Defense is elite

[TKO]

Their scheme was different, but that doesn't make it any more or less legitimate.

If you're rushing 4 it's because you need the help in coverage.

LOL! Really? Where do you get this stuff? They rushed four because they were getting pressure doing it and when they added a blitz the rush was even more effective.

 

[TKO]

Spikes and Hightower start for at least 20 teams.

And if I played them every week I'd make them both cover man to man.

 

[JDM]

If they could effectively cover with less, they would have blitzed far more.

 

[TKO]

If they could effectively cover with less, they would have blitzed far more.

So you don't think the Bengals pressured Brady with four rushers or covered his receivers well when they blitzed?

 

[briz almighty]

jdm you got your coverage, rushing 4, and blitzing philosophies all screwed up.

 

[JDM]

Clearly they played a solid game. But if you don't think they needed to effectively scheme to do that, you're nuts.

 

[TKO]

jdm you got your coverage, rushing 4, and blitzing philosophies all screwed up.

He wasn't on the ESPN boards briz...he needs time

 

[briz almighty]

defense is #2 in points allowed despite having an offense that keeps putting pressure on them left and right. and they really should be #1 in points allowed! have you seen kc's cupcake schedule? its pretty much the easiest in the league, their strength of schedule is rockbottom like .200. they played jaxsonville who score 2 points, that is essentially like they only played 4 games compared to everyone elses 5! d is elite wait till they shut down new orleans then i guess everyone will finally jump on the bandwagon.

 

[TKO]

defense is #2 in points allowed despite having an offense that keeps putting pressure on them left and right. and they really should be #1 in points allowed! have you seen kc's cupcake schedule? its pretty much the easiest in the league, their strength of schedule is rockbottom like .200. they played jaxsonville who score 2 points, that is essentially like they only played 4 games compared to everyone elses 5! d is elite wait till they shut down new orleans then i guess everyone will finally jump on the bandwagon.

Manuel, Smith, Freeman, Dalton? Two rookies and one QB that just got released. Of their first five opponents only Ryan is a top half of the pile QB and he's not all that IMO.

 

[briz almighty]

buffalo and the yets were playing their sb's against us though. cincy has a good offense so dont atlanta. atlanta scored essentially 13 points till the last 6 minutes of the game then they got lucky onside kick, fluke fumble, and circus ending. aj green and julio jones are maybe the best wrs in the game behind calvin and they did squat. talib and dennard are very good corners and can play close press tight man coverage. thats been the big difference, add in 4 rushers and we golden. im still a bit dissapointed with patricia and the blitz and aggressiveness. wanted it to take that next step this year too but it looks like it hasnt. oh well. armstead was supposed to be a big piece on the interior too so i think this d can get even better when he gets back. he better get back.

 

[Drawmeomg]

You must be joking. Surprising good safety play? Watch Gregory a little closer sometime and you might come to a different conclusion. I know I don't particularly like watching him come up in run support. He looks the part but for some strange reason he seems to take bad angles..why? IMO it's because he doesn't want to make the tackle. He seems to put his head in the pile quite a bit though as the player is on his way down.

The only starting LB that is a legit three down player is Mayo.

IMO...Spikes and Hightower are on this team because Belichick remembers how his defense was getting it's butt kicked on the ground against Manning's Colts when they had Addai.

Hightower is turning into an elite LB, Spikes is situational but very good at what he does, and a defense with an elite LB, an LB on the border of elite and a very good situational LB has an elite LB corps.

The Patriots are tied for 6th for 40+ yard passes allowed and generally give up few big gains. That's indicative of solid safety play. Note that I didn't say elite safety play, mind.

I know you want a defense that never gives up yards, ever, but this is a defense with many indicators pointing to very good play - and it's pulling this off with an offense that pretty much goes 3 and out most times it gets the ball, so they're ALWAYS on the field and still putting up good numbers. The only argument that the Patriots defense isn't doing a very, very good job would be that they haven't faced top tier talent. And that's not an argument that they're bad, it's just an argument that they're relatively untested.

