The tactical meeting in the locker room is not over yet, but the second half of the game is about to begin. The defensive team can still have tactical discussions on the sidelines; but the offensive team has no time. They must come on the scene immediately and blow the horn for the second half of the game. Now they can only take one step at a time.
However, after calming down, Lu Ke's mind gradually became clearer, like a high-speed computer, quickly completing analysis and summary.
The New England Patriots have never been a strong defensive team, but if someone ignores their defensive team, it is often easy to suffer hidden losses. Although Bill Belichick is a more offensive-oriented head coach, he can often perform unexpectedly on defense-both good and bad.
Overall, the New England Patriots' defense is better on the ground than on the pass.
The Patriots' pass defense is now only ranked 15th. The number of first downs, touchdowns, passing yards and other statistics are not very good. The only thing worthy of praise is the number of interceptions. The current ranking Fifth in the league.
The entire second-line defense is lackluster.
Two cornerbacks, Ajib Talib and Kyle Arrington, both entered the league in 2008. The former was a first-round pick and the latter was an undrafted player. Both were transferred. Joined the Patriots.
Talib has had high hopes since he entered the league, and his performance has often impressed people, but he lacks stability and has a hot temper. He has not yet entered the Pro Bowl, let alone the All-American team. He just transferred over in November this year and currently occupies the starting position, but his performance needs to be improved.
Ellington is an unknown, hard-working rotation player. Last year's contract year ushered in a big explosion. He tied for the annual steal leader with seven interceptions, and successfully won himself a big contract. And successfully occupied the starting position, but this year's performance has declined sharply, not even half of last year's.
The positioning of the two safeties is a little more complicated.
The original starting safeties were Patrick Chung and Steve Gregory; but last month, Patrick Chung suffered a shoulder injury and had to miss many games. Therefore, Devin McCourty (Devin-McCountry), who was originally a cornerback, came to put out the fire and served as the starting safety.
Gregory is a veteran who was undrafted as a rookie in 2006. After joining the San Diego Lightning, his performance has always been tepid, but stability is the key. There was a small climax in 2009, but it quickly improved in the following two years. Sliding down, there are still no achievements worthy of praise.
He joined the Patriots in the offseason this year. In fact, he was not the starting safety guard at the beginning. However, the Patriots were really short of players at such a position, and Gregory was relatively experienced, so he came to the starting position. But...it's still pretty good.
McCourty is the proud son of God. He was the 27th overall pick in the first round of the New England Patriots in 2010. He conquered Gillette Stadium with his wonderful performance in his first season, and was selected to the Pro Bowl and ranked among the second team in the United States. .
In 2011, the team appointed him as one of the six captains. He can play multiple positions such as cornerback, safety and punt returner at the same time. He is called a versatile player; but McCourty ran into a rookie. His performance dropped sharply in his second year, and he even lost his starting position.
The same is true this season. Although he once again became the starting cornerback through the offseason and is still one of the six captains, his performance has never improved much. During the season, Belichick introduced Talib, squeezing out McCourty's starting position, and then moved McCourty over to play a fire-fighting role due to injuries at the safety position.
Whether it's Talib and Ellington, or Gregory and McCourty, the New England Patriots' second-line defense is far from outstanding.
In comparison, the Patriots' ground defense ranks among the top five in the league. Their strength lies in stopping losses in a timely manner. Although their opponents were able to complete a lot of running ball advancements, the defensive fronts and linebackers stepped up very quickly and controlled each ground loss to less than four yards. This is the top level in the league. .
Defensive tackle Vince-Wilfork is a four-time Pro Bowl player and a three-time second-team All-American; and linebacker Jerod-Mayo is also outstanding, peaking in 2010 This season, he was selected to both the Pro Player and All-American First Teams. After experiencing a slump last year, he rebounded strongly this year.
But it can be seen that Wilfork and Mayo are both ground defenders; relatively speaking, the New England Patriots don't have many bright spots to find in attacking the quarterback.
The reason why Belichick is difficult to deal with can be seen from the tactics in the first half——
The Patriots' defensive team deliberately gave up ground defense, literally. They gave up their most advantageous and strong links, reorganized the defensive team's players, and made subtle adjustments to the 49ers' offensive style.
Their basic defensive formation is a "4-3", which is four defensive linemen and three linebackers. Generally speaking, the defensive front line will adjust according to different strategies, but overall, raiding the quarterback and ground defense are their important tasks; while passing the ball is naturally handed over to the second line defense, occasionally the linebackers may cooperate with short passes Zone defense.
