Today Eric Mangini was on NFL Live and provided some insight into how he beat the Pats in November with the Browns, as well as the Patriots defense itself.
This is the second time I’ve heard the term “rule based” come up when someone from the inside discusses the Pats defense. The first time was in 2009 when the Patriots played the Broncos and Josh McDaniels instantly went to his version of the Wildcat called “Wild Horses”. Stupid name I know. My first girlfriend loved that Rolling Stones song and she was a horrible person, so between that and the Pats losing to Denver that day it’s far from my favorite term. Anyway, I digress.
When we heard more about why McDaniels did this, they said it was because the Patriots defense was rule based and this adjustment caused confusion.
Well today Mangini mentioned “rule based” again, but he expanded a bit. He said part of the reason he hired Brian Schottenheimer was that the offense he ran had a lot of motion and shifts. Every time an offense shifts or motions against the Patriots defense there are 11 calls that have to be made for them to adjust. Mangini said something as simple as two shifts and a motion would force New England’s defense to communicate a whopping 33 adjustments.
It’s easy to see how someone might not get a call and the result would be a big gain. Clearly this has to be a disadvantage of the read and react defense, because you have to make sure everyone is reading the same thing so they can react the same way.
However in a playoff game, when you’d think all the players would be locked in and focused, this should not be a huge issue, especially at home.
In week two, in a hostile environment with a lot of young players, or in a game against the lowly Cleveland Browns that no one is up for, I can see how it might be an issue.
Another bit of insight from Mangini was that they wanted to attack the “C” gaps of the New England defense. This is the gap on the outside shoulder of the offensive tackle. Clearly the strength of the New England defense is up the middle with Wilfork (when he’s at nose) and Mayo/Spikes (talking 3-4 base). But on the outside you have inexperienced defensive ends (again, when Wilfork’s not there) and outside linebackers who aren’t exactly All Pro run stoppers.
So this approach does make sense, and also sheds some light on why the Pats might be motivated to kick Wilfork out to 5-technique defensive end.
All in all some really great stuff from Mangini. It almost made me not hate him. Almost.