Patriots defense

[tonyto36]

Points allowed:

TB: 14
NYJ:  17
ATL:  7
LAC:  13
DEN:  16
OAK:  8

12.5 PPGA.

With five our six games remaining against the Bills, Dolphins and Jets is it possible the Patriots make a run at being a top 5-10 defense even after the dreadful start?   Just going by the eye test, the Patriots have played much more disciplined the past month+ and things are starting to come together.  No more broken coverages, and secondary has played better.  Front 7 is still pretty painful but they're doing enough to not cost games right now.  

How do you feel about the Patriots defense?

[bluemushrooms]

44 minutes ago, tonyto36 said:

Points allowed:

TB: 14
NYJ:  17
ATL:  7
LAC:  13
DEN:  16
OAK:  8

12.5 PPGA.

With five our six games remaining against the Bills, Dolphins and Jets is it possible the Patriots make a run at being a top 5-10 defense even after the dreadful start?   Just going by the eye test, the Patriots have played much more disciplined the past month+ and things are starting to come together.  No more broken coverages, and secondary has played better.  Front 7 is still pretty painful but they're doing enough to not cost games right now.  

How do you feel about the Patriots defense?

We aight.  Not very good but, not garbage anymore.  We're improving week over week though so, I'm not sweating (y)our D.

[Apparition]

I think they're playing fundamentally sound, which they weren't doing early in the year. And they have the talent to make that count. They're not flashy, but when have they ever been? I think the Steelers game will tell us much of what we need to know about whether it's a championship-caliber unit.

[tonyto36]

5 hours ago, Starless said:

I think they're playing fundamentally sound, which they weren't doing early in the year. And they have the talent to make that count. They're not flashy, but when have they ever been? I think the Steelers game will tell us much of what we need to know about whether it's a championship-caliber unit.

I still think we matchup well against the Steelers.  Brady can handle any defense for the most part, but our defense is as good as you can expect to matchup.

1.  We have the corners to stay with Bryant/Juju/Brown

2.  Our front 7 plays exactly like you need the front 7 to play to stop Bell.  Don't blitz up a gap, just hold your gaps and wait and let the secondary rally to gang tackle Bell.   In the playoffs some people (andBell) stated how him being out cost them the game, but he wasn't doing ANYTHING against us.  He was sitting behind the LOS waiting for holes that didn't come.  Granted our front 7 was better then, but the style we play against the run isn't great against speed, but against guys like Bell?  He makes it a lot easier on our front 7 based on the style matchup.

3.  Steelers don't have the tight ends to punish the Patriots LBs.

4.  Ben and the Steelers collectively crap themselves every time Brady plays them.  

5.  Tomlin is still their HC.

[Soko]

Statistically? Highly doubt the Pats will crack that high in yardage or DVOA. 

Maybe if we were playing Peterman both weeks.

As far as popular opinion, then 100% no. Some fans still think this is the worst defense in the league.

[Hunter2_1]

How do I feel....

Similar to last season, actually. Lack of pass rush scares the B'jesus out of me, but we tend not to give up many points. I never like it when our D stays on the field, but if we end up taking the ball away or forcing them to settle for FGs, then you can't complain. 

I would like more quick stops though

[ChazStandard]

Somehow it totally passed me by that we signed Jean-Francois, but he was on the field for a lot of snaps in Mexico City and seemed to hold up really well.

[Hunter2_1]

9 minutes ago, ChazStandard said:

Somehow it totally passed me by that we signed Jean-Francois, but he was on the field for a lot of snaps in Mexico City and seemed to hold up really well.

Yeah he was stronggg. See the one arm tackle whilst he was being held? Wilfork-esque. 

 

Unfortunatly he gets nothing like the penetration that BV did. 

[iothar]

Some people are really convinced this team has major flaws and that the recent schedule has covered them up. Heath Evans was on WEEI talking about Mcdaniels really working to cover up the major holes and a game like Sundays was useless to evaluate the team because Oakland was so ill prepared.

[biggbrd]

17 minutes ago, iothar said:

Some people are really convinced this team has major flaws and that the recent schedule has covered them up. Heath Evans was on WEEI talking about Mcdaniels really working to cover up the major holes and a game like Sundays was useless to evaluate the team because Oakland was so ill prepared.

Well, as far as I'm aware McDaniels isn't going anywhere, so as long as he can keep continuing to cover up those "massive holes", we'll be good. Calling Sunday's game useless because of the Raiders' lack of preparation is just a backhanded compliment regarding how well prepared we were. It's all part of making a winning football team.

Don't get me wrong, this team is certainly not perfect. I think we would all love some more pass rush, love to be better in the red zone, love to get some more yards on the ground and love to stop giving up quite so many yards on D. But no team is perfect, and it's really just about how well you can cover up your own flaws and expose the other teams. The last 17 years or so shows that the Pats are often pretty good at that, and long may it continue.

[Hunter2_1]

2 hours ago, iothar said:

Some people are really convinced this team has major flaws and that the recent schedule has covered them up. Heath Evans was on WEEI talking about Mcdaniels really working to cover up the major holes and a game like Sundays was useless to evaluate the team because Oakland was so ill prepared.

Completely possible. Numbers also look better because Raider receivers dropped about 5000 passes.

[Carmen Cygni]

After the slow start in the first 4 games, the Patriots defense has allowed less than 12 PPG since week 5. 

It's almost absurd how technically sound each individual plays within their assignments. Coverage has been relatively simple with Cover 1 & 2 shells, but they consistently give different looks in their front with varied alignments to manipulate and confuse the opposition's blocking assignments.

 

[Nex_Gen]

There has definitely been improvement in fundamentals, communication and just overall playing as a unit. Still, I don't think there's enough pure talent in the front 7 that can hold up against teams in January that will run it down your throat and keep the ball away from Brady (Steelers, Jags, Ravens) so that may be a cause of concern. I'm not worried about the secondary. It's probably the most talented secondary the Pats have had from top to bottom in the Belichick era. 

[Carmen Cygni]

5 hours ago, Nex_Gen said:

There has definitely been improvement in fundamentals, communication and just overall playing as a unit. Still, I don't think there's enough pure talent in the front 7 that can hold up against teams in January that will run it down your throat and keep the ball away from Brady (Steelers, Jags, Ravens) so that may be a cause of concern. I'm not worried about the secondary. It's probably the most talented secondary the Pats have had from top to bottom in the Belichick era. 

I don't see much of an issue being that the majority of the time the defense plays with only 6 (3-3) and brings Chung into the box for an additional run presence if needed. With the variance in fronts they also have an alignment advantage to severely hamper a team's favorite run play(s) when needed. For example: their Bear front is very effective vs the Inside Zone run which are many offense's bread and butter b/w the tackles these days.

[Deadpulse]

The Steelers, if Tomlin gets his head on straight, matchup really well against our defense this year. If they utilize Bell on the ground and with screens to keep Brady off the field while taking chunk yards (as rushing defense is still the weak point) and then taking the big gains with AB when the Pats make run calls.