But now, Belichick has changed Jared Mayo's responsibilities.
Originally, Mayo needed to make judgments and adjustments based on different offensive gears - the middle linebacker is the position corresponding to the quarterback on the field, either defending the ball, attacking the quarterback, or dropping back to assist. Short pass defense, with him as the core to dispatch the entire defensive drive.
Now Mayo's game tasks have become monotonous: raiding the quarterback, and then occasionally assisting in short pass defense on step backs. Basically giving up ground defense, this allows Mayo to throw off the burden and join the defensive front at any time, forming a "five-on-five" situation and causing more trouble for the opponent's offensive line.
Their purpose is not to actually complete the sack, but to constantly apply pressure and create more obstacles for the quarterback to pass the ball.
At the same time, the two outside linebackers have also been liberated. They focus more on short passing areas and occasionally assist in the forward rush of the attacking quarterback. Their retreat also relieves the pressure on cornerbacks and safety guards to a certain extent, adding more reinforcements to the pass defense. The "six-on-four" pass defense situation allows the pass defense to gain more advantages.
Then from time to time, there will be a cross-position change with Mayo - Mayo retreats to defend short passes, and they rush forward to hit the pocket, constantly putting pressure on the offensive line at different rhythms.
It can be simply understood that the defensive front presses more forward and is more powerful; the backcourt defense is more dense and cautious.
So, what if Lu Ke chooses to run the ball?
Although Marcus Lynch and Frank Gall are not in their best condition, the opponent's defensive team did not deliberately mark them. They are not chess pieces placed there for nothing, and they are bound to be able to make a difference.
In this regard, the New England Patriots' attitude is: let them run.
For runs of five, six, and seven yards, they will not deliberately adjust their tactics. Instead, they will defend the running back as a wide receiver in a pass defense posture and intercept every run of the ball within ten yards. Inside, there will never be any long yardage advancement; at the same time, it further presses the attacking quarterback's line up, and also disrupts the running back's judgment and advancement through the position changes of the three linebackers.
Even when Marcus and Gall were at their best, the San Francisco 49ers were not a team that focused on running the ball; what's more, in today's league, there is no team that can rely entirely on running the ball to win games. , very rare. In the final analysis, passing is still needed to complete the fatal blow.
Add to that the poor state of the San Francisco 49ers receiving corps. Belichick's tactical adjustment was like a snake hitting seven inches, tightly choking the life of the 49ers' offense.
As Lu Ke said, the poor state is part of the reason, and the weather change is also part of the reason, but in the final analysis, there is a problem with their own tactics, and their morale level has not been able to bite, which means it has plummeted; now that I think about it, the first half was just It's just "27:0" and it didn't completely collapse. They should feel lucky.
However, this is just talk.
With a gap of 27 points, the opponents are still Belichick and Brady. It is almost impossible to imagine that the opponent will not score a point at the end. Therefore, the team is already standing on the edge of the cliff, with no retreat and no room. One mistake may even ruin the entire game.
calm. blank.
What Lu Ke needs to do is not to look forward and backward, but to give it a go, temporarily put the score and opponents behind his mind, keep his mind blank, and focus on himself. Only his own state has recovered, and only his own If your performance improves, then the glimmer of hope in the game will begin to brighten.
The second half of the game begins.
Standing behind the offensive line, Lu Ke quickly arranged tactics, constantly reminding the guards and tackles on both sides to pay attention to the opponent's defensive position and pay attention to the opponent's No. 51 Mayo - because Mayo suddenly and His teammates swap positions, with the middle linebacker on the outside and the outside linebacker on the middle.
Although Lu Ke had repeatedly explained, after the kickoff, Mayo and the two outside linebackers stepped up at the same time and joined the four defensive forwards, creating an absolute "seven versus five" numerical advantage, fast and ruthless The offensive line's pocket was torn open, and for the first time in the game, it showed a desperate momentum, catching the 49ers' offensive line off guard.
Then, Lu Ke only had time to summon the special skill of "Copper Skin and Iron Bone". Two defensive players, Wilfork and Mayo, collided at the same time, without giving Lu Ke any chance to react or escape. The New England Patriots all The first sack of the game came in the first wave of offense in the second half, once again giving the San Francisco 49ers a huge blow——
In the second half of the game, they were still not ready to let go.
It's a matter of life and death, right now.
