I’m sitting on a folding chair with my laptop actually in my lap. Seems when moving week hits the last thing anyone thinks of is getting dads home office set up. But that’s okay. For you all I’d power through a lot more than this. It’s get right week, people. Never thought i’d say that about a trip to Pittsburg. But here we are. Miami is thankfully in the rearview mirror , It’s time to refocus on this week’s game plan reset on this weeks objective and get back to the Patriot way.
Early Down Success
Get into second and short, yes second and short. The inside zone run game was working last week. Why did they leave it? I have no idea. Let Damian Harris get into a rhythm early and be the first cut in my second key.
Play Action
Whoever was making the decisions last week seemed to forget one of the most successful aspects of Mac Jones’ game and the Patrios long standing success. Play Action . Matt did you know you can actually run play action out of the shotgun ? you can. Be it under center or out of the gun. Get the play-action game rolling.
Spread it out.
The Pats showed two looks last week, they ran almost exclusively eleven and twelve personal the entire game. This team has the depth to spread it out. I need to see five receiver sets this week. Let Mac get into the kitchen and run the show.
The Weeklies.
Murph the weeklies already? Yes it was all I could do not to start this set of keys off with them this week.
Win the Turnover Battle – We all saw last week how it workes out when the Patriots don’t turn this key. Lets not have that happen again
Own Third Down – The Pats were just four of nine last week on third down, a lot of this goes back to the first key on the ring, early down success: I want to see a ton of 3rd and two’s 3rd and ones on sunday.
Limit the Laundry – Last week the Pats had just three penalties for fifteen yards but they were costly flags. Clean up the mental errors
Tempo – Tempo – Tempo – Not turning this key last week was almost as upsetting as the turnovers. I mean I take the time to cut a new key for the weeklies and I’m ignored. WTF. The Dolphins had too much time to read what was happening in front of them, don’t make the same mistake twice people.
Find The Weak Link
With Xavien Howard on one side and a plethora of backup corners on the other you would think the Pats would look to exploit that, NOPE didn’t happen. They kept throwing at Howard. Morons. Find the weak spot and pound it.
Crush and Contain
The line did a great job last week of shutting down the Dolphins run game, they took up space and held the dolphins to 65 round yards. They need to continue that on Sunday and allow the ends and backers to crush Trubitsky’s pocket and speed up his process. And get him on his ass before he can beat you with his legs.
Muddle the Middle
The Steelers are trying to give Trubitsky the path of least resistance. Mich threw the ball 38 times last week but 26 of those passes were short range gimmies. All within ten yards of the line of scrimmage. They don’t trust their line or Mitch to get the ball downfield in even what we would think are mid-range passes. Keep the middle of the field crowded. Force Trubitsky to throw outside the hashes.
Flip the field
Playing with field position in your pocket is one of the biggest advantages you can give your offense , the Defense needs to pin the Steelers deeper on their side and get the Patriots shorter fields to work with, Goes without saying Jake Bailey needs to keep doing Jake Bailey things and pinning the opponents deep.
That’s it my rabid reader. Sorry no shots fired at Primanti brothers this week but but when a team is 0-1 you need to get down to business and I need to get back to unpacking my new home. As always you can follow / give me grief on Twitter @Tmurph207
.