Should New England Go Back To The 3-4 Defense?

     Sunday against the Broncos, the Patriots swapped over from the 4-3 to the 3-4, which stopped Denver's rushing attack. New England allowed well over 100 rushing yards in the first quarter alone. But then Bill Belichick switched over to the 3-4 and held Denver to only 84 rush yards the entire rest of the game. Which left a lot of people asking if New England should switch back to the 3-4 that Belichick likes so much.
     I, for one, think the Patriots should go back to the 3-4. Last year New England was in the 3-4 and the defense, which started off ranked 32nd, moved all the way up to 25th in defense. This year Belichick moved to the 4-3 for some reason, and it hasn't worked too well. I think the 3-4 allows better blitzes and a better variation on coverages. With the 3-4, you can blitz from anywhere and you can also drop anyone into coverage. Something New England could use is being unpredictable. After the switch to the 3-4 in the game, New England started getting pressure on Tebow and they caused a few turnovers, which was huge for the win. So what do you think? Should NE go to 3-4?

What We Learned From The Week 15 Game

     The win this week against Denver was really a phenomenal win. The O played pretty good, and the D played pretty good. So what should you take away from this win?

     1) This Defense can adjust mid-game to stop an offense

     I don't know if any of you noticed, but Sunday, early in the game, Bill Belichick had this defense coming out in a 4-3, with one of the linebackers on the line. And the option was just destroying the defense at that point. So Belichick decided to turn back to his favored 3-4, which gave the D more linebackers to read the option and make their move on it, which helped the defense stop Tebow and the Broncos.

     2) Chad Ochocinco can be the deep threat WR we need

     I think we all know that Ocho caught a TD early on a nice go route. The defense doubled Welker on his short out route, and Ocho started his route with a little vertical running, and then he faked the post route which moved the CB to the inside, and then he went outside and vertical and completely smoked his Corner. If New England can continue to use Ochocinco like that, he can be a massive contributor to this offense. However, Brady targeted Ocho on another deep route in the game which would have been great, if not for the fact that Ocho ran a hitch and Brady threw a go route. So he still may not be perfect, but he did what he had to.

     3) Mark Anderson can fill in for the now injured Andre Carter

     Andre Carter fell during the game holding his leg. As it turns out, he's out for the year with a quad injury. But throughout the rest of the game, Mark Anderson did an amazing job filling in, forcing fumbles and getting pressure n Tebow. If he can play well the rest of the year, he could be a big player for us.

     4) Wes Welker and Rob Gronkowski aren't the only offensive weapons we have

     For several weeks, basically, we all thought Welker and Gronk were the only offensive weapons we had. This past week, Brady did a great job of spreading the ball, with Ochocinco and Hernandez both scoring once, and Danny Woodhead, BenJarvis Green-Ellis, and Tom Brady running in for scores too. Which showed that if teams double cover both Welker and Gronkowski, Brady will take advantage.

New England Keys to Victory against the Broncos

We can all admit that at heart, we're all worried about if NE can come out on top in this one. But it shouldn't be that hard with our high powered offense.

     1) Contain the Outside on the Run
     You hear people talk about it ALL the time. Contain the run. Contain the outside. Talking about who has containment. But what you'll notice is that normally it's about players NOT keeping contain. It's a very simple concept. Force the runner back to the inside where you have other defenders there to help you bring him down. But instead you'll see the man with contain on the play move inside and go after the ball carrier. Normally he misses his tackle, and now who has contain? Nobody because the runner is already outside. Therefore allowing a big gain. Against Denver, NE needs to keep contain well. Because of the way they run their option, they want to try to get the ball outside. But New England has good DTs and MLBs. So if they can force the runner back inside, well, chances are that he won't get too far.
     2) Score Early and Often
     Last year, New England was exceptional at ending games in the first half. Scoring TDs or FGs on their first drive of the day, and then doing the same on the second. Even just going up 6 on Denver early in the game could be a big factor. But going up 14 by the end of the first quarter? That could be monumental for New England this week. We all know Denver is great at winning games when down 10 or fewer in the fourth quarter. But what if they're down 14? Or 21? Big gaps? We haven't seen them do that yet, and I personally don't think they have an explosive enough offense to do that. Just giving them a wide spread of points to cover in the fourth could be big.
     3) Get Turnovers on D and Don't Turn it Over on O
     Tim Tebow has only thrown 2 picks in almost 200 pass attempts. New England has to change that. Because of how much Denver eats up the clock with their running, we need to get turnovers in order to get the ball back and allow Brady to get on the field and score on them. Because New England can't easily stop teams on third down, as they've shown, So in order to get Denver off the field, it's going to take taking the ball from them. Getting it back anyway possible. Denver is going to own the Time Of Posession in this one. We know that much. So Brady and Company need to make sure to score when they can, and not miss opprotunities because of Interceptions or Fumbles. Good thing Brady has trimmed down on his surprisingly high number of picks this year. And the Denver D has only gotten 2 INTs in the past 7 games I believe. So protecting the ball could be big in this game.
     4) Protect Brady
     Sure Brady is great and hanging in the pocket and taking a hit while completing a pass, but he isn't superman. His elbow is already hurt, so allowing any backside pressure that can smack at his right arm isn't good. It would definitely wear down on him I think. We saw last week that his accuracy is off since his elbow injury. So allowing that right elbow to take unnecessary contact could be big. And the line can't let the Broncos good defensive linemen to get in on the play and make a difference early. Early on we should make the defensive lineman second guess their blitzing by running few screens. After you run a couple screens, the D Lineman will rush the QB at a slower speed because they don't wanna get fooled like they had been early on. So throwing a quick RB screen out there or a screen to Welker could make a big difference even if it only gets us a couple yards. Just make sure Brady's Jersey stays clean.

I think if New England can accomplish these 4 things, we should walk out of Denver with a nice point margin and the W.