CONTROLLING THE BALL: Players on the Patriots' defense gave a lot of credit for their success on Sunday to the offense's ability to control the ball for nearly 40 minutes of the game. (projo.com) Part of what the Patriots were able to do may have been a result of the multiple-tight end sets that were employed frequently throughout the game, with a newly healthy Ben Watson usually lining up along with David Thomas. Watson was on the field for 77 of the Patriots' 81 snaps, second only to Randy Moss among New England's skill players. (Boston Globe)
We are getting ready for San Diego here, it almost seems like this is a division game. We've played them so many times it is to the point now that we have so many games on them just against us, that's enough to really do a scouting report and a game plan, even [without] getting into all of their other games. Of course we have seen them. This is a very explosive team that average 30 points a game. They have lost a couple of close games, three by ten points. They've been able to do a good job of getting the ball down the field, leading the league in yards per catch. We know they are very good on third down. We know they are a very physical defense, very good on special teams both coverage and their return game is extremely dangerous. They are a big play passing team with a lot of good receivers. Vincent Jackson is becoming a go to guy for them and of course Antonio Gates, LaDainian Tomlinson, Darren Sproles - all his kickoff returns, he is very dangerous with the ball in his hands. We have to do a good job offensively of taking care of the ball. They are a good pass rush team and good turnover team in the secondary. Antonio Cromartie and Quentin Jammer [are] two of the most physical corners that we will play against. Clinton Hart is one of the most physical safeties in the league too. They do a lot of things well. They have a lot of talent and I am sure we will be running into a hornet's nest in terms of energy and excitement down there Sunday night. We will have to be ready to match that too. That's where we are at today.
Thinking about the running game, what were your thoughts on your short yardage running game? I have heard people say that a good running game gets yards when you really need them - that's a good way to measure a running game. Could you assess your teams running game in that regard? I thought it was better against San Francisco for the most part. We converted some short yardage situations but we got stopped on the goal line and also at the end of the game on a four-minute offense [when it was] was third and one - we weren't able to convert that at the end of the game. We had some good ones and had some nice holes in there. I thought Sammy Morris and LaMont Jordan ran hard but at the same time we missed a couple. We still have work to do in that situation but it was good to run the ball on the road, knock out a few of those short yardages and convert on third down. Anytime you are offensively driving the ball, those are keys for you.
How do you feel the tight ends did in regard to blocking in the running game? It's good to have them out there. We have gone through different stages where both David Thomas and Benjamin Watson haven't been available together. It's good to have them out there and start getting consistency with them. So getting Benjamin back helps. I thought there were several times they were together and had some kind of combination block where it was those two blocking a linebacker and a safety or a linebacker and a defensive lineman - same thing in pass protection. I thought they worked together well for the most part. Again, there's always room for improvement. It's good to have them out there. It gives our offense flexibility - one tight end could do one thing while the other can do something else. You can flip those jobs whether it is pass protection, receiver or vice versa. It's good. It gives us more balance out there and a little more flexibility in what we want to do.
I was curious about the challenge play in the game. Did Kevin Faulk run over to you and tell you he really thought he made it or did it come from above? No, I didn't talk to Kevin about it. When I saw the play, I was standing close, maybe a couple yards behind where that yard line was. It looked to me like Kevin got a little further than what they spotted him. Initially when he went down, I thought we definitely had the first down. Then when they spotted the ball it was real close. We saw them go in, measure it and it came up just a little bit short. There was a replay on it upstairs and the coach's thought that he was a little further than that. We had two timeouts and I think there was about 6 minutes to go in the game. It didn't really seem like the timeouts would be that important even if we lost the challenge - it didn't seem that crucial, you never know but it seemed like we could afford it. We had quite a bit of time to think about it because of the chains going across the field so that's why we ended up using the challenge there. That's how it happened.
In retrospect, thinking it over would you do that again given that it was short yardage, you would have been looking at third and inches and you might have been in two down territory anyway. Do you have any second thoughts when you were going over the game again? Yes, thinking about it that could have gone either way. Sunday night [I thought] maybe we would've been better off with third and inches than a first down there - be able to hit another run in there and take another 30 seconds off the clock, assuming that we picked it up. You never know though. You always think you can get a couple inches in those situations and you should be able to but we have all seen enough games where something happens - the quarterback slips, there's a missed exchange, the back slips, something happens and what looks like third and inches then shows up as fourth and two. You don't want to think that way, like we are going to lose two yards here on third and inches, I am not saying that but different things happen - you get a false start penalty...There are different things, there's that ten percent chance that something will go wrong even though it shouldn't and what looks like a sure thing ends up being something different. I think in that situation probably being a little more conservative and making sure we got the first down and getting a new set of downs, that was more of a priority than trying to be too cute and knock another 30 seconds off the clock by picking it up on the next down. But I definitely thought about it, yes.
