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Oh no, another key to the game post. Let me guess. Is it we need to run the ball? Or is it stop the run? How about make sure Kamara gets his touches? Well all of those things are important, but this is a match that features two hall of fame quarterbacks and that is where my key is.
Let me first say how wrong I was with my early season prediction that Brady would bust with the Bucs. I saw Brady as not only being old, but old with less natural athleticism than Brees has at roughly the same age. Its not so much Brady's arm getting old as it is his legs. He has never been very mobile at his best and even pocket quarterbacks need some ability to escape. I was thinking pigeons might land on him before he got the ball out.
Combine that with him leaving a hall of fame coach to go to a new offense with no spring practice and no experience with his teammates, I figured Brady would wish he had retired. Well I was wrong about all that. Brady (and Brees) look like they can make it to fifty the way they play. Brady is still a top qb.
So what's the key to the game? Sorry, I got sidetracked. The key is getting pressure on Brady with just a four man rush. Like Brees, Brady can recognize and punish the blitz. And you cant rush three, he will pick you apart. His only weakness, his only achilles heal, is Brady doesn't move as well as he used to. And he never really moved that well before but for his innate ability, like Brees, to step up in the pocket and not flush.
Its actually the same key for both teams. Tampa needs to generate pressure on Brees without blitzing as well. I like our chances on that better than theirs.
Hopefully Hendrickson is healthy and close to full speed. No need to worry about Cam Jordan, he is the highest motor guy we have had since Ricky Jackson, he will do his job.
The guy who needs to step up and earn his pay is Davenport, Marcus not Willie. Davenport was drafted to do what Hendrickson is doing, rush the passer. He was to be the missing ingredient to get us to the Super Bowl as in the years before him we were seeing leads eaten away because we couldn't get to the qb.
For whatever reason, injuries playing a big part, Davenport has consistently not been the wrecking ball rusher that gets us to the next level. We would have easily beaten the Rams in the bad call with any pass rush from him at the end. Davenport has flashed ability, but he is not the disrupter we thought we were getting.
But this is a what have you done for me lately world and redemption is there for the taking for Marcus. He can still be the missing ingredient that changes the game not just with a sack, but a strip sack that he scoops up and races to the end zone. That might be wishful thinking. Davenport has not had a sack in the last nine games.
Our defense is better this year. I don't feel like if the other team has the ball at the end of the game down 6 that we will automatically lose like I used to. You know the feeling. If we are up six with two minutes to play and the other team had the ball at their 20, I would be thinking let them score now and not use up all the clock.
Where I think we are better than Tampa is our d-line with Jordan, Hendrickson and Davenport on the ends and Rankins, Onyemata and Brown in the middle. How good a draft pick was Onyemata, by the way?
One final thought in line with the key to the game theme is the type of pressure Brady and Brees type qb's hate the most, middle pressure. Hendrickson owes at least some of his sacks to the guys in the middle who are not letting the qbs step up in the pocket. Rankins has been a solid player when healthy. We need the front four to get after that old man.
Let me first say how wrong I was with my early season prediction that Brady would bust with the Bucs. I saw Brady as not only being old, but old with less natural athleticism than Brees has at roughly the same age. Its not so much Brady's arm getting old as it is his legs. He has never been very mobile at his best and even pocket quarterbacks need some ability to escape. I was thinking pigeons might land on him before he got the ball out.
Combine that with him leaving a hall of fame coach to go to a new offense with no spring practice and no experience with his teammates, I figured Brady would wish he had retired. Well I was wrong about all that. Brady (and Brees) look like they can make it to fifty the way they play. Brady is still a top qb.
So what's the key to the game? Sorry, I got sidetracked. The key is getting pressure on Brady with just a four man rush. Like Brees, Brady can recognize and punish the blitz. And you cant rush three, he will pick you apart. His only weakness, his only achilles heal, is Brady doesn't move as well as he used to. And he never really moved that well before but for his innate ability, like Brees, to step up in the pocket and not flush.
Its actually the same key for both teams. Tampa needs to generate pressure on Brees without blitzing as well. I like our chances on that better than theirs.
Hopefully Hendrickson is healthy and close to full speed. No need to worry about Cam Jordan, he is the highest motor guy we have had since Ricky Jackson, he will do his job.
The guy who needs to step up and earn his pay is Davenport, Marcus not Willie. Davenport was drafted to do what Hendrickson is doing, rush the passer. He was to be the missing ingredient to get us to the Super Bowl as in the years before him we were seeing leads eaten away because we couldn't get to the qb.
For whatever reason, injuries playing a big part, Davenport has consistently not been the wrecking ball rusher that gets us to the next level. We would have easily beaten the Rams in the bad call with any pass rush from him at the end. Davenport has flashed ability, but he is not the disrupter we thought we were getting.
But this is a what have you done for me lately world and redemption is there for the taking for Marcus. He can still be the missing ingredient that changes the game not just with a sack, but a strip sack that he scoops up and races to the end zone. That might be wishful thinking. Davenport has not had a sack in the last nine games.
Our defense is better this year. I don't feel like if the other team has the ball at the end of the game down 6 that we will automatically lose like I used to. You know the feeling. If we are up six with two minutes to play and the other team had the ball at their 20, I would be thinking let them score now and not use up all the clock.
Where I think we are better than Tampa is our d-line with Jordan, Hendrickson and Davenport on the ends and Rankins, Onyemata and Brown in the middle. How good a draft pick was Onyemata, by the way?
One final thought in line with the key to the game theme is the type of pressure Brady and Brees type qb's hate the most, middle pressure. Hendrickson owes at least some of his sacks to the guys in the middle who are not letting the qbs step up in the pocket. Rankins has been a solid player when healthy. We need the front four to get after that old man.
