Projo Pats Blog

What do you see in the Pittsburgh defense?
I think they’re really good. They’re very consistent and very good at all phases of their defense. They don’t give up big plays, which to me means you’re going to have to establish long drives to get the ball moved on them. They play real physical up front [and] make it difficult in the running game, it’s a big challenge for us this week. I think they do a great job on third down. [They] get off the field well. They play tight coverage and get after the quarterback, and they’re really good in the red zone. They’ve allowed the fewest, or one of the fewest number of red zone possessions of any team in the league and that speaks to not allowing teams to put together long drives and not giving up the big plays to get down there. I think every phase that you look at-the running game, pass protection, being able to get open and convert on third down and then, ultimately, trying to get down into the red zone and put points on the board. They’re very consistent. They play hard. They’re physical and their scheme-they’ve done it for a number of years and they know exactly how to play it. They’ve got good players and they’re really well coached.

Have you seen anything different from them under Mike Tomlin?
There are probably some new wrinkles, I would say, but I think that the base of the system is what it is and what we’ve played against in the past - there may be a few little wrinkles here and there in some things that have changed since he’s been there, but I think overall the system, the basis of it, is very consistent with what we’ve played against in the past.

Is there any factor to explain Randy Moss’s decline in production the last couple of games? Is it just the defenses trying to take him out of the game?
I think there are a number of factors, whether that be play design to get them the ball against certain coverages… certainly teams have tried to do things to force us to go other places with the football and that’s always a part of it. We’re going to be willing to do that if they try to take somebody away. Then, we’ve got to be able to go somewhere else with the ball and then there’s been some poor throws, a drop here and there so I think there are a number of reasons for it and I think we’re looking to try to improve in all of those areas to try to make sure that all of our players are productive. But I would say that it’s not one factor. There have certainly been weeks when he’s had a limited number of catches, or production and we’ve done very well and, like I said, we’re going to continue to try to do what’s best for the team.

How was it that Baltimore was able to take away Moss and Wes Welker last week? How much did that hamstring you as an offense?
I mean, obviously, we want to get them involved and try to get them the ball. I think that comes back to performance. We could’ve done quite a few things better. We had opportunities to get them the ball and didn’t, like I said, for a number of reasons. They dropped a lot of guys a lot of the time and they didn’t blitz us a lot, but I think that’s something that teams are going to do to try to do to take away both the outside guy and drop guys back inside to take away some of the inside players and we have to do a better job when we have the opportunity to try to get them the ball when we can.

Are you seeing new ways that teams are bringing pressure each week?
I would that each team that we play has a style of the way they pressure. Certainly in the NFL they’ll look at games previous and if there’s something that worked they may kind of incorporate that, but, like I said, Baltimore didn’t hardly pressure us at all. I think it was 12 blitzes or 13 blitzes as opposed to other weeks when there has been a number of pressures. Pittsburgh’s got their style. They’ve got the types of blitzes they like to use, that they run very well and execute to a high degree, a high level. I would expect their blitz package to be what it is and not really take over somebody else’s identity as far as what they did to pressure us.

What has Wes Welker’s addition meant to this offense this season?
I think Wes is having a very productive season. He obviously gives an element when he’s there in the slot. He’s been able to catch and run. He’s done a decent job for us in punt returns. But what I think I’m proudest of him for is that he’s one of the finest blockers that we’ve had in the slot that we’ve ever had here. Troy [Brown] was good when he was in the slot, too. But Wes [Welker] does a great job. He really gets in there and tries to fit up whomever he needs to in the running game. He’s done a great job for us in that aspect. He’s been a very productive player for us. He’s given us an element of catch-and-run yards that don’t always get measured in practice. You throw a 5-yard completion in practice; it looks like a 5-yard completion. You throw him to him in the game and it turns into a 25-yard gain. Wes has been that type of player for us. He’s made a lot of plays for us and, hopefully, he can do that going forward.

When you said that you feel that teams are pretty set in their defense, do you at all think that they try to play more physical against this offense outside of what they normally do?
I wouldn’t say that they’re trying to be more physical than they normally have been. If a team is a split-safety coverage team, then chances are we’re going to see a lot of split-safety coverage. Philadelphia chose to do something different. Baltimore was a little bit of a different variation and I’m sure this week will be more of what Pittsburgh does. Their identity is to mix it up and bring pressure and play coverage and play split-safety and roll the corners and flip to post-safety so they do a lot of things and I wouldn’t expect that would change drastically for us because they are very good at what they do and I don’t think you go into a game and say, “Let’s abandon what’s been good for us because of the way that somebody else plays.” I think that would carry over. They have no reason to change. They’ve been very successful doing it.

What’s been the decision-making process behind consistently using Heath Evans, Mike Vrabel and Junior Seau in goal line situations?
It’s a decision that we had made going into the season and we’ve really carried it through basically every game this year. That’s been the grouping that we’ve worked with down there. I don’t think it’s any secret. That’s what ends up going into the game. Those are the guys that we feel… That package of players is going to give us the best chance to get it in down there, for a number of reasons. We feel like we’ve been able to do that off and on. We’ve been stopped a little bit more than what we would like down there, but we’re working hard to improve that area just like the other ones. Again, it comes back to what we feel like gives us the best chance to be successful when we get into that goal-line situation.

Those guys give you an option to both pass and run?
Yeah, both. Every time we get into a goal line situation, I think you want to definitely have the best threat to run or throw it that you can have. Again, it comes back to trying to make them defend everything and those guys, that’s what we feel they can do for us down there.

Did you tell Russ Hochstein to take that false start penalty on Monday?
I wish I could claim that. I did not. I did not.

This team has done so well over the last five or six years in December. How important is it that you’re playing your best football around this time?
I think you always want to play your best football this time of year. I think that gets back to preparation during the week and then going out there and putting together consistent… We’ve had too much inconsistency the last couple of weeks here, I’d say, and we’ve got to start playing on a consistent basis [and] eliminate the mistakes. That’s how you want to really play your best football in December, is not to hurt yourself and really put your best performance out there. I think it’s very important this time of year that you continue to improve, even though we’re 16, 18 weeks into the year, including training camp, and we’re still trying to improve all the little things that we can to try to carry that through the rest of the season and then, hopefully, into the playoffs. I think it’s very important to be playing well at this time of year. I also think it’s very important to try to get better on a daily basis. You can’t just say that what you’ve done in the past really matters because it doesn’t. We’re looking forward to the next week and the next practice and trying to improve.

What prompted the decision to call the pass to Jabar Gaffney against Baltimore?
There are certain things, certain packages that Jabar has been in that Donte’ [Stallworth] hasn’t or vice versa. Donte’ has certain things down there that Jabar doesn’t do and that kind of goes… There are some things that Kyle [Brady] does that Benjamin [Watson] doesn’t do and there are things with [Laurence] Maroney and [Kevin] Faulk and so on and so forth. I think there's plays that guys run and feel comfortable with and we feel comfortable with them and, at the time the selection that we were going to go with, was more of a Jabar-type of plays and he ended up in there and, thankfully, he made a big play for us.

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