Super Bowl LI is a spectacular matchup between the great offenses of the New England Patriots and Atlanta Falcons. It features two quarterbacks at the absolute top of their game commanding the top two offenses in the league.
The Falcons present the biggest challenge the Patriots have faced all season. Not only have they not seen a quarterback like Matt Ryan this season, they also haven’t faced off against a receiving threat quite like Julio Jones, either. From their receivers to their running backs the Falcons are the fastest offense in the league. On the flip side, Bill Belichick has already acknowledged Atlanta’s defense will also be the fastest defense the Patriots have seen all season.
Dealing with the Falcons speed will be the biggest challenge of the game for the Patriots, but if they try to match Atlanta’s speed man for man then they are unlikely to win any of those matchups. Through scheme and creativity the Patriots can force the Falcons to play a game where their superior speed is less of an advantage.
The entire focus of the Patriots on both sides of the ball has to be to get the Falcons to play slow. Below are ways New England can do just that and are therefore the keys to a Patriots Super Bowl LI keys to victory.
New England Patriots Super Bowl LI Keys To Victory
Patriots Offense
Instead of allowing the Falcons to use their team speed to their advantage the Patriots can focus on attacking an area where the Falcons do not have an advantage, their size.
The first players that come to mind when discussing the Falcons elite level speed is their two phenomenal rookie linebackers, Deion Jones and De’Vondre Campbell. Jones and Campbell led all Falcons linebackers in tackles, with Jones himself leading the entire team in the regular season with 108. Their play-making abilities are obvious, but what is also readily apparent is that both players are very under-sized for their position. Campbell is listed at just 234 pounds, while Jones, who is just 222 pounds, is closer to the size of a typical strong safety than that of a linebacker. In comparison, Patriots middle linebacker Dont’a Hightower is listed at a massive 275 pounds.
The Falcons lack of prototypical size continues on the defensive line. They do have plenty of players in the 300 pounds range, including Tyson Jackson, Grady Jarrett, and Jonathan Babineaux. But they also typically use a lighter rush-end on their defensive line, with either Brooks Reed or Vic Beasley Jr. Both of these players are small for the defensive end position, with neither weighing over 254 pounds. Also missing from the team is a true run-stuffing monster in the 350 pound range. The Falcons heaviest player is Ra’Shede Hageman listed at 318 pounds.
This Patriots team is uniquely positioned to attack the Falcons lack of size because of their ability to run the ball between the tackles. The Patriots have perhaps their best rushing attack since the early days of Corey Dillon playing in New England. The focal point of their run game is massive running back LeGarrette Blount, who clocks in at 250 pounds and led the league with 18 rushing touchdowns this season. Blount’s lead blocker is fullback James Develin, another 250 pound beast. By utilizing these players the Patriots can neutralize the Falcons speed advantage by making the game a physical contest where size and toughness matter more than speed.
Another wrinkle in the Patriots rushing attack is running back Dion Lewis who has provided the team with great flexibility since his return in Week 11. The Patriots often utilize two-receiver formations playing with Lewis, Develin, and tight end Martellus Bennett. This group allows the Patriots the ability to employ either a bunch-formation look, or to split everyone out five-wide while using the same personnel. The ability to use both styles without substitution forces the defense to declare how they want to defend this personnel group. If they choose to play in the nickle (with five defensive backs) then the Patriots can pound the rock against an undersized line-up.
Expect the Patriots to test the Falcons rush defense early with both Lewis and Blount. Look for New England to target the right side of the line where the Falcons under-sized defensive ends often line up; the Falcons rank 32nd in the league this season in defending runs targeted at the offensive right tackle, surrendering nearly five yards per carry. If the Falcons have trouble with the Patriots size then don’t be surprised if the Patriots continue to use that to their advantage and choose to bring an additional lineman onto the field and play true smash mouth football.
Of course, New England will not totally take the game out of Tom Brady‘s hands. But expect them to stick with the run if it is working and to use it to set up deep strikes that they have used often this season.
The added benefit of going heavily to the run is the ability to keep the Falcons high-powered offense on the sideline. No team in the league is better at playing team defense than New England. Meaning, they use their offense to control the clock and their special teams to control field position better than anyone else. Their defense had the best average starting field position of any team in the league this season. These factors, as much as their defensive play alone, is why New England is the number one scoring defense in the league.
Patriots Defense Slowing Down the Falcons Rushing Attack
Making the Falcons play slow on offense will be a much tougher challenge, and it all starts with the big guys up front. The Atlanta offense is at its most deadly when it is operating with a strong mix of run and pass. This can keep the defense off-balance, and when they are rolling like that there is no stopping them. To have success the Patriots need to shut down the run and make the Falcons as one-dimensional as possible. For New England, who like most teams use their nickle defense as their base defense, this will require a dominating performance from their front six defenders.
