Well you can always have more pass rush, that’s for sure and I didn’t think it was good enough against the Packers. But I also think the people flipping out at the Pats only rushing three on some downs don’t really get it. Good quarterbacks pick blitzes apart. We’ve seen plenty of times teams have come at Brady with similar gameplans, most notably the Jets in the 2010 playoff game.
It’s about creativity, with defensive ends and even tackles dropping into coverage and linebackers/defensive backs blitzing, trying to confuse the offensive line to get at the quarterback. You can’t just send the house every down and think that that will be effective.
These kind of gameplans against good quarterbacks are also very dependent on your front four winning when they have one on one matchups, and that’s something the Pats front four were not doing against the Packers.
So in the playoffs it will be critical that when guys like Chandler (hopefully), Easley, Chris Jones, Ayers and Ninkovich have only one offensive lineman blocking them, that they beat that guy and force the quarterback off the spot.
But again, it’s even more complicated against a guy like Rodgers than even Peyton. Rodgers has that escapability, so even if guys win their single matchup, they can’t lose contain or let him get to an alley. We saw that a couple times and Rodgers ran easily for a first down.
This is what happens when two great teams play. They are going to make plays, and there are no easy answers to getting pressure and stopping them, but the key is to get off the field on third down, get stops in the red zone and hopefully remain within striking distance until the end. Then make that one critical play and you will set yourself up to win.
The Pats pretty much did that despite the lack of great QB pressure. I mean, the Packers had 3 points in the second half!