PatsPropaganda

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defense

Horton’s Patriots Plan | StarvingScout.com

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Horton’s Patriots Plan | StarvingScout.com

Nice breakdown from StarvingScout.com. The thing is that I find the Patriots base 4-3 defense to be somewhat similar to this package the Cardinals used in that it really relies on the two interior lineman a lot more than traditional 4-3’s. On any down Chandler Jones or Rob Ninkovich could stand up and effectively be a linebacker, though seeing both of them stand up hasn’t happened yet.

I also liked this bit from Dick Lebeau’s playbook naming their different packages.

Could Patriots make some defensive changes vs. Bills?

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One of the most interesting things about the Patriots defense three games into the 2012 season is how straight forward their personnel groupings have been. If you look back at the last couple years (2010, 2011) you’d find almost wholesale changes from week to week and even down to down.

But this year the Patriots have morphed into a lighter, nickel-front 4-3 base defense that is better equipped to defend the pass on all downs. The result is that while in 2010 and 2011 the Patriots were trending toward nearly two-thirds of the snaps in their sub-defense, this year the trend is going back down toward fifty percent (52.9).

Through three weeks we’ve seen minimal changes on defense. The only notable exception being Sterling Moore passing Ras-I Dowling on the depth chart at nickel corner. But outside of giving guys occasional rest what we’ve seen is:

Ninkovich-Wilfork-Love-Jones

Hightower-Spikes-Mayo

McCourty-Chung-Gregory-Arrington

In the nickel either Spikes or Hightower comes off and Moore comes on. In the dime Spikes, Hightower and Love are replaced by Moore, Tavon Wilson (money position), and Jermaine Cunningham (interior rusher). And that’s pretty much it.

As someone who has been tracking the Patriots defensive personnel and packages extensively over the past three seasons I can tell you it’s never been this straightforward and simple.

But Sunday night’s defensive performance was a nightmare, so could that prompt the first real significant changes to this simplified defensive approach? Unlike the Ravens, who like to take shots down the field, the Bills get the ball out in a hurry, so perhaps some tweaks are needed to better defend them.

Here are three possibilities as I see it:

1. Moore in for Arrington –  Arrington was picked on early and often against the Ravens and perhaps he would excel if he could just focus on nickel back duties. Moore has had a knack for making plays and seems to be on the rise since the start of season. Maybe it’s time to give him a shot at starting on the outside.

2. Tracy White in at nickel linebacker – Spikes and Hightower have been rotating at this spot, but both really struggled in coverage against the Ravens. This could be where the Pats miss Dane Fletcher the most, and an area where everyone assumed Bobby Carpenter was going to help out before he got cut. The Pats threw White into this spot in the Super Bowl, along with a couple other times late last season. He’s not ideal, but against the quick-throwing Bills he could have a quickness and experience edge that could helpful.

3. Newly-signed Terrell McClain in for Cunningham at interior rusher – The interior pass rush was a position we talked a lot about this off-season and Cunningham was somewhat of a surprise to win the spot. So far Cunningham has one sack, and no QB hits or pressures despite showing some flash in the preseason. Perhaps McClain, who is known to have some get-upfield burst and is a more traditional inside pass rush presence, should get a shot. Against the Bills the Patriots must cause some interior disruption even if they don’t get to the quarterback. If there’s one area we could see some changes this week I think this is it. Perhaps even Trevor Scott getting a chance, or Brandon Deaderick if he can get healthy.

Patriots Need To Ramp Up The Pass Rush Against Buffalo : Pats Pub

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Patriots Need To Ramp Up The Pass Rush Against Buffalo : Pats Pub

Dead on analysis from Steve Balestrieri about the pass rush. It’s funny, usually Pats fans love to complain about the pass rush and now when it really was a glaring problem I haven’t heard much about it.

The Bills offensive line has had a great start to the season, and the Pats defensive lines ability to get pressure might be the key factor starting between the 2-2 or (gasp) 1-3.

Young Patriots defense must learn to close out the close ones

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If Sunday night’s Patriots loss to the Ravens felt familiar there’s good reason. Since the start of the 2011 season the Patriots have been in 10 games that were decided by one score or less, and in those games their record is 4-6, with the majority of the six losses being decided on the final drive.

Here’s how those ten games break down:

Of the four wins, two should be credited to the Patriots offense. Against Dallas in 2011 Tom Brady led the offense on a touchdown drive that stole the game from the Cowboys, and against Miami the Pats offense was able to hold on to the ball long enough to run out the clock to seal a 27-24 win.

