Rosenfels breaks down how Patriots' and Falcons' schemes stack up

Sage Rosenfels is a former 12-year NFL quarterback who writes, does radio, and podcasts about the NFL and college football.

After Sunday's yawn fest, I could break down the reasons the Green Bay Packers and Pittsburgh Steelers are now cleaning out their lockers instead of arranging travel plans for their families to Houston. Instead, I'm going to begin the process of analyzing the two teams who will be playing in the Super Bowl, the New England Patriots and Atlanta Falcons.

Super Bowl matchups aren’t always fun to dissect. Last year, the Denver Broncos had an incredible defense while their offense was anything but fun to talk about. On the other side, the Carolina Panthers had a strong defense as well, but other than Cam Newton, their offense wasn’t exactly exciting. This year, there are a plethora of players, coaches, and schemes to dive into, which makes this matchup much more interesting.

Let’s begin with the two head coaches. For the Patriots, the success of Bill Belichick has been well documented and rightfully so. Since Tom Brady took over as the Patriots quarterback in 2001, my rookie season, Belichick has led his team to 15 AFC East titles, 11 AFC Championship Games, and now seven Super Bowls. Nobody in the history of the NFL has had that level of success, especially in the day and age of free agency, which has created parity among the 32 franchises. Belichick brings with him the number one scoring defense in the NFL, as they gave up only 15.6 points per game during the regular season. Offensively, Brady is still playing some of the best football of his career at age 39. New England was third in the NFL in both scoring and yards. They move the football extremely well and produce touchdowns when they get into scoring range. Brady’s 28 touchdowns compared to two interceptions in the regular season is mind boggling.

On the other side, Dan Quinn, in only his second season as the Falcons coach, enters his third Super Bowl in the last four seasons. Before Atlanta, Quinn was the defensive coordinator for the Seattle Seahawks during their two recent Super Bowl appearances. Obviously, he is not new to the process which awaits him during the next two weeks. He runs a defense which is similar to what the Seahawks have been doing for years. Their coverages aren't complex, they don’t blitz a lot, and they're built with speed and athleticism. The reason they aren’t complex is because they believe they can get plenty of pass rush with only four defensive linemen. This matches up well against Brady, as the defenses which have affected him the most in his career didn’t outsmart him (nearly impossible), but rather made Tom earn his way down the field while being harassed by an athletic defensive line. Both New York Giants teams who Brady lost to in the Super Bowl had this type of defense. On a side note, I played for the Miami Dolphins during the 2005 season under Nick Saban. Dan Quinn was one of the younger coaches on the staff and his players, the defensive line, absolutely loved him. He was passionate, smart, energetic, and relatable. He was the first coach I ever saw wear football cleats to practice, as he liked to teach by example, running through the drills and coaching technique at full speed. I always thought this was a great idea and wondered why more coaches didn’t emulate him.

Offensively, the Falcons are led by probable MVP Matt Ryan. Actually, let’s backup for one moment. Offensively, the Falcons are lead by offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan. I was lucky enough to play for Kyle from 2006-2008 and can say he has one of the most creative, aggressive, yet sound offensive minds in football. This may be his last game as an assistant, as it's rumored the San Francisco 49ers have all but locked him up to be their next head coach. On the field, Ryan is the perfect fit for Shanahan’s offense. He is extremely smart, which maximizes the complexity of what Shanahan wants to do. He has a strong, accurate arm, which bodes well for the drop back game. Athletically, he isn’t Cam Newton, but he does scare a defense with his ability to bootleg out of the pocket and in the play action game. Ryan is the perfect match for this system. The Falcons lead the NFL in both yards and scoring. They do everything well and have weapons at every position to take advantage of any scheme Belichick designs to stop them.

New England was no slouch on offense either. They finished the season in the top-5 in the most important categories. Even without Gronk, the Patriots have threats at every position. Though they don’t have a "premier" wide receiver, all are excellent route runners and are tough to bring down after the catch. Since Brady has been the starter for so long, and this offense moves the ball in a variety of schemes, they rarely find themselves in a bad play. One reason for concern is their 27 fumbles, which ranks second worst in the league, and could easily play a factor on Super Bowl Sunday.

Both of these teams have very strong running games, which each defense will initially try to stop. Also, both offenses utilize 2-3 running backs who can all rush, catch, and pass protect well. Shanahan comes from coaching trees which are experts in the zone scheme. Because of this, Atlanta is one of the best play action teams in football. The beauty of the zone scheme is that since the linemen are essentially creating a wall as they move in unison, the play action can be designed to look just like the running game while having sound protection. This is mostly used on first and second down. Be alert for Shanahan to take a shot downfield if the safeties for New England get too aggressive in the run game.

As we saw against Pittsburgh, New England also institutes similar play action concepts. This wasn’t always the case. For the first decade of his career, Brady and the Patriots were not a heavy play action team. Early on, Brady’s offenses focused on a strong run game with physical running backs such as Corey Dillon. During the middle of his career, the Patriots threw the ball all over the field, maximizing the talents of players such as Randy Moss and Wes Welker. Over the last few years, New England has again focused on the running game while installing more play action concepts similar to that of Shanahan’s. This is a copycat league and even the great Belichick is happy to steal plays from other successful teams around the league.

All good offenses - and this game features two of the NFL’s best - start with the offensive line. This is where the two teams differ dramatically. The Patriots have Dante Scarnecchia, who I believe is one of the greatest offensive line coaches in NFL history. He knows how to take five players and get them to work in unison as well as anyone who has coached the position. Belichick knows this, which is why he dragged Scarnecchia out of retirement last February. For the better part of 35 years, Scarnecchia has been a coach for the Patriots. When he retired in 2013, New England saw a noticeable drop in their offensive line play. After relieving their O-line coach of his duties last winter, Belichick rehired Scarnecchia and the positive impact the coaching change had on the Patriots offense is evident.

For the Falcons, Chris Morgan is only in his second season directing an offensive line. Though his resume may be thin, the production of Atlanta’s offense has never been better. It’s hard to have a line run and pass block effectively, and the Falcons do both as well as anybody in the league. As an example of why coaches end up in certain places, Morgan is a great example and a perfect fit for Atlanta. Morgan spent the 2014 season with Quinn in Seattle as the assistant line coach, working with Tom Cable, who is one of the best zone scheme coaches in the NFL. Earlier in his career, Cable was mentored by the godfather of the zone running game, Alex Gibbs. Who was our offensive line coach in Houston when Shanahan first became an offensive coordinator? The one and only Alex Gibbs. The NFL coaching world is a carousel and Morgan and Shanahan seem to be a perfect match.

Next week, I will undoubtedly break down the individual matchups. At first glance, this game should be fun to watch. We have the number one offense versus the number one defense. Both teams can score quickly, and have two of this year’s best quarterbacks. As always, turnovers, special teams, and coaching decisions may end up being the difference makers. With that being said, one would reason the initial advantage goes to the New England Patriots.