``You have an idea based on the formations they're playing with the play-action and with the different routes they're using, but you can't just overhaul everything you've got. You still have to go back and play technique, which for us is playing physical and trying to be solid at the line of scrimmage and not give up three 50-yard runs, or the deep pass that they seem to score on every week."
Vrabel's idea of disruption could be "getting the quarterback to move his feet in the pocket. Get him to slide over 3 feet, to get a receiver 2 yards off his route, to jam a receiver. There's a lot of different things that go into rhythm in football."
That's why disguising defenses and disrupting offenses is what the Patriots do best. Remember Super Bowl XXXVI when Willie McGinest was beating up the Rams' Marshall Faulk every time he stepped out of the backfield? Or when Patriots defensive backs were smacking St. Louis receivers every chance they got to disrupt their routes? Remember the all-linebacker front seven they used against Drew Bledsoe and the Buffalo Bills in 2002 and against the Miami Dolphins this season? One never knows what to expect.
"I think you have to disrupt Peyton's timing and make their receivers have to work for everything they get," said Southern California coach Pete Carroll, who was 3-1 against Manning as Patriots coach. Carroll said some blitzing is necessary because "You've got to move him. You've got to get him out of that area where he's comfortable."
Carroll said allowing the Colts to run "wouldn't be the worst thing" if it meant you were shutting down the passing game. "You can't commit hard to the running game. There's really not one good way to play [Manning]. Back then he was a young quarterback, but watching the things he does now, it's awfully hard to think you can shut him down. You want to slow him down. That's all you can hope for."
