Patriots blitz could not contain Cam Newton

Bill Belichick didn exactly send the house at Cam Newton on Monday night, but he dialed up more pressure than usual in the first half, bringing an extra pass rusher on seven of 15 passing plays.

Newton responded with a sinister laugh. want to blitz me? Go ahead. every significant play the Panthers had on offense was the result of Newton and the Panthers taking advantage of the Patriots aggressiveness.

The 42 yard pass to Steve Smith in the first quarter? The Patriots rushed six defenders. The 9 yard touchdown pass to Brandon LaFell? Also on a blitz, with the throw landing in the spot that a blitzing Dane Fletcher vacated. Newton 24 yard run on third and 6 in the second quarter? Another six man pass rush, with Newton running right past a blitzing Dont Hightower. The crucial defensive holding call on Devin McCourty on third and 7 on the Panthers final drive? You guessed it another blitz.

The Panthers also converted two first downs with Greg Olsen and one each with LaFell and Steve Smith on Patriots blitzes.

Belichick called off the dogs for most of the second half, but his blitz was beaten twice more for first downs on the Panthers final scoring drive.

It was a seminal game for Newton, who had great stats in his first two seasons but not a lot of wins. Belichick, one of the league greatest defensive minds, threw everything he had at Newton. And Newton aced the exam.

Tom Brady didn do too badly, either, at one point connecting Damian Lillard kids Jersey on 13 consecutive passes between the second and fourth quarters. Neither Newton nor Brady threw an incompletion in Blazers LaMarcus Aldridge Jersey the third quarter, and they combined to complete 16 straight passes to start the second half. ESPN hyped the game as a showdown between the quarterbacks, and they lived up to the billing in one of the most thrilling games of the season.

A look back at Monday game after reviewing the film:

When the Patriots had the ball . . . The primary grouping was the one they used all season three receivers, one back, and one tight end and they used it on 40 of 72 snaps, including on the entire last drive.

But they went with sets more often than in any game this year 10 snaps with only one receiver, and another 16 snaps with only two receivers. McDaniels went extra heavy in the second half, pounding the ball at the Panthers with LeGarrette Blount, two tight ends (Gronkowski and Matthew Mulligan), and fullback James Develin also lined up as a third tight end.

On the final drive, the Patriots went with Gronkowski, Vereen, Amendola, Julian Edelman, and a rotation of Aaron Dobson and Kenbrell Thompkins.

Blount ran really well 10 rushes for 49 yards, including seven rushes for 35 yards in the second half. With Stevan Ridley still having fumbling issues, the LaMarcus Aldridge Navy Jersey Patriots should consider giving Blount more action as the weather turns colder. Ridley needs to wrap up the ball tighter when he runs up the middle.

Overall, Damian Lillard Navy Jersey the Patriots had issues running to either edge, but Logan Mankins and Ryan Wendell opened up some nice holes in the middle. Brady was sacked twice, both in the first half, and did a good job of getting the ball out quickly. The Patriots only had three completions over 17 yards, two of which came on play action.

You know how most of the Panthers big plays came against the Patriots blitz? The same can pretty much be said for every Patriots big play and undrafted rookie cornerback Melvin White, who probably had nightmares on Monday night with the way Brady picked on him.

Officially, White allowed six of eight passes to be caught against him. Included was the 23 yard slant pass to Thompkins, a 9 yard bubble screen to Edelman for a first down, and two catches by Dobson for 16 yards. But White also committed three crucial penalties an illegal use of the hands penalty on fourth and 2 in the second quarter; a defensive holding call in the end zone while covering Dobson in the third quarter; and a pass interference penalty, also while covering Dobson, on the final drive of the game.

Brandon Bolden has played well this season, but man, did the Patriots miss Vereen. They used him right away, throwing him passes on the second and third snaps of the game and playing him on 34 of 72 snaps overall. Vereen had nine touches for 72 yards seven of them LaMarcus Aldridge Pink Jersey went for first downs, and three converted third downs. He also provided some nice chip blocks in pass protection.

Gronkowski was getting slammed at the line of scrimmage by Luke Kuechly for most of the game, but he took out his frustrations on Quintin Mikell and the Panthers secondary on his touchdown. Brady did a great job of reading the matchup the 6 foot 5 inch Gronkowski on 5 10 Mikell. Mikell actually got a good jam on Gronkowski at the line of scrimmage, but Gronkowski fought through it, caught the slant pass at around the 5, then dragged Mikell and two more defenders into the end zone. Beastly.

When the Panthers had the ball . . .

With all due respect to Belichick and McDaniels, who have forgotten more about football than we ever know, it appears that an even bigger tactical error by the Patriots than the blitzing was the decision to use man coverage for most of the game. Not only were the Panthers receivers bad matchups for the Patriots secondary LaFell is 5 inches taller than Kyle Arrington, Smith was too speedy for Talib, Olsen too physical for Devin McCourty but it gave Newton huge lanes to scramble.

On Newton transcendent 14 yard run, in which he avoided six tackles and zig zagged about 75 yards, all of the Patriots defenders were 30 yards upfield and in no position to stop the run. Same thing on Newton 15 yard run on the Panthers final scoring drive, in which an entire half of the field was open. Playing more zone could have limited Newton big runs and confused him more in the pocket.

Brandon Spikes had another excellent game stuffing the run, and no one sets officialbasketballstore.com/damian-lillard-jersey the edge better than Rob Ninkovich (although he lost contain on a couple of Newton big scrambles). Fifty three of the Panthers 103 rushing yards came on three Newton scrambles, and running backs Mike Tolbert, DeAngelo Williams, and Jonathan Stewart combined for 16 rushes for just 41 yards (2.6 average).

The Panthers run game, though, does keep you honest. They run a lot of misdirection plays Wildcat runs, read option, fake toss dives. Newton running ability and the read option kept Ninkovich and Chandler Jones from crashing the middle of the line and opened holes for Newton and Tolbert.

Crafty move by Olsen on the final drive. He and McCourty got tangled within the 5 yard contact zone, and as they ran downfield, Olsen actually locked onto McCourty arm and didn let go. But from the referee vantage point, it looked as if McCourty was holding Olsen, and the result was a 5 yard penalty and a crucial first down.

Jones whiffed badly on one Newton run but did a nice job of corralling him from behind on the next one. Hightower whiffed on Newton on his spectacular run, but showed nice hustle in chasing him down 33 yards away. And Arrington gave Ted Ginn Jr. a free release off the line of scrimmage on the winning touchdown, and Ginn had 5 yards of separation when he made the catch.

Interesting tactic by Belichick to use two returners when the Panthers punted into the wind Edelman deep, and Amendola in medium range. The tactic paid off in the fourth quarter when Amendola fielded a short punt and returned it to the Carolina 39.

Eventful day for punter Ryan Allen hands. He scooped up a low snap in the first quarter and still boomed a punt away. And he dropped a field goal snap in the fourth quarter, but picked it up and placed it just in time for Stephen Gostkowski, who had to avoid Allen hand and still connected on an ugly 26 yarder.