News sport : Greg Cosell's Week 13 Analysis: The Packers' counter to the Pats' D

♠ Posted by channel-top-news in breàking news,cricket sc,crıcket lıve score,lïve cricket score,news sport,sportnews,sports,Yahoo Sports at 13:20

The Green Bay Packers knew, based on what the New England Patriots have shown for most of this season, that their offense would see a lot of man coverage.

And their answer for the Patriots was simple and effective: four-receiver sets, with Randall Cobb as the moveable chess piece aligning all over the formation to counter that man coverage. It was a great plan, to isolate advantageous matchups.

[Join FanDuel.com's $2.25M Week 14 fantasy league: $25 to enter; top 20,675 teams paid]

Perhaps the best example came in the second quarter. Cobb lined up offset in the backfield, something the Packers showed on their first possession (they also had receiver Jarrett Boykin in the backfield on the first possession) and the Patriots stayed man-to-man with cornerback Kyle Arrington on Cobb. Cobb was lined up offset to the bunch side (three receivers lined up close to each other) of the field. My guess, based on seeing the film, is the Patriots rule is that if a back releases outside, then the outside linebacker peels and runs with him. Cobb was lined up as a back. Outside linebacker Rob Ninkovich ran with Cobb. Arrington couldn’t get through the traffic created by the receivers bunched up.

Then, Cobb’s wheel route against Ninkovich is a big mismatch. He gained 33 yards.

There was another great call, based on down, distance and the Patriots’ man coverage tendency late in the first quarter.

On third and 2, Davante Adams lined up from a minus split. He was against cornerback Logan Ryan. Adams ran an out-and-up route against Ryan, who jumped the out part of the route because it was third and short. Adams beat him for a 45-yard gain. It’s a well-designed play.

The plan was good, and Aaron Rodgers did what he normally does as well, which is make plays late in the down and outside of the structure of the offense.

The Patriots are mostly an execution defense. They didn't blitz much against the Packers, relying on a four-man rush with mostly man coverage behind it. They don’t have a ton of multiplicity within the scheme this season, but they execute very well. The Packers had a great plan, and they executed it tremendously at some key times.

- - - - - - -

NFL analyst and NFL Films senior producer Greg Cosell watches as much NFL game film as anyone. Throughout the season, Cosell will join Shutdown Corner to share his observations on the teams, schemes and personnel from around the league.

from Yahoo Sports http://ift.tt/1yJyjNE