You would think some D-coordinator would start messing with Ernie Adams' mind by switching up the defensive call signals so that the signal that Ernie is seeing isn't the defensive play that is going to develop.
Or are NFL players so dense that they are simply unable to learn to use another defensive formation in place of their regular one? Would that just be too, too confusing?
No, the way to play the Cheats is to meta them. Introduce another layer.
Ernie Adams is such a valuable asset because he recognizes patterns and can quickly deal with data such as relating that to a play call. So, if he sees a formation, he can recall what the defense has done already out of that formation.
One way is to go the Seahawks way and to just play a pretty basic D that relies on exceptional execution. Tendencies mean next to nothing when the goal of a D is to be consistent.
Another way is to use different types of
disguises each quarter. Essentially, it's four different game plans. The HC could always choose to stick with a disguise set or randomly return to a disguise set depending on what's working. Randomly changing the disguise set would make it nearly impossible for even someone with an eidetic memory to do much more than guess because of the introduction of randomness. The HC or DC isn't changing then D or how anything is defensed, but rather just randomly changing the disguises.
Unfortunately, teams seem reluctant to introduce a meta layer and until they do, Ernie Adams will continue to be a special weapon for NE.
