Quote:
Originally Posted by Megatron96
Doesn't matter unfortunately, they will never play strict zone on us. Their DC has to know better than that. They're going to try and play something like the Belichick defense against Hill and Kelce.
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Patrick Mahomes tucking the ball and running has blown that strategy to hell over the past two weeks. Removing both Kelce and Hill (Bill B. style) has simply not worked when Patrick can now tuck the ball and gash the D with his legs or find Playoff Watkins on a 1v1 matchup down field. Regular Season Watkins would disappear in these matchups, but Playoff Watkins is just scorching defenders down the field.
Patrick running is catching people by surprise, but Patrick did it early in the year when he was healthy too. The Lions did the Bill defense and simply allowed Patrick to run all over them rather than allow Hill and Kelce to run free (it's how we won that game). You have to wonder how the 49ers D will respond/prepare. Vrabel said they "gameplanned" for Mahomes running, but the gameplan clearly didn't work. While they were able to remove Kelce (at times there were three defenders on him), it came at a great cost, with Watkins going HAM to seal it in the second half.