NFL Matchup’s Executive Producer shares notes from his review of the Super Bowl XLVI game tape. Here are Greg’s observations of the Giants offense vs. the Patriots defense.
- Patriots opened the game in a 4-3 front: Ninkovich and Broderick played DE, Wilfork was the “3 technique”; Spikes was the MLB and White was the WLB
- Patriots nickel sub-package featured Moore and Molden on the outside, and Arrington in the slot; McCourty and Chung were the safeties – Edelman did not play 1 snap on defense
- Giants first 3rd + long (3rd + 6) Manningham was in the slot with Cruz outside: Cruz 8 yds – Patriots played dime with Mayo the only LB and Ihedigbo hybrid S/LB
- Patriots played 1 snap of 3-4 on the Giants 1st possession: Wilfork played DE, Ninkovich and Anderson were the OLB
- Nicks 19 yds on 1st possession came out of 3×1 set, Nicks “x iso” one-on-one versus Molden – Patriots singled up Moore on Manningham on the outside on 3 receiver side with no safety help
- Deaderick sack on 1st + 10 on 1st possession came out of 4-3 “cover 2 trap”
- Anderson sack to end 1st possession came out of dime sub-package – Patriots played 2 snaps of dime on Giants 1st possession, Both were on 3rd + long (only two 3rd + long plays on the series)
- Mayo and Spikes both played MLB in the 4-3 front
- Bradshaw 24 yds on 2nd possession came against 3-4 front, Wilfork was not on the field; 2 back set with FB Hynoski, Designed misdirection to closed side of the formation – Missed tackle by Chung
- Spikes again flashed as a downhill run defender, A collision player
- Giants balanced offensive approach in the 1st half, both in terms of personnel and play calling
- Giants significant utilization of 2 back sets, FB Hynoski played about 30 snaps in the game
- Nicks 18 yds on 3rd + 6 in the 2nd quarter came with Nicks and Cruz on the same side; Patriots dime sub-package, They doubled Cruz in the slot with Arrington and Chung, Nicks one-on-one versus Molden
- Patriots played predominantly out of a 2 deep shell, both in base and in the sub-packages
- Dime was the Patriots featured sub-package on 3rd + long, Ihedigbo predominantly played LB in that personnel package
- Giants were conservative offensively in the 1st half; A lot of 2 back sets with Hynoski, Not as much 3 WR personnel as I anticipated
- Giants 1st half play breakdown: 19 called passes, 15 called runs (not including Manning kneel down)
- Patriots a number of snaps versus Giants 3 WR personnel in which they doubled Cruz out of the slot and singled the WR outside of Cruz, whether it was Nicks or Manningham
- 4-3 was Patriots predominant front in the 1st half, Only a handful of snaps of 3-4
- Patriots 3-4 on 1st play of the 2nd half, Wilfork again at DE with Ninkovich and Anderson at OLB
- Patriots predominantly matched Molden on Nicks and Moore on Manningham when both were aligned outside
- Patriots played more 3-4 in the 2nd half, Clearly a half time adjustment
- Ellis, after playing just 3 snaps in the AFC Championship game, was a significant part of the DL rotation; He played about 30 snaps at DE
- Wilfork played snaps at NT in the 2nd half after playing only DE in the 1st half
- RT McKenzie had some rough moments in pass protection, Gave up the edge a number of times
- What always stands out about Manning is his willingness to pull the trigger, to make stick throws into small windows
- Giants offensive approach was methodical and measured, Pass game was more ball control than aggressive
- Cruz was clearly the focus of the Patriots pass defense when he was in the slot in 3 WR personnel sets
- Patriots stayed with dime sub-package in the 2nd half in 3rd + long situations
- Manningham 38 yds on 1st play of winning TD drive was as good a throw as you’ll ever see, Also great route by Manningham to give Manning room to drop the ball into the bucket
- Patriots stayed with double on Cruz in the slot on the Giants winning drive, Manningham 16 yds he was aligned outside Cruz and singled on Moore
- Patriots consecutive snaps of “cover zero blitz” on winning drive: Manningham 2 yds on quick screen, Nicks 14 yds on quick slant versus off coverage Molden
- Giants ran 71 offensive plays and controlled the ball for more than 37 minutes