PatsPropaganda

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defense

Picked-up pieces after first-half review – New England Patriots Blog – ESPN Boston

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Picked-up pieces after first-half review – New England Patriots Blog – ESPN Boston

The Patriots’ secondary has tackled well through the first two weeks of the season. It’s been strong fundamental work, with cornerback Kyle Arrington’s open-field tackle for no gain on receiver Stephen Hill on third-and-1 the play that sparked that thought. That’s the type of play that Patriots strength coaches might look to as an example of their program providing solid results. In the matchup of Arrington (5-10, 190) vs. Hill (6-4, 215), the strength and technique of Arrington was the victor. Later, on a play that could fall into a similar category, safety Steve Gregory (5-11, 200) had a decisive takedown on tight end Kellen Winslow (6-4, 240).

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The Patriots have allowed three offensive touchdowns through the first eight quarters of play, and an average of 15.5 points per game. With the understanding that they’ve already played their second game of the season while just about everyone else is waiting to complete Week 2, their average points per game allowed is seventh in the NFL. (By way of comparison, New England yielded an average of 20.7 points per game last year, tied for ninth in the league.

It Is What It Is » Four thoughts on fast start for Patriots defense

https://www.patspropaganda.com/the-patriots-have-allowed-three-offensive/

Patriots’ injury issues mean defense must step up

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This offseason I had two mantras to the 2013 Patriots:

1. There would be growing pains with the offensive turnover, but in the long run they would be better set up, both short and long-term, to be more explosive and unpredictable.

2. It was time for the defense to go from one that just didn’t lose games, to a defense that wins games.

Now here we are in week two, and these two things are truer than ever, yet because the offense didn’t look unstoppable many are ready to hit the panic button.

There’s no question, losing Vereen and possibly Amendola hurts, but both should be fine in the long run. So let’s look at this game for what it is, an excellent challenge against a divisional opponent who always plays us tough early in the season.

What we saw from the Pats offense is exactly what was expected. Inconsistency, and, gasp, an undrafted rookie actually playing like an undrafted rookie in Kenbrell Thompkins.

But let’s look at the positive. Julian Edelman played arguably his best game as a pro. If the preseason was any indication, Thompkins should bounce back, and Aaron Dobson said this morning he’s expecting to play.

Are they the 2007 Pats offense right now? No. But come on, it’s not like we need to hang 50 on the Jets to get the win.

So that makes me turn the page to the defense. This game is all about them as I see it. This is their chance to prove they can control games.

They’ve got a rookie quarterback, making his first road start and likely missing a significant weapon of his own in Jeremy Kerley coming into town. My expectation is for the defense to be the difference and shut Geno Smith completely down.

Let’s remember what happened in week two last year. The Pats lost to the Cardinals when they had Welker, Gronk, Lloyd, and Branch. The first couple weeks of the season are always flukey.

I think that Brady with Ridley (yes, Ridley), Edelman, Thompkins, Boyce, Dobson and whoever else they throw in there are good enough to put more points on the board than Geno Smith and the Jets offense IF the Patriots defense comes to play like an experienced veteran defense loaded with high-round draft picks should play in this situation.

For the offense, this will be nothing but a positive learning experience whether they win or lose. The young receivers will be thrown into the fire against a Jets defense that knows how to give Brady problems. 

For the defense, it’s time to live up to what we talked about all offseason.

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The Patriots were in their nickel defense for every snap but two in the game, a result of the Bills playing almost the entire game out of their three-wide package. The lone snaps the Patriots were in their base defense came on the Bills’ fifth drive, which brought linebacker Jamie Collins on the field for his lone two snaps of the day (he is the top backup and was tapped with Brandon Spikes off for dehydration issues).

Defensive snaps: DL rotation in focus – New England Patriots Blog – ESPN Boston

https://www.patspropaganda.com/the-patriots-were-in-their-nickel-defense-for/

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I do not feel the safety was slow getting over. It appeared to me, watching the replay and the tape of the game this morning, it looked like Steve Gregory was helping on the tight end. Before the play, Gregory communicates to Hightower, who was covering the tight end. That’s why I thought Gregory was helping Hightower over the top, and I say that because the easiest throw in the red area is to the tight end in the middle of the field. The lower percentage throws are deep to the outside. You notice something else before the play, Talib is attempting to communicate with Arrington (the inside corner). The Bills are in a bunch formation, which means three receivers within a close proximity of each other. This can cause traffic problems and stresses propoer communication. As the play develops, Stevie Johnson breaks to the flat. Both Arrington and Talib sit on it (attempting to defend it). That’s where the breakdown occurred. One of them was supposed to have the 7 route to Woods, and the other was supposed to play deep to short on the flat route. You never want to have two defenders focused on a flat route when you have a receiver going deep and outside (the 7 route). Especially in the red area.

Chat: Chat with Tedy Bruschi – SportsNation – ESPN Boston

Good breakdown from Tedy on what happened on the Woods touchdown.

https://www.patspropaganda.com/i-do-not-feel-the-safety-was-slow-getting-over-it/