Tom Brady will be playing for the Patriots in Week 1, but the Steelers are trying to take out his biggest weapon
The New England Patriots are heading into Week 1 with Tom Brady at quarterback, something that hadn’t been a possibility until the end of last week. However, not having to play with an unproven player at quarterback isn’t the only problem for the Patriots offense as they get set to face to the Pittsburgh Steelers.
With an injury to wide receiver Brandon LaFell that will keep him out for week one (and beyond) the Pats aren’t deep in terms of pass catchers. Rob Gronkowski and Julian Edelman will be on the gridiron, but it’s shallow beyond that. Knowing that, the Steelers are coming into week one hoping to take away one of those weapons in Gronk.
According to Jeremy Fowler of ESPN, the Steelers are planning to jam Gronkowski as much as possible. The plan for now is to get physical with Gronk within five yards of the line of scrimmage. That may not affect the physical presence of Gronkowski or wear him down, but that’s not what Pittsburgh is hoping to do.
The crux of their plan is to try and disrupt the timing of Gronkowski and, subsequently, the Patriots offense. Much of the success that the Patriots offense has had over the years in the passing game—aside from Brady and others’ talents—is the precision that they have in terms of their timing. The Steelers believe that throwing that off will give them a better chance to succeed on the defensive side of the ball.
Pittsburgh’s plan of attack for Gronk is sensible in it’s premise, but also in that it puts less pressure on the weakest part of their defense. The Steelers secondary was abysmal last season and isn’t looking much better for the 2015 campaign. Dealing with Gronk as much as possible before he’s loose in the secondary helps alleviate the responsibility of the defensive backs.
While this plan seems good on paper, we’ll have to see in week one how successful it is in practice and how long the Steelers are able to stick to it before making adjustments. Pats head coach Bill Belichick is certainly no slouch in terms of attacking vulnerable areas of defenses, so assuming he will find a way to counter jamming Gronk isn’t far-fetched. For the Steelers, the key to success defensively will be adjusting to whatever counter New England has in store to Gronk being jammed.
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