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Zolak & Bertrand

Zolak & Bertrand

The Week 1 edition of X’s and Zo’s is finally here on Zolak & Bertrand, with Zo breaking down the strip sack of Mac Jones that turned into a touchdown for the Dolphins halfway through the second quarter.

  • Zo breaking down the strip sack

    Scott Zolak: It’s the strip sack. I think that’s the one that turned the game. So, let’s talk through it. So my vantage point at the stadium, I initially thought he came off the slot because we don’t really have a good view of things. But I saw the guy flash from from the backside of Mac Jones. We saw the hit. Then all of a sudden you see the ball. I’m like, Holy crap, they got a touchdown out of this. So then I go to the replay, the safety and it’s a great concept they have in Miami, where they they walked the safety down sort of at the last minute right like the Patriots do. Patriots will show you this, though. Patriots will show you Adrian Phillips and Kyle Dugger walked up in the box. So you already count right now we got seven in the box. There’s two safeties right there. Teams probably treat one of them as a linebacker and the other one is a safety and that’s how they recognize too strong or, you know, which way we got to throw hot. So, the Dolphins walked the safety up right into the box at the last second. So all of a sudden, boom, I’m counting guys weak. So I got four guys weak, which means we can only block three of them because it’s three on three with the center, the guard. And the tackle because Hunter Henry was in the flex to the left, he’s deployed en-route. He has no no blitz pickup whatsoever. So he’s already deployed in the route with the call, the backs deployed in the end of the route to the right side. So there’s no scan protection with the back. Normal old Patriots offense, you would have that scan back, meaning you’re offset, whether it was James White, Kevin Faulk, go down the list of guys. Shane Vereen offset the Brady in the gun and he would either step up, look left, scan right, so you were the last line of defense that call was not on. What I need to know is what the line call was, because it’s very difficult for me to put it on one guy. Now, the way it looks after you watch it, it should have been Trent Brown. Unless the call was for him to like pinch. If you’re pinch, you’re stepping down inside to help. That’s a pinch call. Now, if he’s told the fan [block], now he’s got to step back left and protect first guy off that left side, which ended up being the strong safety who perfectly timed up the snap count and hit it at the line of scrimmage and there was no chance of getting him. You see Trent’s head turn and look at him. But that tells me, was there not a call to him to fan? If the calls fan, his first step is all the way to the left and outside to get first defender outside. I see him step down and inside. Something tells me either he missed the call or it was the wrong call. And quite frankly, I don’t know if they really make the calls like they did last year because everything’s streamlined now.

  • Listen to the full conversation

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