San Diego Chargers: How They Can Stop New England's Oregon-Like Offense on Astini News

The Patriots put on a show this weekend on Monday Night Football against the helpless Miami Dolphins. The Patriots ran a no-huddle offense almost the entire game, and caught the Dolphins floundering in the Florida humidity.

It was like shooting fish in a barrel. The Dolphins looked like a fish out of water all night long against that face-paced New England offense.

Lame idioms and analogies aside, the New England Patriots looked deadly this past Monday. They ran their offense in such a crisp progression, I doubt any defense would have stood a chance in the first week of the season. Personally, I think Bill "cameraman" Belichick is trying to take a page out of the Oregon playbook. The Ducks ran this faced paced offense all year in 2010, and, through superior speed and conditioning, made it all the way to the Championship game.

The Patriots look to be mirroring this type of approach.

It was evident Monday night. On various occasions, Tom Brady caught the Dolphin defense napping. The Dolphin's got flagged for 12 men on the field on one occasion, and got burned two others by Deion Branch when the cornerback failed to line up on Branch in time.

The only drive that the Patriots did not run a no-huddle offense was the first drive of the game. A drive which they happened to score on.

On the other 64 plays that the Patriots ran, 28 of them were in no-huddle formation. This is an usually high rate for a team that is leading almost the entire game.

That is not including the huddled formations that Brady snapped the ball on first count, before the play clock even reached "10". This devastated the Dolphins later in the game. Early on they were able to keep up because they still, for the most part, had their legs, but by the 4th quarter, half the team was cramping on on the sideline.

After watching the game, here are some tips for how the Chargers can counteract this game pace:

1. Have defensive schemes and packages ready to go. If Brady catches the Chargers napping, he is going to burn them. The bolts must be mentally tough and know when they are supposed to be on the field.

2. Get to Tom Brady. If Brady is under pressure at the beginning of the game, he will not be as comfortable in running the no huddle. He will want time in his huddle to bark out entire play calls and audibles. Also, If Brady is on the ground, I doubt he is going to want to jump right up and "no huddle" the next play. The Dolphins gave Brady a massive pocket all night long.

3. Let Brady throw underneath. The Dolphins really got in trouble when they started jumping Welker and others underneath. Brady recognized this instantaneously and beat them easily, multiple times down the field. The Chargers must allow those short passes and wait for the pass rush to get to Brady for them to have a chance.

4. Ball Control. This is when Philip Rivers, the Chargers' superstar, must shine. We must sustain long, five- to seven-minute drives to give our defense a rest. This will truly be a quarterback showdown to watch.

I will say it now. This will not be the last chance we see the Patriots this year. We must learn all we can from this offense and be prepared for a post season showdown. A loss is less than ideal, but I believe the opportunity to go into New England and face these Patriots early in the season will be invaluable to our rookie players.