As for the quarterbacks, it really is interesting that for all their similarities, it seems that the way to beat them is so vastly different. You beat Manning with coverage. You beat Brady with pass rush. Or at least it seems that way, and I wish I could explain why.