In watching film of the Chargers defense, did you notice much in the way of impact in the loss of Shawne Merriman? He's a terrific player but I think they have gotten good production out of both kids that have played over there the last couple of weeks. They still have a very good pass rush all the way across the board. They like to bring those outside linebackers a lot and I would say if anything they have been bringing them just as much if not more than when he was in there. They are a pretty good pass rushing team no matter who...I am not saying he's not a loss, but they still get pretty good production out of those outside linebackers and overall pass rush.
You mentioned how much you have played San Diego over the years. How much have you seen Philip Rivers mature and develop as a quarterback over that time and what challenges does he present this week? I think Rivers has really grown as a quarterback. I thought especially last year in the playoff game, playing with the injury, I thought he showed a lot of toughness and grit - that wasn't the greatest day to pass the ball, there in January. I thought that he made some excellent throws and played with a lot of toughness and courage in that game. He made some tough throws under pressure, not only the pressure of the game being the AFC Championship but under some pass rush pressure, getting up after some hits and just hanging in there. I have a lot of respect for him. I think he has taken his game up another notch this year. They are averaging 30 points a game, they have had a lot of production. He is getting the ball down the field. They lead the league in yards per catch. His accuracy, his decision-making and overall production has continued to improve. He's tough. With their running game and the skill players they have, they are a hard team to defend and that's why they are scoring so much.
How much has Terrance Wheatley worked in the slot and is that at all a factor as to why Jonathan Wilhite was the option in the sub package? Yes. Jonathan has been working more in the inside position although as we go through training camp, preseason games and into the regular season, as you know, we try to train everyone a little bit everywhere. Jonathan has been working a little more inside and [Terrance] Wheatley has been working a little more outside. They are playing both spots, do both and will continue to do that. Terrance and Jonathan both gave us some good quality snaps on Sunday against San Francisco. Hopefully, they can build on that and keep improving. If they do that then maybe they can find more of a role defensively for us.
Do you allow yourself at all to take a step back and assess the AFC picture or are you just tunnel visioned toward the Chargers? I am pretty tunnel visioned toward the Chargers. I'm not going to say that I am not aware of what the records are in our division and the other teams in the AFC but right now it's a one game season for us. We have a few days here to put everything together for San Diego. We know how talented of a football team and how explosive they are. We are just going to put everything we got into this one and worry about next week, next week. Whatever else happens in the league happens and there is nothing we can do about that. I am not saying we aren't interested in it because it does affect us. But I don't think we can be too concerned about it because there is nothing we can do. [We can] try to take care of our job - 99.9 percent of it [our focus] is on San Diego - that's all that we can do anything about.
Click the play button below to hear Shalise Manza Young's comments, recorded this morning. The topics: how the Patriots' defense turned around a poor start in San Francisco, Matt Cassel throwing the deep ball, Laurence Maroney hearing the criticism, and the San Diego Chargers playing to save their season.
Here's what Shalise said about this week's opponent, the Chargers:
"They're already starting to look [in San Diego] at Norv Turner -- is he not the coach they thought he was after last year, when he turned them around from that bad start that they had. But the AFC is wide open now. The Colts are not the Colts of years past. The Patriots obviously, because of Tom Brady's injury -- all the other pieces are there, but you don't know from week to week how Cassel is going to play. ... So San Diego, it's right there for them. They have LaDainian Tomlinson, who's still one of the best backs in the NFL. Phillip Rivers has developed into a good quarterback, and the defense, even without Shawne Merriman, is still one of the better defenses in the league. So I'm sure that they see that things are there for them if they want to start taking advantage, and they haven't yet."
Watching Matt Cassel drive the offense down the field in the last two minutes of the half, how much confidence does that give you in Matt [Cassel] to be able to pull off that type of drive? I think it reaffirms the things that we already thought of Matt. He's had limited opportunities between the preseason and practices but I think we're all confident in Matt. He's got a lot of ability, strong arm and he's accurate as well. I think it just reaffirms our view of him already.
This team has taken different routes over the years of getting the running game going. When Corey Dillon was here he was the horse. Right now you guys seem to be sharing the load a lot. It seems to be effective, how do you feel about your role in that? To use that type of backfield effectively you have to have the right kind of guys to do it, in the sense of, not [being] selfish, putting the team first and we're not focused on stats and that stuff. I think we have that here. Aside from the on-field talent we have in the backfield I think it speaks for the characters of the guys we have doing that. We're all our biggest supporters when the other one is on the field.
Do you see anybody taking a lead role in the backfield or does it look like it's going to go as situations dictate? I don't think anybody is looking to see, I don't think it plays a factor in the way we approach practice or games. The biggest thing in finding the quote-unquote leading role is for the media guides and programs. Once the game gets there we let the coaches make that decision. In order to do that you have to have the right character guys in the mindset of 'we're all looking to make the most of our opportunities when we get them in the game and like I said, putting the team first is our biggest focus.
