Ideas to fix the defense

[mission27]

18 minutes ago, lancerman said:

I mean even so, you needed one stop at the end of the game. You could go through our history but...

-vs the Rams they scored 14 points in the 4th to erase a lead. 

-vs the Panthers they gave up two 4th quarter leads and let Delhomme look like a god. 

-vs the Colts in 06 they let a huge lead get erase

-vs the Giants the first time they needed one stop at the end and didn't get it

-vs the Jets the defense and special teams let them take a 14 point lead with less than 2 minutes left after not covering an onside kick well and essentially let them walk in the endzone. 

-vs the Giants in 2011 again you needed one stop at the end that you didn't get. 

-vs the Broncos they just got torched in 2013. 

-vs Seattle, Brady tied the largest comeback of all time and the defense let them down to the one yard line with less than a minute left

-vs Denver in 2015 I wouldn't blame anyone. The missed extra point cost us. There was a lot of questionable going for it. 

-vs Atlanta the team found itself down 28-3 and needed a Brady miracle

-vs Philadelphia the defense gave up 41 points while Brady was playing out of his mind.

 

I could blame Brady for the to Baltimore losses. But goddamn if this defense just doesn't show up to ball sometimes.

Feels like selective memory. 

Take the Atlanta game for example.  One of the TDs was a pick six and another the ball was turned over inside the 30s.  Defense came up with some HUGE stops in the 4th quarter.

Seattle they only let them down to the goaline on an all time miraculous freak catch and then stopped them because they were prepared and had practiced the play.

Everyone got torched by the Broncos that year and our best defensive players were hurt.  Also banged up as hell vs the Jets.

’06 Colts, sure, but how about the first few games against Peyton?  Defense sure came up big there.

Countless less remember playoffs games too, like this year agains the Titans and second half vs the Jags.

I get the frustration but think we need to have some perspective.  No we aren’t the mid-2000s Ravens but our D has been consistently above average for a long time which is enough with Brady.  This year was the anomaly. 

[lancerman]

9 minutes ago, mission27 said:

Feels like selective memory. 

Take the Atlanta game for example.  One of the TDs was a pick six and another the ball was turned over inside the 30s.  Defense came up with some HUGE stops in the 4th quarter.

Seattle they only let them down to the goaline on an all time miraculous freak catch and then stopped them because they were prepared and had practiced the play.

Everyone got torched by the Broncos that year and our best defensive players were hurt.  Also banged up as hell vs the Jets.

’06 Colts, sure, but how about the first few games against Peyton?  Defense sure came up big there.

Countless less remember playoffs games too, like this year agains the Titans and second half vs the Jags.

I get the frustration but think we need to have some perspective.  No we aren’t the mid-2000s Ravens but our D has been consistently above average for a long time which is enough with Brady.  This year was the anomaly. 

That's fair and there is probably some hyperbole there. But the post the 2007 season, really the big gap in our Super Bowl history was failing to get that one last stop we needed at the end of the game. The defense did take a step back from 2004. 

When they reloaded it in 2014, they won a Super Bowl again.Then they spent 3 years letting talent leave without getting adequate replacements. It cost them tonight. They schemed well all year, but they finally ran into a deep offensive team where the talent level was too big to scheme around

[O'Doyle Rules]

Wouldn't' mind the first few picks being on defense.

[lancerman]

So we get Hightower back. Rivers should be back he could be an impact player. 

We are losing Butler. So that secondary you saw last night is what we are fielding next year unless we get somebody. 

Fact is this team could use an impact player in all three phases of the defense

[TomRalph]

Gonna go into the archives and wish that we had Akiem Hicks, Jamie Collins and Chandler Jones going into next season.

I'm also hopeful that Rivers can come in and make an impact but not overly confident. I think we should spend our first 3 picks on defensive players at each level of the defense but can't help but think we'll take an OT early on. 

[bluemushrooms]

5 hours ago, mission27 said:

How is Belichick / defense the reason we lost 42?  They gave up 17 points.  The greatest offense in NFL history failed to score 18 points.  The reason we lost Super Bowl 42 is the offensive line completely fell apart.  Are we going to tell Dante to change his approach to offensive line coaching too?

If you want to criticize Bill as a GM for this team lacking talent on one side of the ball I think that’s fair game.  But he’s consistently produced top-10 defense and 12-14 win seasons for two decades, after being the best DC in football for 20 years before that.  Let’s not scapegoat the GOAT because he couldn’t magically turn Kyle Van Noy into Lawrence Taylor.

To be fair, Van Noy is actually a good starter for us and he was pretty much a JAG before we picked him up.  No, he ain't LT but, Van Noy is a legit starter for us.  

[everlong]

39 minutes ago, bluemushrooms said:

To be fair, Van Noy is actually a good starter for us and he was pretty much a JAG before we picked him up.  No, he ain't LT but, Van Noy is a legit starter for us.  

Just for the love of God we need to find a way to keep Elandon Roberts off the field.

[mission27]

55 minutes ago, bluemushrooms said:

To be fair, Van Noy is actually a good starter for us and he was pretty much a JAG before we picked him up.  No, he ain't LT but, Van Noy is a legit starter for us.  

Totally agree but when he’s the rockstar of our front 7 you know we’ve got issues 

[m haynes]

just throwing it out there we had four other guys on IR this year. Valentine and Shea McClellin, Cydric Jones and Rivers.

