Sebastian Vollmer had help on Freeney 36 out of 44 passing attempts

by thebossuzzi on Nov 18, 2009 5:23 PM EST

Dwight Freeney straight sack streak ended on sunday night but my respect and admiration for him just grew a bunch more.
Many people including blogers, writers and Patriots fans were making quotes like this one after the game on sunday night:

Sebastian Vollmer who laid the wood on Dwight Freeney Sunday night, shutting him out without a sack for the first time in nine games.

Vollmer was completely shutting down Freeney solo.
I got a round of applause on the Pats forum when I suggested he start over Matt Light.

Sebastien Vollmer - the rookie LT for the Pats
shut down Freeney…..he was insanely good

I was intrigued if in fact Vollmer was able to handle Freeney without help, i was surprised that NFL.com writers had not come with a "Sebastian Vollmer Shuts down Freeney" article as late as Tuesday. We all saw the game but camera angles changes and theyre not as good as a coach film of the game. So i thought he was getting help from the guard but i wasnt sure of how often.

Well how about 36 of 44 pass attempts, the playbook crew of nfl network were as intrigued as me, but they do have access to the birds eye angle film and they break it out on their show. For some reason this segment dont make the cut of the show upload to nfl.com and it is not available online so i recorded it from a stream and uploaded it myself.

Final conclusion: The credit to stopping Freeney from a sack or a tackle goes 20% Vallmer 80% Offensive Coaches plan. You need more than a 6' 8" overseas rookie to shutdown Freeney and even double teamed he was able to pressure brady.

Im buying a #93 jersey in this moment.

This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of Stampede Blue's writers or editors. It does reflect the views of this particular fan though, which is as important as the views of Stampede Blue's writers or editors.

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Terrific find

I give the rookie credit, but I just knew there was no way Vollmer could have defended freeney one on one the whole night. Brilliant strategy by the patriots.

by metal_militia on Nov 18, 2009 9:33 PM EST reply actions

That was pretty cool... thanks

Yeah, I guess we were all pretty happy with how the rookie Vollmer did though, especially against a real threat like Freeney. Belichick didn’t leave him hanging by himself, but he didn’t always need the help either. I thought he handled himself pretty well, but like all rookies he still has a lot to learn.

Keep the faith!

by Marima on Nov 18, 2009 9:40 PM EST reply actions

by the way... Freeney was pretty impressed with him too

and was classy enough to say it.

Keep the faith!

by Marima on Nov 18, 2009 9:41 PM EST up reply actions

he did a really good job

but Mankins was great also , complete awareness to be there when it mattered. Good job all around and brillieant plan as usual with the pats. do they hire people from MIT, Harvard like google? lol

by thebossuzzi on Nov 18, 2009 10:14 PM EST reply actions

Anyway

That guy played a heck of a game. Help or not, you have to give some credit to him.

"We’re only going to score 17 points? haha...OK" - Tom Brady

by BlueMark1821 on Nov 19, 2009 9:58 AM EST reply actions

Hopefully next time...

we pick up on this commitment towards our 2 ends and call for some more LB blitzes between the gaps. Our 2 DT’s appear to be engaged in one on one situations, everyone else on the O-line and TE position appear to be engaged on our DE’s, which basically opens up a gap for a blitz to come through the middle with no help to pick it up…If a team neutralizes your pass rush, you gotta figure out another way to bring it….by doing so, especially against the Pats, we take away the deep pass route to develop. Just my take.

by Z.Pain on Nov 19, 2009 9:59 AM EST reply actions

Exactly

With those double teams they were committing extra guys to the line. There were always six counting the TE blocking in the video examples, with an extra RB od WR helping sometimes in addition. With so many players blocking, we ought to be able to spare a LB or so for some blitz packages.

