Thoughts on Defense?

[catchbluefish]

In general, they looked better. The bills have one of the top rushing offenses in football and they did a pretty good job of shutting down spiller and jackson for the most part. The secondary really only gave up one long scoring drive. Clearly they weren't playing Aaron Rodgers, but I think I did see some improvement.

I am a little concerned about the lack of a pass rush though. I was pretty sure it was going to be better this year and I didn't see very much pressure put on Manuel even when they rushed more than 4. Its possible part of the plan was to focus more on coverage and defensive scheming than pressure with playing a rookie but I am still not confident that the backfield is good enough without better pressure up front.

Thoughts?

 

[redseat]

seemed better, better tackling, except for the major non getting into the backfield and getting to Manuel. They had no pressure on the QB yesterday and that worries me. Give Peyton, Eli, Rodgers,Brees, etc that kind of time and the scoreboard will be lit up!

 

[Drawmeomg]

The defense played a very good game. They gave up only one long drive and only 14 total points, and they weren't left in the best positions. They made a few mistakes, but overall they played a good game.

Now, it's not like they shut down the Denver offense, there. Don't read too much into it. It's a good sign, but they won't really be tested for a few weeks.

 

[Drawmeomg]

Some stats -

The Bills were 4/13 on third down. They gained 136 yards rushing and 150 yards passing. Buffalo's total time of possession was 22:17, compared to the Patriots' 37:43, running 61 offensive plays to the Patriots' 89.

 

[TKO]

I can't say the defense is any better than last year considering they played against a rookie QB in his first game and he finished with a 105.5 QB rating.

McCourty seems just as late diagnosing plays at safety as he was playing corner...see Johnson's TD in the corner. He has excellent measurables but his brain is lacking the field awareness of a player like Rodney..Yeah he plays a different safety position but some players can "see" the field better than others right from the start and McCourty hasn't shown enough of that nebulous "it" factor. Larry Bird had it, Brady has it...they're two steps ahead of everyone else not two steps behind. Maybe he'll get better but to me, he looked the same last year and I don't think a safety should be letting receivers get past them when they're supposed to be helping a cornerback in coverage...maybe it's just me.

 

[catchbluefish]

I can't say the defense is any better than last year considering they played against a rookie QB in his first game and he finished with a 105.5 QB rating.

McCourty seems just as late diagnosing plays at safety as he was playing corner...see Johnson's TD in the corner. He has excellent measurables but his brain is lacking the field awareness of a player like Rodney..Yeah he plays a different safety position but some players can "see" the field better than others right from the start and McCourty hasn't shown enough of that nebulous "it" factor. Larry Bird had it, Brady has it...they're two steps ahead of everyone else not two steps behind. Maybe he'll get better but to me, he looked the same last year and I don't think a safety should be letting receivers get past them when they're supposed to be helping a cornerback in coverage...maybe it's just me.

I have to agree with you that the bills are no true test of how improved (or not) the pats are but I very much disagree on McCourty. Of the 2 TD passes, the one to johnson was the least troubling, the coverage looked pretty good to me, it was just a perfect pass and even guys like revis get burned by perfect passes. I think McCourty has turned into one of the better safeties in the league and I think that is the general opinion of most experts (not that I am claiming to be that).

The troubling TD was the one to a wide open Woods. I am assuming that was a blown assignment by someone else other than Talib because a guy like Talib should never get beaten that badly, but something went god awful wrong there.

Also QB ratings are overrated for the most part. I think we need to remember that this defense made guys like Mark Sanchez look pretty good last year. By the standards they have set for the last couple of years I think it could have been a lot worse. But no question, not enough information at this point to make an informed judgment. This week should not provide much more information unless they look bad and that would be very bad.

 

[Drawmeomg]

They allowed only 14 points, only 286 yards (projected over a full season, that's a bottom 3 offense or top 3 defense), only 150 yards passing (a comfortably first place passing defense, comfortably last place passing offense), and gave up only one sustained drive the entire game. Their last four series, with the game on the line, went 6 and a punt, 3 and out, 6 and a punt, 3 and out.

They had a few miscues, they did not play a perfect game, and they won't be facing an opponent which will beat themselves with penalties every week, but they played a good game.