Pats O vs. Cardinals D

The Cards are solid in the secondary

Those who frequent this site are familiar with the Offensive attack of the Patriots led by Tom Brady.  Certainly the Pats Offense will try to do a variety of things against Arizona, but underestimating this Arizona Defense will not be one of them.  The Cardinals Defense is young, but showed a lot of improvement over the last 9 weeks of 2011.  In fact, the Cards were statistically elite in those weeks: ranking first in 3rd down Defense and Red Zone Defense, and ranking third in sacks and TDs allowed.

The Cards have a good mix of young, up-and-coming players, such as inside linebacker Daryl Washington, cornerback Patrick Peterson and outside linebacker Sam Acho, and proven veterans, such as strong safety Adrian Wilson and ends Darnell Dockett and Calais Campbell.

Patrick Peterson is among the league's elite corners, even if he will not be considered a shut-down corner in my opinion.  Likewise, Dockett and Campbell proved last year that they can get after the passer.  Overall, the strength of the Cardinals Defense is their ability to limit production by WRs on the perimeter.  The Cardinals faced Brandon Lloyd's Rams twice last year, limiting Lloyd to 3 receptions in each game.

Indeed, this is the area that the Cardinals look to challenge the Patriots.  With a combination of good ball skills and raw physical talent, the Cardinals secondary looks to limit the Patriots outside the numbers, where Brady had most of his success Sunday vs. the Titans (20 of his 31 went outside the numbers for 16 completions).  Likewise, the Cards compliment their back end with decent pass rush, recording 4 sacks last week against Seattle.  Ken Wisenhunt comes from the Blitzburg system, so expect a variety of blitz packages as well.

Here's what Bill Belichick says about preparing for the Cardinals, and particularly Patrick Peterson:

On Wisenhunt's Cardinals: "They're a hard team to prepare for. Scheme-wise they do a lot of different things, and I don't know if I've seen as many personnel groups and formations from teams than what these guys have shown, they really put every combination together that's conceivable. Of course they run all the blitz packages that you've seen in Pittsburgh, and that's a multitude of them. It's going to be a tough week."

On Cardinals' cornerback Patrick Peterson: "Very dangerous on punt returns, that goes without saying. Big guy, has good length, good speed. Hard guy to throw over in the secondary, excellent ball skills. If he gets his hands on the ball, you're looking at a lot of trouble. Not just interceptions, but he'll probably run it back for touchdowns too if you let him punt return. He and [safety Adrian] Wilson are two outstanding players back there, of course Kerry Rhodes, [William] Gay, and [Jamell] Fleming, those guys, it's a good group. But Peterson, he's got exceptional ability, exceptional size for the position, real good ball skills."

Its obvious that Bill respects the talent that the Cardinals bring to the perimeter, so I would look for McDaniels and Brady to counter their strengths with a steady diet of Wes Welker and Stevan Ridley.  First of all, I think that Brady will throw less than 20 attempts toward the perimeter.  Instead, I expect Brady to test the LBs with play action while flooding the middle of the field with targets.  Identifying blitz packages will be the key to exploiting the middle with big yards after the catch. 

If the Cardinals try to bring extra guys at Brady, look for him to find Welker or Hernandez reaping the benefits of a mismatch.  Likewise, I expect McDaniels to establish the running game with Ridley.  By no accounts do the Cardinals have an exceptional run defense, and we should see some success there.  A successful running game will also serve to control the clock and tempo of the game, but its main function will be to keep the 'backers and safeties honest, also reducing their freedom to blitz.

Overall, despite the Cardinals strengths against the outside passing game, the Patriots have shown that they are able to threaten the middle of the field, especially against a zone-blitzing team.  To bring extra pressure, the defense must leave someone mismatched.  Brady must avoid quick pressures, and find these mismatches to exploit vacated areas of the Defense.

The three keys to victory Defensively are as follows: 

1. Keep Brady upright, and avoid quick pressures from the edge and blitzes up the middle.  Beware of DE Darnell Dockett, who had a half-sack, four knockdowns, and five hurries last week.

2. Establish the running game and play action with Stevan Ridley.  This will be a key almost every week because it does so much for the Offense. His performance is key, especially in the Red Zone, where Arizona is so good on D.

3. Identify the blitz pre-snap, and locate the mismatch.  Use the Snow Huddle Offense to make the Defense more predictable. Also, use dummy counts, motions, and audibles to get as much information as possible before the snap.  Look for a big day from the short passing game, especially from Welker and Hernandez.