Weather Not a Factor in Sunday's Game.
One thing that is almost always true when you are playing a playoff game in Foxboro in January is the weather is going to be a factor especially against teams traveling from warm climates. This time around the weather forecast for Foxboro on Sunday is a high of 54 degrees and a low of 46 degrees so weather will NOT be a factor. For all the fans that let this fact worry them I would say don’t let it. The Texans are a good enough team to not let weather affect their play anyways and on top of that they still have the same unfavorable matchup against the Patriots offense that they had before.
Wade Phillips is going to do his best to take out Welker first because he has been the most consistent and healthy player all season long. Let’s assume he gets that done and Welker is a non factor by a double coverage, now they are using six people on just the defensive line and to cover Welker. Assuming they will keep at least one safety back that leaves everyone else in man to man coverage with one safety help over the top. Hernandez, Gronkowski, Lloyd and Woodhead are all viable options when being manned up. Long story short, no defense in this league has enough good cover guys to take all of our weapons out of the game.
A lot has been said this week about getting the pressure on Brady, but as I see it where are these extra one or two defenders coming from? If Phillips was to send pressure it would put too much on the plate of the defensive backs. I wouldn’t expect a crazy amount of pressure being brought on Brady just because the numbers don’t line up. If you bring pressure you are choosing to man cover every offensive weapon on the Patriots and if that’s your plan, good luck.
The closer this game gets, the more I don’t believe it will be a blow out. With the Shaughnessy article guaranteeing a blowout; it gave the Texans added motivation at a time when none was needed. The weather being hospitable to the Texans means they get to leave those unlucky Letterman Jackets in Houston where they belong. When it’s all said and done this entire playoff run will not have been about our offensive weapons or our opponent’s skill level, it will have been about Tom Brady, as it always is, and if our defense can make a stop when Brady has won the game.
Wade Phillips is going to do his best to take out Welker first because he has been the most consistent and healthy player all season long. Let’s assume he gets that done and Welker is a non factor by a double coverage, now they are using six people on just the defensive line and to cover Welker. Assuming they will keep at least one safety back that leaves everyone else in man to man coverage with one safety help over the top. Hernandez, Gronkowski, Lloyd and Woodhead are all viable options when being manned up. Long story short, no defense in this league has enough good cover guys to take all of our weapons out of the game.
A lot has been said this week about getting the pressure on Brady, but as I see it where are these extra one or two defenders coming from? If Phillips was to send pressure it would put too much on the plate of the defensive backs. I wouldn’t expect a crazy amount of pressure being brought on Brady just because the numbers don’t line up. If you bring pressure you are choosing to man cover every offensive weapon on the Patriots and if that’s your plan, good luck.
