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The Slot- New England

Billy D Williams

Billy D Williams

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I just watched a segment on how NE revolutionized the slot with guys like Welker, Edlemann and Amendola. Three things IMO are the key to a successful slot receiver:
  1. Slot guy being able to fake the route and go another direction. Start in one direction, then quickly pivot and go opposite.
  2. Quick hitting plays that allow the slot use his speed and superior agility against less agile defenders. Regardless what the down the QB should be allowed to check to a slot play when opportunity presents. Kill! Kill!......
  3. Get the slot into those deep holes in any defense.
With talents like Jeff Thomas and Mike Harley (would add Pope, but he bigger), this would be a nightmare for DC's and a constant chain mover.
 
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I have a feeling Thomas will play mostly on the outside. The battle for the slot will probably be Harley and Pope. I have high hopes for Pope even as a Frosh.

And in my ideal world Jordan will be used as a miss-match in the slot especially in the redzone like Njoku was.

And in some gadget plays Dallas will go out there and get isolated and burn some DB or LB one- on- one.
 
Gator Hatar said:
I just watched a segment on how NE revolutionized the slot with guys like Welker, Edlemann and Amendola. Three things IMO are the key to a successful slot receiver:
  1. Slot guy being able to fake the route and go another direction. Start in one direction, then quickly pivot and go opposite.
  2. Quick hitting plays that allow the slot use his speed and superior agility against less agile defenders. Regardless what the down the QB should be allowed to check to a slot play when opportunity presents. Kill! Kill!......
  3. Get the slot into those deep holes in any defense.
With talents like Jeff Thomas and Mike Harley (would add Pope, but he bigger), this would be a nightmare for DC's and a constant chain mover.
Click to expand...
Conventional wisdom would say that the concepts you outlined above should be relatively easy to implement. In theory the above seems so simple yet many teams seem to struggle to incorporate these concepts consistently and effectively.

The typical fan myself included struggles to understand how something so simple could be so challenging to execute. So I ask the boards offensive gurus...."Where is the disconnect"? I would venture to guess that QB ability, specifically football IQ would be a prerequisite to run those concepts successfully. You would also need much more practice time to develop the chemistry necessary. Finally the OL would play a significant role obviously.

Could Rosier run the above concepts effectively? No because his accuracy is not nearly at a high enough level. Given the right type of QB I believe we should be able to exploit mismatches is the slot with receivers like Pope, Thomas and Harley. Thoughts?
 
I think it's more about being able to read the defense and knowing which option route to take. Welker and Brady were on the same page - that's why Welker had a historically productive season there. Also I know it's cliche as **** but I just really think football IQ factors in when playing in that offense.
 
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Colombie said:
I have a feeling Thomas will play mostly on the outside. The battle for the slot will probably be Harley and Pope. I have high hopes for Pope even as a Frosh.

And in my ideal world Jordan will be used as a miss-match in the slot especially in the redzone like Njoku was.

And in some gadget plays Dallas will go out there and get isolated and burn some DB or LB one- on- one.
Click to expand...

C,

I think that Mallory at TE will be a better fit for the Njoku-type role in the slot. Taller and faster. Red Zone nightmare. Jordan looks more like Herndon: versatile in line guy, Hback and able to split out a bit as well. Powerful blocker.

Great combination of skills to have these two TEs.
 
I was thinking about Mallory in the slot too. I just have not read many reports about him being utilized like that but I have read articles about Jordan being put out in the slot right away.
Nice to have many weapons and a variety of possible personnel groupings. We are going to need it in order to improve our redone issues.
 
Cortez55403 said:
C,

I think that Mallory at TE will be a better fit for the Njoku-type role in the slot. Taller and faster. Red Zone nightmare. Jordan looks more like Herndon: versatile in line guy, Hback and able to split out a bit as well. Powerful blocker.

Great combination of skills to have these two TEs.
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And now after some quick research there was an interview with Hartley saying Mallory is more like Njoku while Jordan is more like Herndon so you might be on to something.
He also mentioned that both may be flexed out which will make me very excited to see.
 
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Colombie said:
And now after some quick research there was an interview with Hartley saying Mallory is more like Njoku while Jordan is more like Herndon so you might be on to something.
He also mentioned that both may be flexed out which will make me very excited to see.
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Whoa. 2 TEs on field w a RB and 2 WRs. We can slide Jordan to HB and go power. Or split both TEs out. Go no huddle and not let defense sub.

Bwahahahahahaha!!!
 
NE slot WR excels because Brady puts the ball exactly where it needs to be to allow the WR to keep running. They never break stride. 3 yard passes turn into 10-15 yard gains.
 
MIA42178 said:
Whoa. 2 TEs on field w a RB and 2 WRs. We can slide Jordan to HB and go power. Or split both TEs out. Go no huddle and not let defense sub.

Bwahahahahahaha!!!
Click to expand...
I like it.
The possibilities are endless compared to last season with versatile fast TEs and a diverse pool of RBs/Fbs/Hbs to choose from.
Going 4 and 5 wide most of the time like we did the majority of last season will be long gone. (4 and 5 wide formations will be used as a variant tool not as the base offense).
 
CaneSince4Ever said:
Made absolutely no sense that Richt didn't play Berrios in the slot in 16'...good stuff OP.
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He played him in the slot in '16, just not exclusively.

He put him on the outside whenever Njoku was lined up in the slot in order to have his 3 best receivers on the field in Njoku, Richards and Berrios.

It ended up being a lot because Njoku was killing people in the slot.
 
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