Projo Pats Blog

DENVER - Some pregame droppings from the press box....

I just spoke with former Patriots middle linebacker Ted Johnson and he said that, in his opinion, the entire game tonight comes down to one matchup: Broncos center Tom Nalen and Patriots nose tackle Vince Wilfork.

"Nalen is so quick," Johnson explained. "They only run one running play (the stretch) and if the nose tackle is in a zero technique (his helmet lined up on the center's) all Nalen has to do is get out and wall off Wilfork and that walls off the rest of the defensive line.

So it's Nalen's quickness that makes him so good?

"And he's mean, and dirty and he'll pull you down, gouge your eyes, get in your head. The whole game comes down to that matchup."

BREAK

There was some conversation last week about Eugene Wilson's fumble-causing hit on Alvin Pearman being a helmet-to-helmet hit and deserving of a penalty.

That's not right. These are the instances in which helmet-to-helmet hits should be penalized:

-- Defensive players who use the facemask, crown or any one of the four "hit points" on the helmet to strike a specific player under one of six "defenseless" conditions

1) a quarterback in the act of throwing
2) a wide receiver in the act of catching;
3) a punt returner in the act of catching
4) a player who is down (spearing)
5) a running back who is in the grasp of a defender and has lost his forward momentum or has stopped
6) a quarterback on change of possession (fumble/interception).

-- TOM E. CURRAN

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