lkirc Posted September 19, 2011 Share Posted September 19, 2011 After watching Gates get shut out and some other top notch TEs struggle (Pettigrew, Vernon) I am wondering if we are seeing the beginning of a trend. The Patriots kept Chung on Gates and he usually had help. Rivers did the right thing and went to the open receivers, but they still lost. Will other teams duplicate this approach? Not every team has the defensive personnel to pull this off or the offensive firepower to outscore a team like the Chargers while single covering the WRs. The recent resurgence of the pass catching TE may have caused a shift in the way defenses are attacking offenses with productive TEs. Or is Bellichek just that much smarter than everyone else? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bankerboy Posted September 19, 2011 Share Posted September 19, 2011 You still have to have the players to do it. Given that the Pats have two pretty good TEs of their own, I'm sure the Pat defense gets plenty of practice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Holy Roller Posted September 19, 2011 Share Posted September 19, 2011 You still have to have the players to do it. Given that the Pats have two pretty good TEs of their own, I'm sure the Pat defense gets plenty of practice. This. I imagine practicing against Gronk/Hernandez every day gives the defensive squad plenty of reps agains ttop flight TEs and would probably help the defense learn to handle TEs better in real life games. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goopster24 Posted September 19, 2011 Share Posted September 19, 2011 Witten and Fred Davis have had two very solid weeks in a row. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lkirc Posted September 19, 2011 Author Share Posted September 19, 2011 Witten and Fred Davis have had two very solid weeks in a row. I certainly don't think every TE in the league is getting shut down. I have watched Gates for years and have never seen him blanketed as effectively as he was yesterday. It was a good point about the Patriots practicing against two top TEs every day. Maybe it is as simple as that, but wouldn't SD be used to covering Gates in practice? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goopster24 Posted September 19, 2011 Share Posted September 19, 2011 Feel like VJax was in the zone and Rivers kept feeding him. Tolbert was also making use of his catches as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zooty Posted September 20, 2011 Share Posted September 20, 2011 I guess you never watch the Eagles. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cbs0121 Posted September 20, 2011 Share Posted September 20, 2011 I actually thought about this the other day - if a team can clog the middle of the field and force Brady's throws outside, they may have a chance of slowing that offense down. But it's a small chance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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