On the blockers up front did anything stand out to you? It seemed like when you ran off tackle or to the tight end there were some openings. Was there one blocker that was pretty consistently opening up holes for you? Collectively they all played well up front and I think you have to include the tight ends and Heath [Evans] in that as well. Matt Light did a great job. He's such a powerful and quick guy so he gets on those blocks pretty quickly and that makes our reads a lot easier. Then Logan [Mankins] and Billy [Yates] on the inside and Dan Koppen as well, there are times when the zones come through the middle where getting their blocks quick and either keep moving them, pushing them back, or at least keeping it on the line [of scrimmage]. I think they did a good job up front of making our reads easier. I know a couple times with Nick [Kaczur], the right tackle, he's on the right side, they were running a stunt and you have to make a quick read and he was able to get his body into it and hit the guy out of the way. It clears up a lot of reads for us.
Can you expound on the tight ends in the blocking game? I think with Ben [Watson] and Dave [Thomas] they've been doing quite a bit of blocking from a fullback set as well so I think that really opens it up for us in terms of their blocking but they're also receiving threats back there. A lot of times Dave [Thomas] is coming through and making blocks that Heath [Evans] will usually make and Ben is doing the same thing. That's not the path that they usually take to get a block but like I said they've adjusted well. They're very athletic and they're doing a great job of that as well.
How much did that early bomb [66-yard touchdown] to [Randy] Moss open things up for the running game yesterday? It was huge. I think whether we hit that pass or not obviously any defense has to respect the fact that Randy Moss is out there and he's got blazing speed out there but to actually hit it, to connect on the pass is even more in there psyche. You have to honor that. You have to wait, even if its just a second or two longer, to make sure it's a run on the play action or you have to make sure that it is a run before the safeties start coming up quick. The second thing is that it gives you more time to eat up the yards.
When it comes to developing a running attitude, how much does gaining short yardage help? Meaning if you need one yard even though you might run for two it's a successful run. How much does that help the team have a running attitude? That's situational football. That's one thing that Coach Belichick is always emphasizing. If it's third and one and you get two yards it's probably not good on the average but it keeps the drive going. I think short yardage and the goal line, those types of runs are close to 90 percent attitude and heart just to be able to find a little seam or a little crack and force your way to the first down and keep the drive going.
Do you think you will be the darling of fantasy football since you scored twice on the goal line yesterday against the San Francisco 49ers? I have no control over that.
You passed former Patriots wide receiver Terry Glenn for fifth on the team's all-time receptions list. When you first became a Patriot did you ever think you would be that high on the receptions list as a running back? You don't think about anything like that, you just think about helping your team - that's all it is. Helping your team win games and continue on.
How good was it to have success scoring touchdowns in the red zone yesterday against the San Francisco 49ers? Every game that you play you try to improve. This week we tried to improve our red zone offense and I think we worked hard on it and it showed. You just have to be consistent with it and keep moving.
Coach Bill Belichick said that yesterday might have been the first time you scored two touchdowns in a game since the fourth grade. Is he correct with his research on that? That might have been one of the few times that Bill [Belichick] was a little incorrect. I think it was in college that it happened.
Do you remember the last time you scored two touchdowns in a game? No I don't remember. That is kind of far back for me. I can barely remember what happened a couple of weeks ago.
I know you were joking about Bill Belichick being a little incorrect but is he not a big SEC [Southeastern Conference] football fan because he said you haven't had a two-touchdown game since the fourth grade? I think he is a big SEC [Southeastern Conference] football fan because he has a lot guys from the SEC.
You are a big part of the offense's two-minute package. How do you feel quarterback Matt Cassel did in running the two-minute offense yesterday against the San Francisco 49ers? I think it is just about everybody doing their job, getting everything done correctly and just not trying to do too much. I think that is what we have to understand as an offense and a football team.
What did you see from quarterback Matt Cassel in that two-minute drive because that is probably one of the toughest things for a quarterback to do? Well, like I said it was just him doing his job and with everybody else doing their job everything should pan out.
How well do you think quarterback Matt Cassel did on selling the bad snap on your direct-snap touchdown run? By looking at the film it looked like he [Matt Cassel] did a good job. It was about him faking it, the offensive line blocking and me finding the right hole to run to.
Can you talk a little bit about the interceptions you guys had yesterday? You were involved in two of them and they were all on tip drills and came at key points in the game. Our point of emphasis all week really was that we had to handle some balls and really start creating some more turnovers and be more aggressive. So, we came out with that in mind and we knew that [J.T. O'Sullivan] was a scrambling quarterback and he wanted to scramble to throw the ball. I read the play that I had been studying film off of for two weeks and made a good break and came up with it, as well as Brandon [Meriweather], he just made an incredible catch, and Deltha [O'Neal], we ended up getting him a good interception. The main thing was not to give up big plays, and eventually we came out and gave up some big plays and then calmed down a little bit. We settled down and were able to play some good, solid football.
