Rivera talks about how to beat the Patriots

[Mr. Scot]

In today's Monday Morning Quarterback, Albert Breer talks to Ron Rivera and Chargers coach Anthony Lynn about how to beat the Patriots.

 

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I went to the playbook of late, great Boston Globe columnist Will McDonough, whose work was a big reason I got into this business. Before Super Bowls, McDonough used to tap a couple coaches for insight into the matchup. So we’ll use Lynn and Carolina’s Ron Rivera, since the Chargers and Panthers played both Super Bowl teams this year.

(For the record, Lynn’s Chargers lost to the Eagles, 26-24, on Oct. 1, and to the Patriots, 21-13, on Oct. 29. Rivera’s Panthers beat the Patriots, 33-30, on Oct. 1, and lost to the Eagles, 28-23, on Oct. 12.)

Here are the keys, as the coaches see them, to the matchup…

• Benching Brady. The Eagles led the NFL in time of possession in the regular season, running 97 more plays than their opponents. And in the playoffs, they’ve averaged more than 33 minutes of possession per game. Good thing they’ve proven they can do it, too, since the best way to beat Brady is to keep him on the sideline.

“Defensively, we had to be really good on third down, we had to win third down,” said Rivera, whose Panthers won in Foxboro in Week 4. “That was a huge emphasis going into the game, because you didn’t want to give Tom Brady extra snaps. We had to limit his chances. And we had to run the ball successfully, and if not that, our short passing game had to be there so we could complete passes to keep the clock going.

“I thought Jacksonville was doing a great job of that. But in the end, when they had to convert in the fourth quarter, they couldn’t, and gave Brady back the ball. We know what Tom is, and especially in the fourth quarter. The dude is phenomenal.”

• Finding Fletcher. Lynn coached in the AFC East for eight seasons, and so he knows the way to beat Brady is to go right through him. And the way to him, generally, is a direct shot through the middle of the defense, which makes Eagles defensive tackle Fletcher Cox perhaps the most important non-quarterback in this game.

“He’s tall and he has such patience and poise,” Lynn said of Brady. “When you have great edge rushers, a lot of times quarterbacks will panic because they feel that pressure. Brady just steps up in the pocket and delivers the ball. It doesn’t affect him whatsoever. Trust me, I’ve seen it up close and personal too many times. Pressure that’s in his face, now you gotta get out of the pocket. That’s out of his comfort zone.

“And in all my years playing against Tom Brady, that’s what affected him most, the pressure up the middle. So they’re gonna have to decide. Do you leave the tackles one-on-one with the edge rushers and send help to Cox? You can do that with the center or whatever uncovered guard you have, you can slide to Cox and put two guys on him. But you’re going to single up some guys on the edge.”

• Breaking tendencies. This is a New England specialty, and where Philly’s coaches have to go to work. Their defense isn’t overly complex, but varying matchups up front is a way they throw in wrinkles. Rivera suggested using linebackers in the pass rush, to keep the New England backs in blocking. Likewise, the Eagle offense has to keep the Patriots off balance. And all this usually means even more when the chips are down, and teams tend to revert to what they do best.

“It gets very hard,” Rivera said. “Believe me, Coach Belichick prepares. And knows like the back of his hand what you’re going to do in the fourth quarter. He knows what to anticipate as far what you’re going to call offensively, defensively, on special teams. And you have to do a really good job of self-scouting—it’s just them, you have to scout yourself, because he’s gonna know you.

“Then when you feel good about you, now you’ve gotta get ready for them. There’s a lot of work in getting ready for them. There are no slam dunks against Coach.”

• Situational play. We already mentioned third down. The red zone is another area where the story for this one will be written. The Patriots’ excellence there explains how a team that ranks 29th in total defense could possibility finish fifth in scoring defense. And so it’ll be on Foles and Co. to be judicious inside the 20.

“It’s hard to beat that team if you’re kicking field goals, I’ll tell you that, because they have a quarterback that’s going to score touchdowns,” said Lynn. “They’re very sound in their techniques and with their philosophy. They do a good job of mixing coverages down there and keeping you off balance. They don’t do a whole lot, but they do enough to where their guys can still play fast, physical and react.

“They’re going to defend the end zone. And a lot of times, quarterbacks don’t have the patience to sit in the pocket and take what a team gives you. They’ll force the ball into the end zone. That’s what they want you to do. They’ll defend the line and force you to kick field goals.”

• Foles on schedule. The hardest thing about playing the Eagles, Lynn remembers, wasn’t all the things they could plan. It was what they couldn’t plan. And with Carson Wentz out, how the Eagles operate in those spots will be key.