Shutting down the Falcons rushing attack means one thing, stopping their staple outside zone run. The concept is familiar to the Patriots as it is employed by every “Mike Shanahan” style offense. Think of Gary Kubiak‘s Denver Broncos, or these Falcons, coordinated by Kyle Shanahan. In the past the Patriots have often struggled against this style of rushing attack, but this is the best run defense the Patriots have had in many seasons.
The focus of the outside zone (or stretch run) lines up directly against what the Patriots strengths are as a defense. The goal of the outside zone is to get movement against the defensive line by having the blockers all move in one direction towards the outside of the field. The running back tries to gain the edge, and failing that looks for a cut-back lane. The strength of the run is that if just one guy defeats his blocker there is usually a crease for the running back to find.
This focus goes directly against the way the Patriots try to defend the run. In the latter half of the season the Patriots started using a five man line with two edge defenders playing outside of the offensive tackles. The edge defenders’ entire goal is to force any runs back inside to the middle of the field where the defensive tackles attempt to hold their ground and stone-wall any blockers before they eventually disengage and make a tackle. Their technique and discipline has led to a streak of 25 games where the Patriots have not allowed a 90-yard rusher.
This strength on strength match-up could be the deciding factor in the game because the Atlanta passing attack is hard enough to stop on its own without any help from the ground game. Shutting down the run and forcing the Falcons to call plays in long-yardage situations is the best way to shorten their play-calling options and slow down their offense overall.
Patriots Defense Slowing Down the Falcons Passing Attack
It will be even tougher for the Patriots to slow down the Falcons passing game. They have such a varied arsenal of weapons that it might be impossible to keep up with them all. Mohamed Sanu has number one receiver size and speed but is Atlanta’s number two receiver behind Julio Jones. Taylor Gabriel is one of the speediest receivers in the league. Devonta Freeman had over 50 catches this season as a running back. Fellow tailback Tevin Coleman ran a 4.4 40-yard dash. And then there’s Julio Jones, who needs no introduction. Keeping up with so many threats is not possible. So the Patriots must try to force Ryan to be the one to play slow. To stop the Falcons from playing fast you have to stop Matt Ryan from playing fast.
Ryan is at the top of his game, and he is a deserving MVP candidate, and he has never been more comfortable in an offense than he is now. Nothing the Patriots have to do on Sunday will be as difficult as trying to slow down Ryan. But that doesn’t mean it is impossible.
Atlanta’s offense attacks teams with multiple formations and deadly speed. The defense never knows where any receiver, running back or tight end will line up. Their backs and receivers are some of the fastest in the league. But more important than their timed speed is that they play fast. The barrage of formations allow Ryan to always be one step ahead of the defense. Completely understanding his offense and knowing what the defense is going to show him allows Ryan to play fast.
When you watch the Falcons you can tell Ryan often knows where he is going with the football before the ball is even snapped. He just needs to wait for his receiver to come open. And unlike many offenses these pre-defined reads happen all over the field, not just on short routes. The complexity of formations actually simplify the reads for Ryan and it allows him to play faster than the defense can handle.
What the Patriots must do is attempt to confuse Ryan in his post-snap reads. They have to show him one thing before the snap but then change that look once the play is developing. They have to shift his focus away from playing fast and onto what the Patriots are doing on defense.
Of course this is the goal of every defense, but the Patriots have been able to employ this tactic better than anyone else over the last half of the season.
Over the last ten games the Patriots defense came together and started playing like the best unit in the league. During that time they allowed just one team to score over 17 points. Their success is not so much about any individual player but about the flexibility of all of the players to be able to play any defense, at any time.
The Patriots employ a lot of man coverage, and in these situations they like to double the most dangerous threat on the field. But they will also show man-coverage often when they are actually playing zone. On top of that, the Patriots will show man coverage and then use the additional step of having the defenders carry their receivers up-field for the first 12-15 yards in a man coverage look, only to drop off into zone eventually.
Adding to the confusion for opposing quarterbacks, in this case Ryan, is the flexibility of the individual players. Strong safety Patrick Chung is the true jack-of-all trades for the Patriots. He lines up close to the line of scrimmage and is comfortable taking a tight end or running back in man coverage. Chung is also a strong zone and run defender; he leads the team in tackles this season. This positional-flexibility is typical of all the Patriots defenders.
All of this means adds up to one thing, versatility. And it means that whatever the Patriots show before the snap might have nothing to do with how their players react after the ball is in play. Their disguise and discipline makes them the hardest defense in the league for a quarterback to read.
On Sunday the defense will face their toughest test. The key will be making Ryan shift his focus away from his own offense to what the Patriots are doing on every snap. It is the only way to slow the Falcons down.
Last Word
After a mediocre playoffs thus far Sunday’s matchup is something every NFL fan deserves. These are the two most versatile teams, and also the two most exciting teams in the NFL. The matchup should produce the best game played in the league this season.
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