Playbook - week 2, Defense

This first look is a 3rd and long for the Cardinals. This is the play that resulted in a Kevin Kolb fumble forced by #95 Chandler Jones and recovered by #27 Tavon Wilson. The Patriots find themselves in a Dime Defense with Wilson and #29 Sterling Moore as the extra DBs. The odd thing is that Wilson looks and acts like a LB on this play.

Wilson is there to match-up against #86 Todd Heap, a TE. However, Heap is acting more as a FB or an H-back in a lop sided Pro Set with #36 Rod Stevens-Howling next to Kolb in the shotgun. Wilson's alignment makes him a blitz threat, so Heap and Howling check the protection before offering short check-down routes.

The Patriots 4-man rush of #50 Rob Ninkovich, #75 Vince Wilfork, #96 Jermaine Cunningham, and #95 Chandler Jones does nothing special, but Kolb is flushed from the pocket. As a unit, all four rushers did a good job, and Kolb stepped up into a dangerous area, where Jones lunged and jarred the ball loose.

On the back end, #32 Devin McCourty and #28 Steve Gregory did a nice job to double Larry Fitzgerald with a man-zone concept that takes away comebacks and out routes. On the other side, #24 Kyle Arrington is left 1-on-1 with #12 Andre Roberts, and keeps him tight despite a quick push-off route. #29 Sterling Moore forced his man to the sideline and #25 Pat Chung had over-the-top help. Kolb had nowhere to throw, and this extra time allowed the big sack to happen.

ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT

In this play, #21 Patrick Peterson is lined up at QB, and the other speedster #36 Stevens-Howling comes in motion toward him. This is probably the most basic wildcat play ever. How we got gashed by this is no mystery: poor execution and lack of preparation. The confusion of where to line up was evident as everyone relayed hand-signals to each other.

Quite simply, this is a bad play by Rookie Chandler Jones. On the whole, #95 Jones has done very well on the edge; setting and holding it. However, his inexperience made him vulnerable in this instance because he underestimated the speed of Peterson, and tried to make the play by himself. He forgot to do his job on this one methinks.

It is also worth noting that #51 Jerod Mayo does not read this play well either and gets too far inside. Still, Jones gave Mayo no chance by letting Peterson get the edge. He's gotta force Peterson to juke back to the middle, even if he can't make the tackle.

Jones shucks his blocker like a rag doll, but puts himself 1-on-1 with one of the fastest guys in the league. His first step is toward the sideline to pursue, not upfield to cut him off . Jones has no chance in the open field, and Peterson runs around him.

2nd year player #29 Sterling Moore also plays his technique wrong. Granted, he was covering/being blocked by #11 Larry Fitzgerald, but Sterling Moore tried to beat the block to the outside. Moore should have taken the contact and tried to close the running lane as much as possible. This would have forced him closer to Jones, Mayo, and Chung. Jeeze, Do your job.

This was an explosive play that put the Cardinals into the red zone. The Patriots Defense may look good after 2 games, but they are far from perfect. These young guys give them a ton of talent, but they need to be consistent with the details. Championships are in the details. Bad execution and selfish hero-ball turn mildly successful plays into an explosive plays. Do your job. Remember your job even when it seems like its not the right play, trust the system.

*All pictures are property of The NFL. I do not claim ownership, but hope to use them educationally.