Is Bend Don't Break an Effective Strategy Against the Aints?

Stumbled across this gem today. Sarcasm alert! According to Dan Hanzus of NFL.com, Smitty intends to take a bend-but-don't-break approach into Monday night's game. General Smith had this to say:

"You can’t stop them; you’ve just got to slow them down"

And he of the throwback mustache - our own Brian Van Gorder - had this to say:

"There is such good [and] solid personnel around Drew, you’ve got to move into some other areas like what they like to do in certain situations with certain personnel"

"You have to concentrate on situation football. But boy [...] there are too many productive players to focus in on one here or there. The situations will allow you to do that better than just going in and saying ‘let’s stop Jimmy Graham’ or ‘let’s stop (Darren) Sproles.’ "

I'm lost as to how Hanzus can extrapolate so much from 11 words. In case you're wondering, I'm disregarding what BVG said because it makes absolutely no sense. Sometimes I really wonder about that guy.

In this Daniel Cox-written article, there's a telling quote by Optimus Prime. He had this to say:

"We know what (Brees) does," he said. "This is normal. This is what he does every year. It’s not a surprise. We’ve just got to go and play our game. He’s going to make some plays. We’re going to make some plays. We just want at the end to make more than he does."

So there ya have it. If you buy the logic Hanzus is laying down, Grimsey believes in bend-but-don't-break too. Or does he? Isn't it possible that this is exactly how football in the NFL works? These are the most talented players in the world, your opponent is bound to make some plays. The better the opponent, the more plays they'll likely make, and in turn, the more plays you'll need to make. This all seems very simple to me. Almost elementary. Yet Hanzus reads into it quite a bit.

I understand he's got a job to do, and this is a game worth talking about, but come on man. You're better than that. After all, I'm the often illogical, non-professional blogger. And you, you're the one that makes the big bucks to make stuff up. I'm not meaning to be harsh, but I don't believe for a second that Smitty won't take his shots this week. I pray to Vishnu that we don't play zone all game, and if we do, it's not a big jump from the defensive approach we've taken all year. If anything, we're a bend-but-don't-break team. That said, it's hardly novel, nor is it particularly newsworthy.

End of rant.