The New England Patriots are one of the best in the league at adjusting their man free coverages to take away what you do best. They will play some ofthe following concepts
1. Man free- with 5 man rush
2. Man free with 3 man rush
3. Man free with one of the safeties robbing and the other as a deep 1/3 player
4. Man free with the 1 wr side cb acting as the robber. with the safety covering #1.
They read the release of the wr with the cb on this concept.
5. Man free-4 man rush ,2 rat defenders
6. Man free- 5 man rush, safety and sam exchange responsibilities on #2 crossing
7. Cover 0 6 man pressures- (late dropper at times)
8. Man free double-bracket a best wr. Double cover a top wr, other safety plays middle 1/3
9. Goal line variations
Below you will find different examples of the 6 concepts above:
Concept # 1. 5 man pressure with a defensive line game.
On 3rd and 12, the Patriots run a 5 man interior game. They go man free with no underneath help. They do a nice job as Jackson recovers on the underneath route. The CB comes off and makes a nice compression tackle with Jackson.
On 3rd and 5 and the Patriots go 5 man rush and play traditional man free.. They run a game and the SS has the rb who stays in to block. They run a nice game and the Bills get it off for a 4 yard gain. Good design by the Patriots and it sets up a 4th and 1.
Vs. The Chiefs
The Patriots go dime. They send 5 and play man free without the line stunt.
Nice job in coverage
3rd and 4 vs the Dolphins.
The Patriots send 3 and have the olb, peel and take the back. Makes sense vs the condensed 3x1 formation with the back to the side of the 3x1. Nice job by the olb, defeating the pick route, getting over the top and stopping it for a 3 yard gain.
They play man free with 2 rat defenders and a middle 1/3 safety.
The 2 stand ups drop into coverage and they play outside man
Good scheme and design.
3rd and 5 vs the Dolphins,
They play both dime safeties on curl/crossing routes. Notice the outside leverage by the db in underneath man and perfect positioning by the safeties. The Dolphins get the reception but the tackle should be made before the sticks. The safeties do an excellent job playing curl and driving hard on crossing routes.
3rd and 5 vs the Bills.
Bills are know for running deep crossing routes.
A couple things, The Patriots disrupt things off the line of scrimmage quite often. Here they start with a 3 man rush with the 4th rusher coming late and spying Allen.
Another 1st and 15 they send 3 play regular man free with 2 underneath defenders.
Concept #3 Man free with a robber/lurk concept.
The Patriots are great at calling coverages by recognizing splits and formation. Here they recognize the Jets in their stack set. The Jets run a shallow cross with the dig concept and the safety is in perfect position to take away option 1 and 2, which is the shallow cross to the dig.
This is 3rd and 5. They play man free with the safety looking to jump crossers.
The Bills run an option route with Beasley underneath. Beasley wins the 1x1 matchup but the coverage downfield was very good. #14 Diggs was taken by the safety playing the crosser and double teamed.
Here they run it vs 3x1 vs Kittle and the 49ers.
Take away kittle as the safety is looking for him crossing. Really the game plan looked like your guy doesn't release, help on Kittle.
It's 3rd and 2
The qb tries to force it to kittle instead of the check down vs man free lurk concept.
The coverage starts as a 2 high look with the safety helping on any deep crossing route. The single cb is on an island in man to man.
Concept # 4. Man free with the cb as the lurk/robber
Here is the free man robber concept with the cb playing the crosser.
3rd and 10 vs Chargers
Really this is man free but the cb and fs weak make this really interesting.
Here's the concept to the 1 wr side.
The rule is the Cb and safety read the release of the #1 wr. If #1 goes across, which he does the safety will take him and leave the cb weak to play crossers.If the wr releases outside, the cb will take him and the safety will take the crosser. Really an interesting concept.
They pass it off nicely
Concept #5 4 man rush- Traditional man free
Broncos are in 2nd and 7 vs the Patriots. The Patriots go 4 man rush and play traditional man free.
That means the 2 inside lb are keying the rb and dropping to play hook zones underneath if he doesn't release. Lock throws it to #1 on the fade and it is well covered and incomplete.
On 3rd and 2 they run a 4 man pressure sending the mike but still playing man free.Nice design and concept vs the Broncos. They send the mike and drop the defensive end/olb. They have 2 rat defenders with the olb playing the rb and the other does a nice job getting underneath the whip route.
1st and 10. Patriots play man free rat again vs the Broncos
Concept #6 Sam and Safety exchange
Sam LB is on #2 . He initially has outside leverage. He passes him off to the free safety and then works back outside.
Safety robs #2 on the crossing route and the sam passes him off to the safety. Nice design by Belichick
Concept #7 Cover 0
The Patriots will play cover 0 and send 6 from time to time. Usually, this concept is used sparingly but they played quite a number of snaps vs the Cardinals who have an athletic qb. They took throwing lanes away from Murray and got their hands up on as many passes as possible to really make it hard on Murray.
3rd and 12
The Patriots go cover o and bring 6, dropping the nose late.
They force Murray to throw it away. Great scheme against a short qb who struggles seeing in the pocket.