Should we be concerned that our DTs couldn’t take advantage of the one on one in their pass rush? If the opponent overcompensates against the ends, we have to get pressure from other places. Both teams still have only eleven guys on the field at once. Well, usually.

by coltsfanawalt on Nov 19, 2009 10:22 AM EST up reply actions

Looks like they had a scheme to double Mathis and Freeney

Yet Mathis terrorized Brady a few times. That string of Mathis hitting Brady’s arm a couple of times, and he also had a near miss, where he grabbed Brady’s hips but his speed caused him to slip off and Brady completed a pass. Game of inches, I guess. Yeah, the Pats came up with a pretty good scheme, but Colt’s D dominated the last quarter and a half.

by tim55 on Nov 19, 2009 11:11 AM EST reply actions

not to mention Freeney was playing with a sore back the entire game.

by davis3217 on Nov 19, 2009 6:25 PM EST reply actions

WAT?

you mean to tell me that knowing you have help will change how you play? and you mean that just because we only see replays with vollmer on him that its not necessarily a single-team? WTF IS THIS SHIT!!!

Never doubt Peyton Manning, he’ll make you look silly

Im a douchebag, an asshole, and I'm rarely right.

by SpazMo on Nov 20, 2009 1:06 AM EST reply actions

ps

i was really disappointed in the play of the DTs in passing situations. I realize they have a good interior line, but I was expecting a few more wowzah plays from Muir and Foster.

Never doubt Peyton Manning, he’ll make you look silly

Im a douchebag, an asshole, and I'm rarely right.

by SpazMo on Nov 20, 2009 1:09 AM EST up reply actions

To be fair...

the Patriots have been one of the best offensive lines in football basically for the last decade, second really only to the Colts. To be honest, on any given Sunday, both O-lines are #1…

And lets also face facts that Foster and Muir while good players, aren’t elite DT’s….so they will get beat up by a great O-line like the Patriots…

Having help WILL change how you play, but that shouldn’t downplay how well Vollmer played on Freeney. The guy did not give a single sack, despite having help. That speaks volumes about how well this guy can play.

And to elaborate, if I know I only have to focus on the left side of a goal because I have a person focusing on the right side….it will mean better protection. Does it always work? Nope. In this case, it did however…

by DevilsReject on Nov 20, 2009 10:43 AM EST up reply actions

everything you say is true

i was just pointing out how overblown the whole vollmer love fest was getting. Not only were the offensive line schemes designed to neutralize freeney, but Brady did a lot of rolling and sliding to the right, making it even harder for Free.

And while I understand that Foster or Muir aren’t ‘elite’, they have to make one or two plays in that situation (where Freeney and Mathis are both being doubled), if nothing else, they need to atleast push the pocket in a little so that he cant stop up every play.

Never doubt Peyton Manning, he’ll make you look silly

Im a douchebag, an asshole, and I'm rarely right.

by SpazMo on Nov 20, 2009 3:39 PM EST up reply actions

Everyone gets help versus D Free

If they don’t it’s sack time and then they “make adjustments”

"If God had wanted us to vote, he would have given us candidates."
Jay Leno

by MarshallPlan on Nov 20, 2009 5:25 PM EST reply actions

great stat

As much as we love the records, and as much focus as there is on sacks, they aren’t that important a stat, and Freeney will be the first to say that. If a team has to devote extra people to Freeney and/or Mathis, that’s a win for the defense. Great work, bossuzzi.

Any idea how this compares to other games? Frankly, I’m impressed that a rookie didn’t get help on the remaining plays…maybe Vollmer actually outperformed by being assigned help on 36/44 passing attempts?

by dsvirsky on Nov 23, 2009 11:30 AM EST reply actions

Can we link this to the Patriots blog?

My halloween costume: the Indiana secondary iPhone- no matter how much you want to love it, you know the coverage area sucks.
-ChronicHoosier

by Taskmaster on Nov 26, 2009 12:41 PM EST reply actions

Holding

I watched that game. I saw him hold Freeney time after time, and never got called on it. One time he was behind Freeney, and had his right hand on Freeney’s breasplate, holding him back from Brady. If that’s not holding, I don’t know what is.

Check it to Pancakes! Pancakes!

by Picky on Dec 1, 2009 10:48 PM EST reply actions