Shane Vereen Sets Up Rob Gronkowski’s 2nd Quarter TD

The Patriots Super Bowl 49 game plan began as expected, with New England lining up Tight End Rob Gronkowski extremely far out wide in order to see how Seattle would respond. The Patriots then motioned Julian Edelman across to the slot. This first play would give New England a ton of coverage information for a Touchdown later in the game:

Seattle occasionally moved Richard Sherman into the slot when they felt the Offense’s biggest threat was there, or when either a Tight End or Running back was the furthest outside Receiver. By lining up Gronk out extra wide and motioning Edelman, the Patriots were able to gather information even before running a play. First, the Patriots knew the Seahawks were willing to play against Gronk and the wide side of the field with only one defender, as deep 1/3 defender Kam Chancellor (Safety #31) is essentially in the middle of the field. The Patriots also see the Seahawks Cover 3 “Buzz” or Cover 1 “Lurk” drop down zone defender (In this case, #29 Safety Earl Thomas) playing towards the original 3 Receiver side and where Running Back Shane Vereen is. This last part regarding Shane Vereen will come in key later in the 1st half.

Vereen tied the Super Bowl record with 11 catches and converted key 3rd downs throughout the game. His biggest impact, however, may have been as a decoy on Gronk’s Touchdown before the 1st half. The Seahawks alternated their drop down Lurk/Buzz defender throughout the half between Chancellor and Thomas as well as to and away from Vereen. But Vereen had just gashed the Seahawks for a big catch and run, Julian Edelman had burnt backup Seahawks Cornerback Tharold Simon (#27) on the previous drive, and Gronkowski was unable to beat Kam Chancellor deep earlier in the game. With that, the Patriots lined up in Dakota formation, and Shane Vereen away from the Trips. The Seahawks were clearly in Cover 1 now, as Linebacker K.J. Wright lined up over Gronk in man technique, and Richard Sherman followed Julian Edelman across the formation. From here, all QB Tom Brady needed to know was who was the Deep Centerfield Safety, and who was the drop down Lurk Safety. It’s fairly easy to tell right before the snap that Kam Chancellor will be the deep middle defender towards the Trips side:

Once the ball is snapped, Earl Thomas flies down and only has his eyes on Vereen. Thomas doesn’t hesitate at all or pay any attention to Gronk, who is now truly 1 on 1 with K.J. Wright:

Brady almost certainly decided to go deep to Gronk on a Stutter-Fade route as soon as Earl Thomas took a step up pre-snap:

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It also appears that Linebacker Bobby Wagner has his eyes on Vereen out of the backfield. Given that it was 2nd and 5 with 36 seconds left, Seattle could have been calling for bracket coverage to prevent Vereen from picking up the first down and setting a trap for Brady. It’s also possible that Earl Thomas had seen enough of Vereen underneath and decided to fly up to make a quick tackle or even interception. Either way, Vereen served as a perfect decoy to exploit the 1 on 1 matchup the Patriots wanted.

Play Action on Slant-Flat leads to LaFell TD

The Patriots love their Slant-Flat combo, and ran it numerous times in the 2012 matchup against the Seahawks. Super Bowl 49 was no different, as New England went to Slant-Flat at least 5 times. I thought New England would go to its usual Cover 3 beaters with Play Action to help freeze linebackers, and this is exactly what happened.

With Danny Amendola clearing out Byron Maxwell on the flat route, the Slant route is open for a Touchdown, with only Bobby Wagner or Earl Thomas (squared in red above) in position to break up or drive on the route. However, the Play Action fake keeps their eyes in the backfield and freezes both players for a fraction of a second. The Play Action by no means “fools” Wagner or Thomas, but even a tenth of a second is the difference here, as you can see just how close Wagner gets to tipping the throw, and how Thomas may be able to jar the ball loose with a big hit:

New England’s Pass Heavy Playsheet

The Patriots ended up throwing the ball 50 times, but I don’t think this was the plan prior to the game. New England ran the ball with LeGarrette Blount 8 times in the first 13 minutes of the game, but only 6 times total in the last 47 minutes. The heavy tilt towards passing likely had to do with the gruesome forearm injury to Seattle Nickel Cornerback Jeremy Lane. After Lane got hurt, Byron Maxwell was moved into the slot, and #27 Tharold Simon was forced into action. The Patriots started with a more simple game plan, but as they seemingly always do, changed the plan on the fly: Just as they did against the Ravens left side of the Secondary, the Patriots decided to attack Simon, attack him mercilessly and often. The results were undeniable:

With all that, the Patriots brought back Lombardy Trophy #4 to Foxboro.