For the diehards out there, the 2017 National Football League season has officially come to an end.
Once Tom Brady and the New England Patriots capped off another playoff comeback while destroying the football hearts of all Jacksonville Jaguars fans, the season (as we know it) had finished. (Obviously, thank in part to the blowout we witnessed over on the NFC side of things.)
As great as the Super Bowl is, it cannot be included as part of the actual season.
It's a spectacle, an event, rather than a football game. Nothing exemplifies this more than the two weeks leading into the event as casual media questions are fired left and right, up and down. The keen fan needs to decipher what nuggets are real and on Wednesday, Philadelphia Eagles defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz provided us with a little strategy discussion.
Via Karen Guregian of the Boston Herald, Schwartz is already explaining that the gameplan will naturally be bigger than just tight end Rob Gronkowski.
“In the NFL, in general, particularly the Patriots, you can’t scheme for one player. If you do, they have plenty of other players that can make plays,” Schwartz said. “You have to do a good job against their entire offense. You really can’t make it about one person.”
It's obvious words from the Philly defensive boss, but it brings us to an interesting aspect to Super Bowl 52.
Just how healthy will Gronk be?
Brady's most dominant target left the AFC title game after an old-school banger of a hit by Jags safety Barry Church.
Gronk takes BIG hit from Barry Church, and is now being evaluated for a concussion.pic.twitter.com/AmR1UZQQBt
— LeadingNFL (@LeadingNFL) January 21, 2018
Although he's looked solid since the hit, Gronk left looking quite shaky and Church was appropriately flagged for the helmet-to-helmet contact. But it now leads us into the more important aspect that is game-planning and strategy in terms of looking to slow down Brady and the Pats' well-oiled machine of an offense.
This week, Schwartz will remain quiet. How he actually gameplans for the Pats all depends on how Gronk's health looks a week from now.
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