Film School Patriots vs Colts

When you have a Thursday game it almost feels like a holiday weekend. Come to think of it, it should have been a long weekend. People out here acting like I'm supposed to come in on Columbus Day. Really? The guy discovered the new world. I'm afraid to even ask about Victory Over Japan Day. Oh well, Halloween will be here soon enough and we must get that day off right?? Class is officially in session.

In a new wrinkle I'm going to double up on the offense today. I know you might think you need a more rounded education, but guess what? I don't pay you to think. I do the thinking around here. Always remember I'm smart and you're dumb. Besides, the D was pretty good until they went into prevent mode when it became a blowout, which allowed the Colts back into the game.

Do you really want to see clips of Wise getting pushed so far off the edge he was in a different zip code to allow Hines to run free off ackle? Or do you want to see tight ends run across Dev's face with about as much resistance as I offer the food truck people when they swing the iPad around to me and my tip options are 20%, 25%, or 30%? We're tipping everyone now I guess. Point is, those aren't scheme problems, so why show you a highlight of one of our guys getting beat. It happens. It's sports. I like to spend our lessons focusing a bit more on the game plans.

Here is a look at Patterson's (get off my team) tuddy from two weeks ago against the Fins.

3rd longest reception of @ceeflashpee84's career.
1st TD as member of the Patriots. #MIAvsNE | #GoPats pic.twitter.com/G8NbMHXM04

— New England Patriots (@Patriots) September 30, 2018

You'll notice Tommy bring Wiggle in motion from the bottom of the screen. The DB moves with him, indicating they are in man coverage. So on the snap Wiggle runs directly into the DB covering Patterson. Per the rules, you can run a pick play like this as long as it is within 1 yard of the line of scrimmage. Wiggle executes this perfectly and it frees up Patterson for a long tuddy.

Now we go to last week. Tommy has trips to the left. No motion this time but again he has identified man coverage.

On the snap, Gronk cuts in toward the middle and slams into the DB covering Jules.

All good because again its within 1 yard of the line of scrimmage and again the DBs do a terrible job communicating their need to switch. With the safety running with Wiggle on skinny post it leaves Jules absolutely NUDE up the sideline.

You don't need to see the rest of this clip because we all know how it ended. The reason I bring it up is not because pick routes are new to the Pats or the NFL. They are a reasonably common technique across the league. I bring it up because of how well we have executed it so far. These are just two examples but minus a drop, both would have resulted in long tuddies. In the past we ALWAYS get flagged on these plays. Usually its because we are two yards off the LOS when we're blocking. I've been pleasantly surprised to watch Josh work this into the attack with relative ease.

While we're talking about Jules "Aaron Dobson-esque" drop, why don't we shine some light on the great things he does bring to the office. One of those things is hard to teach, and even harder to become locked in on with another human. That is knowing when to sit down on your routes. Jules is the master of finding the soft spots in the zone and stopping his route. This is what Tom wants him to do, and when they see the field the same way it's impossible to stop.

Take a look at these three catches by Jules. They were his first, second, and fifth receptions of the game. Jules is on a crosser or an option route, and all three times he sits down in the zone for a completion.

*Tangent Alert* (Math term, read a book one time) Look at this play from Josh Gordon later in the game. He is split wide right.

Doug Kyed

He runs a slant and flashes open. But Brady expects him to sit down on the spot right there. Stop running!

Doug Kyed

The throw comes in behind Flash (and a little low in his defense) but it results in an incompletion when it could have been yards.

Doug Kyed

The hope is Flash will pick this up once he gets more practice reps in with Tom, and then they can laugh about this when they burn one down together after collecting wins on Sundays.

Back to Jules. He can only sit down in soft spots so many times before defenses start to lose their minds. And when they do that they become undisciplined. Here is the Wiggle tuddy pass.

.@SweetFeet_White ➡ END ZONE. #INDvsNE | #GoPats pic.twitter.com/jzqSDDOwXN

— New England Patriots (@Patriots) October 5, 2018

It's a beautiful thing. He's NUDE. If you're wondering why, feel free to ask. There are no bad questions in this class. And the answer is right here.

Jules has another option route from Tom's right. He sits down in the zone and all three (!!!!) LBs go flying in after him because they refuse to get beat like that again. They neglect to do their job and cover the other side of the zone, which allows Wiggle to crip walk into the end zone. Game blouses. Glad to have you back 11.