 

[CP3MVP]

When was the last time you trusted the Patriots defense? 2006? Even that year they blew it. I’ve never been comfortable with this defense no matter what pretty defensive PPG stats they put up. 

[mission27]

2 hours ago, CP3MVP said:

When was the last time you trusted the Patriots defense? 2006? Even that year they blew it. I’ve never been comfortable with this defense no matter what pretty defensive PPG stats they put up. 

Last year.

[doumeyer]

On ‎2‎/‎4‎/‎2018 at 10:19 PM, everlong said:

I think we can all agree that poor defensive play cost us our 6th Super Bowl. We simply can't expect to win if we allow 41 points and Nick Foles to look like Joe Montana. For reference, here are our defensive free agents:

Malcolm Butler - There's simply no way he's coming back after coming off mediocre season and playing a grand total of zero snaps on defense. Belichick should have traded him to NOLA when he had the chance.
Johnson Bademosi - He had a poor Super Bowl performance, but he showed some promise during the regular season. A cheap two-year deal and playing in nickel might suffice.
Nate Ebner - Plays primarily on special teams and does a good job there.
James Harrison - Merely a rental after Pittsburgh cut him. Played very well and earned his money, but we need youth.
Ricky Jean-Francois - Emergency signing due to poor defensive line depth.
Geneo Grissom - Was on and off the team throughout the year and hasn't worth the 3rd pick we invested him.
Marquis Flowers - Traded for him due to injuries to Hightower and Van Noy. I guess we can bring him back for depth purposes.

I'm not sure on the cap totals, but according to Sportsrac we have about $19 million in cap space: http://www.spotrac.com/nfl/cap/

Defensive line
This is where most of the complaints are and deservedly so: Malcolm Brown and Alan Branch has regressed big time. The good news is that we'll be getting Derek Rivers back, giving us an edge rotation of him, Trey Flowers and Deatrich Wise Jr.

The DT free agent market has a lot of juice to it: Dontari Poe, Clinton McDonald, Star Lotulelei, Sheldon Richardson, etc.

Linebacker
This is the area we need to stock up on talent; it's completely garbage after Hightower and Van Noy.

Secondary
We're set at safety, but we'll need to find a way to replace Butler; rather not see Rowe start across Gilmore and stay in the nickel. The only attractive FA CB is Trumaine Johnson, but he's going to be too expensive.

Excellent post

[The Third Rider]

14 hours ago, CP3MVP said:

When was the last time you trusted the Patriots defense? 2006? Even that year they blew it. I’ve never been comfortable with this defense no matter what pretty defensive PPG stats they put up. 

The playoffs are a dog fight, if your expectations are to roll in there with the 85 Bears or 2000 Ravens defense then its never going to happen. The point is that they don’t need a once in a life time unit, they just need one that can make the stops when it matters the most. Sunday night the defense just didn’t make any plays, they let the Eagles march up and down the field. They didn’t generate any pressure, no sacks and allowed a 10 - 16 third down conversion. Coughing up 38 points (the last field goal is on the offense) is a complete travesty.

It all starts up front, aside from Flowers the Dline is a straight up weakness that they have mostly overcome most of the season. The linebackers are almost completely devoid of speed and all season long have been held together by duct tape, bubblegum and faith in the scheme. I know we like to make fun of Pittsburgh for letting Harrison go but you have to realize that that man straight up started for this team almost as soon as he joined the team and we were the only team that reached out to him. We are very desperate for talent on the linebacker position.

The secondary while it had many growing pains last season is infact in good shape. McCurty, Chung and Gilmore have been solid (Gilmore had growing pains early on). The Eagles picked on Rowe and while he did get beat he also made several good plays and honestly that’s all you can really ask for your nickel. We do need to get a replacement for Butler and it will most likely not be an upgrade, mind you, not that he was anything special last season.

Finally, I think we might need to bring in another kicker. It’s been 3 straight seasons where he has missed extra point kicks in the playoffs aside from regular field goals. Pittsburgh, Jacksonville and the Philadelphia all had noticeably more talent on their rosters, specially on defense.

[areksoo]

On 2/5/2018 at 8:48 AM, Deadpulse said:

Right now it stands at 14m, but if they make the cuts I'd expect them to make (Branch, Gilisee, McClellin, Harris) they can jump that to 25m. If they move on from Allen or Bennett at TE they can save 5 to 6 more. 

Interesting situation with both back up TE.  They are both signed for 2 more years, but both can be cut with zero dead money.  

For sure Bennett will be cut.  Patriots didn't want to pay him that much to begin with.  They will cut and resign for cheap assuming he still wants to play.  After the Packers fiasco, not many teams would be interested in his services besides the Patriots.

Or they might try and restructure Allan's contract and forget about Bennett.  Maybe this Jacob Hollister kid might be the next diamond in the rough.

I just hope Gronk doesn't retire... then there's pressure to keep both these guys.

 

As for the defense, the front 7 needs more speed and talent.  It's full of over achieving 6th/7th/undrafted/cast offs from other teams players.  It'll be great to get Hightower back though.  Top 3 needs: DE, CB and depth at LB (with speed).

[Elky]

I don't think CB is as much of a need as people think. Gilmore/Rowe/Bademosi can be a solid unit with better front seven play.

Cut Branch, Gilisee, McClellin, Harris, Allen (keep Bennett while monitoring his health) as @Deadpulse suggests and that should give us enough room to get someone like Dontari Poe.