How much easier is it for a defense when your offense is controlling the ball for that long? You're able to get a little break and also have some time to adjust. It was good, because it gave us the opportunity to get some rest. I think that from a defensive standpoint when we came out and got down early, there was some extra time to get on the sidelines and get some adjustments taken care of. It gave us the ability to calm down, because we were all over the place. With the offense controlling that possession time, it gave us the chance to calm down and get things together.
You guys did a good job on third downs. I know that had been a point of emphasis. In your mind, what was the difference yesterday as compared to other points in the season? I think that coverage is a combination of pass rush and covering down the field. Our guys up front gave us an opportunity and gave us some time to cover. I think the guys were a lot more aggressive. We knew a lot of the routes what they were trying to do and we were able to just play aggressively and make some plays on the ball. We went out there and competed.
How much of that was that you guys were able to put them into third-and-longs, slow down the run and really take Frank Gore out of the game? I think every week your number one thing, with any NFL defense is the fact that you have to take away the run and not give them an opportunity to pass the ball as well as run the ball, especially with a guy like Mike Martz. His offense deals with so much trickery. Deep routes. Intermediate routes. Screen game. It's so tough to try to dictate what he's trying to do. Our point of emphasis was to take away the run, number one, and then be very competitive on the passes down the field. Eventually we weren't, but as we calmed down we played a lot better.
Rodney, there were a lot of different people involved in the dime package - [Terrence] Wheatley, [Jonathan] Wilhite, Gary Guyton - how did they acquit themselves in the time that they were on the field. I don't know. I mean, you'd have to ask Coach Belichick that. I'll let the coaches coach them. That's not really for me to judge.
How about that dime package in general? It seems like we saw that more in this game than in the previous three. How did you feel in that package? Did it allow you to attack a little bit more or just cover better? When they have their four athletic guys out there at wide receiver, we have to have a number of athletic guys to match up with them. Sometimes you win those match-ups and sometimes you don't. Like I said before, it's a matter of us going out there and being competitive. I thought our guys, Ellis [Hobbs], Deltha [O'Neal], Jonathan Wilhite and myself, we competed against those guys. This was a good team. They have a lot of skilled players and are very underrated. To be able to go out there and compete with those guys, that's huge. They're good. People across the country may not think so, but they're going to win a lot of ballgames this year, with Mike Martz, with his expertise in trying to showcase certain things and route combinations and things of that sort. I think the guys overall, we did a pretty good job.
Rodney, is it nice to have a relatively normal week to prepare for a team like San Diego? No question. I think to play a game like [yesterday], such a physical game and a long and grinding game and then have to fly back six hours to the East Coast, try to get yourself re-acclimated and get some rest, then practice a few days and then fly right back, I thought that was the dumbest thing we could possibly do. For us to play a game and then come back here and be able to sleep in, get our rest, hydrate and get the bumps and bruises taken care of ... It's really nice to be on a regular schedule, one that you don't have to fly six hours and anticipate that when you're playing a football game, like, "God, we have to fly six hours after the game to the East Coast." I think it's great for us. I'm 35 years old so I need to feel as good as possible.
Rodney, just the way you guys played, you felt like you were a little bit helter-skelter. Was it encouraging to be able to make those in-game adjustments in this game as opposed to the last game you played where there was some difficulty making those in-game adjustments? Once again, I think we were playing on our heels. If you study film, you understand that Mike Martz ... you never know what he's going to do. They could come out with a four wide receiver package, a five wide receiver package or regular base 21 personnel. I think initially we were trying to find our way and dip our feet into the water, testing the water instead of jumping right into it. If you play football, you can't test the water. You've got to go out there and jump right in and play very confidently and just play football. Once we settled down, I think we did a pretty good job of making adjustments and communicating and just making plays on the ball.
Can you talk about how you guys had more success with the passing game yesterday against the San Francisco 49ers, particularly with wide receiver Randy Moss? Yeah absolutely. Being able to stretch the defense out like that and having a weapon like Randy [Moss], being able to do that definitely helps out the whole offense. Running the ball the way we did also helped us out. The time of possession and different likes that really helped us flow along through the game.
How much does it help you personally when the offense is able to throw deep so the opposition doesn't just focus on defending short-yardage throws? Yeah, the more weapons you can have out there and the more plays you can make down the field along with the running game really helps us out the rest of the game.
How is it going with you guys staying out in California for the week? I kind of like it. It almost has that training camp aspect where everything [is about] football. All the film is right downstairs and you are in your little confinement. For me, I don't have to worry about traffic with going back to Boston.
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