 

[briz almighty]

cant really expect the d to not give up some yards and points. only truely special defenses like the 85 bears or 01 ravens have achieved such high level of dominance. nobody is comparing them to that or expects them to be that. but elite in terms of one of the best defenses in the league this year was expected and so far they are on point. pats holding teams to scoring in the teens every game is elite, its almost the same as a very good offense dropping 35 points a game but on the defensive side.

 

[#1BostonFan]

If the defense plays solid and the offense plays to it's potential when Gronk and Vereen are back we have a top 3 team in the AFC.

 

[briz almighty]

yep it wasnt too long ago the pats defense was terrible, one of the worst in the league. the team was carried by the elite offense and the d was an afterthought. the secondary was horrible, we had zero i mean zero passrush, the blitz was futile an non existent. the pats have quietly rebuilt the defense in many drafts, we finally got a few key pieces in chandlers jones and the new corners in dennard and talib. and thats all the d needed to take it to the next level the linebacker core with mayo, hightower, spikes was already set and one of the best in the league. i think most nfl fans from others teams are shocked and dont believe the pats d is really good, "played some scrub teams and qbs etc etc..", no the pats d REALLY is good. we have rebuilt, we got talent and studs now, the d is back to being championship calibur. New England with an elite defense is a scary thought for fans of other teams.

 

[Dude]

If the defense plays solid and the offense plays to it's potential when Gronk and Vereen are back we have a top 3 team in the AFC.

Yeah but the lack of depth sucks. We basically have no TEs to back up Gronk. The guy we got from the Giants was useless and Sudfeld sucked, he got the chance and dropped every pass thrown to him, and fumbled the only one he did catch. Oh and Hernandez project was a total bust, that was such a waste of money.
I have faith the team will improve because it is basically young.
Go Pats!

 

[JDM]

Hernandez wasn't a bust.

 

[TKO]

It doesn't take a genius to know how to attack the Pats defense. One injury makes them vulnerable to the running game up the middle. The LBs other than Mayo will have trouble in man coverage underneath and ditto in the middle against the safeties.

I'm not saying the defense is chopped liver, I'm saying this team is weaker than it reasonably should be due to the failure of Belichick's drafts.

Quick...name the only starting DT Belichick has drafted since 2004...hint...they just put him on IR.

2005: NONE
2006: Jeremy Mincey, LeKevin Smith
2007: Kareem Brown
2008: NONE
2009: Darrel Richard, Myron Pryor, Ron Brace
2010: Kade Weston, Deaderick
2011: NONE
2012: Chandler Jones, Bequette
2013: Buchanan

No DTs had the ability to stick around long enough to even be a backup on this current team.

Belichick has managed to draft one DE that can start for this current team and one DE that looks like he can be a decent part time pass rusher...SINCE 2005

IMO...Belichick's wasted picks on D-backs and WRs, plus his bottom feeding for DTs has resulted in one of the weakest interior D-lines in the league... all because of one injury.

Belichick has had 35 top 100 picks during that time period.

If you can't see the problem you need to take off the Patriot glasses. IMO, drafting failures isn't all because every team makes mistakes...one supposed defensive genius makes too many of them for it to be just chance. Doing NOTHING to draft top 100 front seven bigs year after year is a mistake in itself.

 

[JDM]

No team has done better in the draft than New England. This discussion has been had time and time again and only a few teams are close if you cherry pick the hell out of what drafts to use.

 

[TKO]

No team has done better in the draft than New England. This discussion has been had time and time again and only a few teams are close if you cherry pick the hell out of what drafts to use.

Yeah and I recall you didn't win that draft argument.

Has any team failed with so many top 100 picks in the draft? Try that one on for size if you want to talk about the success vs failure rate.

 

[JDM]

Failure is a silly debate when they have gotten more out of their drafts than anyone else.