“At the time, the quarterback was making so many plays off schedule,” Lynn said. “His ability to move around and extend plays, and his receivers’ ability to stay in sync with him, we did a stat in the fourth week of the season, and it was unbelievable how many touchdowns and first downs they’d made off of that. They’re gonna miss that a little bit, that was part of the formula.”

Conversely, the rap on Foles has always been that he couldn’t operate when he was getting knocked around and off schedule. That’s changed in these playoffs, but you can bet the Patriots will test to see how real his progress has been.

And then, there’s this: One team comes into this game with five Lombardis in the cabinet, and with a quarterback and coach here for the eighth time. This, simply, is where they do their best work. The last four times they’ve faced double-digit deficits in the playoffs, they’ve won. Read that sentence back one more time. It is absolutely staggering.

Faced with it, Atlanta came undone in Super Bowl LI, and the Jaguars wilted two Sundays ago. That’s why Rivera really liked what Pederson did publicly last week, in addressing the Patriots’ “mystique” head on, because when the game goes to the fourth quarter, the mind can play tricks on teams faced with all that.

“You gotta make sure it’s not like, ‘Here we go again’,” said Rivera. “You have to get that out of everybody’s mind. And I thought Doug did a really good thing. ‘Let’s get past the New England mystique, OK? Let’s get past it!’ Seriously. I think Bill Belichick thrives on that stuff. If you want to emulate the gold standard, they’re the gold standard, he’s the gold standard, Tom Brady’s the gold standard.

“And so I think Doug addressing it last week was important, so now if some things comes up, it’s, ‘Guys, we already talked about it.’”

That is when teams tend to step in it. At the very least, the Eagles seem ready for that.

 

Side Note: There's also this item under the "First and Ten" section.

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7. NFL commissioner Roger Goodell turned heads when he said Charlotte is “a market we would like to stay in” at his annual state of the league presser on Wednesday. I wouldn’t get too worked up, if I lived in the Carolinas. Jerry Richardson’s the one selling the team, and he cares deeply about his legacy there, knows it’s been tarnished, and almost certainly would love to avoid any further damage to his good name in his home region.

[NeederNodder]

Hope we get our next win against the Pats in Super Bowl 53

[rhyslloyd]

Ask him how to beat the Saints.

[Ricky Spanish]

6 minutes ago, rhyslloyd said:

Ask him how to beat the Saints.

It's too hard to get into that mindset.

To get into Bill's mind you have to prepare, then prepare more, then prepare even more than that.

To get into Peyton's, you have to take a bunch of vicodin.

Rivera's is just too straight laced to go the extra mile there. 

[iamhubby1]

31 minutes ago, rhyslloyd said:

Ask him how to beat the Saints.

 

    Sounds like someone woke up on the wrong side of the 21st Century. But hey, you've got that grumpy old man curmudgeon thingy down pat. I bet not one of the neighbor kids dares step on your lawn. Amirite?

[Mr. Scot]

Related: the Patriots say we helped them get to the Super Bowl.

I feel dirty now 

[raleigh-panther]

2 hours ago, iamhubby1 said:

 

    Sounds like someone woke up on the wrong side of the 21st Century. But hey, you've got that grumpy old man curmudgeon thingy down pat. I bet not one of the neighbor kids dares step on your lawn. Amirite?

Poster’s question is a fair one. Takes a fair amount of effort to lose to the same team three times in the same season

[RumHam]

36 minutes ago, raleigh-panther said:

Poster’s question is a fair one. Takes a fair amount of effort to lose to the same team three times in the same season

little bit different when the refs gives new orleans everything in the dome. We straight up blew the home game, but that was also take a knee weekend.

[CPF4LIFE]

1 hour ago, RumHam said:

little bit different when the refs gives new orleans everything in the dome. We straight up blew the home game, but that was also take a knee weekend.

Hard to blame the refs for 3 straight losses especially when you gave up over 30 points in all of them. 

[raleigh-panther]

1 hour ago, RumHam said:

little bit different when the refs gives new orleans everything in the dome. We straight up blew the home game, but that was also take a knee weekend.

Sorry. Panthers were outplayed. Out coached and the Saints have better personnel

if the defensive backfield and WRs aren’t fixed this offseason it will be no different next year

[Camp Fodder]

Not many coaches can say they are undefeated against the Patriots

[Camp Fodder]

Not many coaches can say they are undefeated against the Patriots

[Ace_Aladdin]

9 hours ago, rhyslloyd said:

Ask him how to beat the Saints.

Ask DG to get him a 2nd TE instead of fake BPA.