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October 12, 2007

Madden likes the Pats

John Madden appeared on Sirius' NFL Blitz program this afternoon (hosted by Syracuse grad Adam Schein), and while Madden believes Dallas, and particularly QB Tony Romo, will play better than it did against Buffalo on Monday night, he favors New England in the matchup of unbeatens.

Some excerpts of the conversation, courtesy of Sirius:

Madden: “I’d like to be there. I’d like to see this one. I think that Tony Romo used up all his interceptions Monday night. When you’re a good team and you can play a lousy game where you have so many turnovers and still win I think you can learn so much from that. Usually, when you have a lot of turnovers, your QB throws a lot of interceptions, you lose the game and everyone’s down. Here you can say, ‘Well, we dodged a bullet there. I was really lucky and I’m never going to let that happen again.’ So I think that was a big, big plus that they could have so many things go wrong and still win because as a coach you can really get on your team now. It’s not one of those things where everyone’s celebrating and pouring champagne on their heads because they played lousy.”

Schein: “What’s the challenge for Tony Romo and T.O. and Jason Witten and company going up against that Bill Belichick defense?"
Madden: “Kind of figuring it out on the run. He’s not going to show you anything that you’ve seen before and there’s going to be surprises. He’s going to take away the things that you do best and he’s going to take away the guys that are most dangerous to him. You just mentioned T.O. and Jason Witten. He’s going to take them away. And in running situations he’s going to take the run away. But you don’t know how. That’s going to be the challenge for Tony Romo. You know what he’s going to do. I guarantee you he’s going to do something to T.O. And then number two he’s going to do something to Jason Witten. I know that but you don’t know how or where the guys are going to come from. So you have to figure that out during the game.”

Schein: “How about the challenge for the Dallas defense going up against Tom Brady, Randy Moss and the New England Patriots offense?”
Madden: “That’s going to be tough. They really haven’t been a great pass rush team this year. They get some pass rush from DeMarcus Ware but they haven’t really gotten enough to really put pressure on the QB. I don’t know that there’s an answer for Tom Brady. It’s like Peyton Manning. You say, ‘How do you stop Tom Brady? How do you stop Peyton Manning?’ You don’t. The answer isn’t you rush them, you blitz them, you zone them, you drop eight. I’ve seen them do everything to Tom Brady and he’s still going to get you. You just have to play your technique and when he completes passes, tackle the guy. Don’t get fooled. Don’t give him easy plays. Just play him hard. Play him tough. As far as an answer to how you take away Tom Brady I don’t know that there is one. I kind of think that one of the things you can do is just play the pass. Let them have the run and if they’re going to beat you with the run, so be it. But do everything in your defense for the pass defense.”

Schein: “As you go over match-ups in this game, are there match-ups, when Tom Brady has the football, that favor the Cowboys?”
Madden: “I don’t think they have any. The closest one that they would have would be DeMarcus Ware rushing and I don’t even know that that would be anything except even.”

Posted by Shalise Manza Young at 7:16 PM | Permalink

Comments

Interesting, I think what Madden meant is that if Tony Romo was all confused by Buffalo's D MNF, he is not going to know what hit him once he gets the package the Pats will send him, I am sure Bill watched the tape and saw how an inexperienced Romo was dazzled by the new looks buffalo gave him and he will emulate it. I really like the Pats this season I think they have a legit shot at going 16-0, as a matter of fact the outfit where I gamble was offering odds on them going undefeated at 8/1 odds, I believe that is a real possibility so I placed a small wager on those odds

Posted by: Just a Fan at October 12, 2007 9:09 PM

I just read that Vrabel was fined $5K by the league for "unsportsmanlike conduct" at the end of the Browns/Pats game. I'd taped the Browns game, and with all the fuss over Vrabel's hit on Thomas I looked at the tape, played it over and over and I just feel Steinbach is crying tears about nothing. Thomas himself leaned over Vrabel and pushed him down which is why Vrabel came in low. It was a lazy play by Thomas who should have been blocking Vrabel and protecting the quarterback, even if it was a spike. You can't blame Vrabel for that. The defense are not mind readers and even if you signal a spike to your offensive line, this can be a trick, especially in the red zone. I've seen the Colts to that and run right over a defensive line. Meanwhile, Steinbach literally dove onto Vrabel's back while he was on the ground, and the center joined in, diving onto Vrabel in a deliberate attempt to hurt the guy when he clearly didn't have the ball and the play was clearly over with (as they insist). Why weren't they called for late hits (unsportsmanlike conduct) and fined for their actions??? Vrabel's hitting Thomas wasn't deliberate, yet Steinbach and the center clearly attacked Vrabel deliberately. I agree with Belichick, that you have to play to the whistle. How would we feel if Vrabel and the defensive line laid down and the Browns tricked them and ran it into the end zone? Once again, the league trying to screw the Pats with BS. Eric Steinbach, Eric Mangini, just another sore loser who can't take his medicine after he gets beat. And Goodell is an idiot. I hope and expect this BS to motivate the Pats all the more against Dallas.

Posted by: Art at October 13, 2007 1:30 PM