Of the other two wins both have credit going to special teams. I’d chalk the AFC Championship game to a failure by the other teams special teams, or at best a success of the Pats special teams. Either way, the Pats defense didn’t do much to stop the Ravens on the final possession, and had Sterling Moore not knocked the ball from Lee Evans’ grasp it would’ve been a decisive defensive failure.

The other win came against Indianapolis in 2011 and it was a Pats-recovered onside kick that preserved the tighter-than-it-should’ve-been victory over the Manning-less Colts.

That brings us to the six losses. One goes to special teams failure (missed field goal two weeks ago against the Cardinals) and one goes to offensive failure (a Patriots safety that killed any chance of a comeback against the Steelers in 2011).

But the other four of them were defensive failures on the final possession of the game, just like we saw Sunday night. And let’s remember the Patriots have only lost six games total since the start of the 2011 season. That’s right, four of the six came on what amounted to the final drive by the opposition.

In order they were:

2011:  Bills 34, Patriots 31 – Defense allows 17 points in the 4th quarter including an 8-play, 70-yard drive for the game winning field goal as time expires.

2011: Giants 24, Patriots 21 – Defense allows 14 points in the 4th quarter including a 9-play, 64-yard touchdown to effectively end the game.

Super Bowl 46: Giants 21, Patriots 17 – Defense allows a 9-play, 88-yard touchdown drive that left only 57 seconds on the clock, ultimately giving the Giants another Lombardi Trophy.

And finally our newest entry from last night…

2012: Ravens 31, Patriots 30 – Defense allows 10 points in the final 7 minutes, including an 8-play, 92 yard touchdown drive and a 7-play, 70-yard drive for the game winning field goal as time expired.

As you can see all four of these games feature frighteningly similar endings with the Pats defense allowing long drives late in the fourth quarter that sealed the loss. Of course the offense can shoulder some of the blame too, but as soon as the Patriots failed to convert their final third down against the Ravens, history made it pretty clear how the game was going to end.

If the Patriots are ever going to win another Super Bowl their defense is going to have to learn how to close out games again. We can only imagine what might’ve happened against the Eagles in Super Bowl 39 if it was our current defense out there. Instead of a Rodney Harrison interception we might be looking at Donovan McNabb raising the Lombardi.

What it comes down to is playmakers making plays when it’s all on the line. This is still a young defense and this is the final step in their maturation. As we saw on Sunday night they are so close. If McCourty or Arrington just holds on to one of those interceptions the Patriots likely win the game. They’re not far off, but the question is can they turn that last corner this season?

The only time in 2011 the Patriots defense got a stop when they needed one most was when Jerod Mayo intercepted Rex Grossman to seal a 34-27 win over the Redskins. And that was after the Redskins had drove 71 yards and looked poised to tie the game from the 9-yard line.

The last time before that the Patriots defense closed out a game was Peyton Manning’s final time facing the Pats as a Colt in 2010. Wow, it’s been a while.

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The Patriots gave up nine pass plays of 20 yards or more against the Ravens. Sound familiar? That’s because the Patriots gave up 79 of them in 2011, ranking No. 32 in the NFL. The nine they gave up against the Ravens skews the number a bit, but on their current pace of 14 through three games, the Patriots would finish with just under 75 pass plays of 20 or more yards allowed. As for the nine big pass plays which occurred last night, four of those came in the fourth quarter alone.

Nice read from Frenz that sums up the terrifying similarities to last year’s non-existant pass defense and the performance on Sunday night.

New England Patriots Must Improve Pass Rush in Order to Meet 2012 Expectations | Bleacher Report

https://www.patspropaganda.com/patriots-defense-pass/

Defensive snaps: No safety rotation – New England Patriots Blog – ESPN Boston

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Defensive snaps: No safety rotation – New England Patriots Blog – ESPN Boston

While the performance on the field looked pretty much like the same old sauce Patriots fans have come to expect in recent years from the defense the difference this year is there’s a core group of personnel now that doesn’t change much.

Part of the fun I’ve had in following the defense closely since 2007 were the whole sale substitutions that would take place from base defense to the sub packages. But now it’s the 4-3 with a lighter nickel front, and the transition to nickel and dime is as straight forward as you can get.

As we’ve pointed out, the concern is can they stop the run with that lighter 4-3 front? Last night not so much.