[44Deezel]

Originally Posted by GTripp0012

Kind of like TMC said, the only time it makes sense to blitz into a max protect is when you are trying to take advantage of a specific match-up. I'm pretty sure Blache isn't smart enough to find one.

The proper way to defend the max protect is to go the other way and drop into 8 man coverage and force the quarterback to get impatient and throw ill-advised interceptions because he can't find anyone open. But by rushing four the whole game and giving Stafford only two to three different coverages to look at, he basically kept giving him one on one matchups and a clean pocket to throw from. The only way you can win that is if you win your one on ones (Rogers v. Bryant Johnson, and Smoot v. whoever). Rogers performed badly and Smoot just sucks.

But a 3 man rush with 6 guys in intermediate/deep coverage would have been the best way to go against the max protect, IMO. I don't understand: Blache figured this out against Flacco last year, and they used an identical scheme. Perhaps the difference was the Rogers won 90% of his matchups against Mason last year and only 30% of his matchups against Bryant Johnson. If that's the big difference, well, Blache needs to do better, but it's hardly all his fault.

I'd say that whatever the Vikes and Saints did to force 5 INTs the first 2 games would have been the way to go. Give Stafford some credit though. Even when we did put some pressure on him, he was able to move around in the pocket or scramble out of the pocket to buy more time. But then again, our DEs blow. They can't run down anyone.