An Independent Patriots Blog
“I’m ready for contact,“ Bodden told the Boston Herald. "No red jersey. I don’t plan on wearing that when I get there. I’m definitely ready. I’ve been working out. I feel great. I’m just ready to play.”
https://www.patspropaganda.com/im-ready-for-contact-bodden-told-the-boston/
I feel like teams that have been together, that have veteran leadership and have veteran players, that have been there and know how to work (will have an advantage),” Bodden said. “I’m sure a coach like Bill (Belichick), is prepared for this lockout and knows what he wants to do when he gets there. He’ll have us on the same page working like we never missed a beat.
https://www.patspropaganda.com/i-feel-like-teams-that-have-been-together-that/
Great stuff from Zone Coverage…
Today’s Patriot video features the first defensive player, #23 Cornerback Leigh Bodden. Bodden has been in the league for a number of years, but sat out 2010 with a shoulder injury, after a 2009 season where he finished in the top 10 players in the league for pass deflections.
This highlights package begins with a set of Sanchez overthrows, followed by a perfect toe-dragging catch at 0.40. Also, the way he comes back to attack the ball underneath at the 2-minute is textbook man coverage. Breaking up a Peyton Manning slant route is no mean feat either. I’m excited to have Bodden back for the 2011 season!
https://www.patspropaganda.com/great-stuff-from-zone-coverage-zone-coverage/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mY0mqoozAPo
Patriots Leigh Bodden Highlights
One of the biggest questions for 2011 will be can Bodden return to his ‘09 form after injury. Considering it was a shoulder and not a knee/hip I’m feeling pretty positive about the situation.
https://www.patspropaganda.com/patriots-leigh-bodden-highlights-one-of-the/
When the New England Patriots training camp opened in July of 2010 both Ty Warren and Leigh Bodden were penciled in to make major impacts on a defense that was just beginning a major rebuild.
Both were lost for the season shortly thereafter, and things looked pretty bleak in terms of replacing either of them. Warren was the only truly experienced defensive end in the Patriots system, and Bodden was the team’s best cornerback having just signed a new contract with the Pats worth $22 million over 4 years, with $10 million guaranteed.
Most teams that lose their best cornerback and their best defensive end would be majorly screwed, especially when they’re forced to go with the most inexperienced secondary in the NFL. But of course the Pats just do what they do and kept on winning.
So now on paper it would seem like the Patriots would receive a major boost by getting these two players back, but strangely there’s a sense of pessimism surrounding both.
Just today ProFootballTalk, the bastion of credible journalism, had this to say about Warren:
There has been some speculation that Ty Warren could be on the roster bubble as well if he doesn’t have a strong training camp.
Warren just turned 30 this month, and while he was battling injuries in 2008 and 2009 as well, I think it’s a stretch to think he’s over the hill as a player. A year away from the pounding of the NFL could be just what Warren needs to return to the force he was when he was healthy.
There’s no question that the pressure is on Warren to prove he deserved the five year extension he signed in 2007 with $18 million guaranteed, but given the Patriots depth along the defensive line I’d consider it an extreme long shot for him to be cut.
It’s even harder to project him being cut when you consider there’s no sense of what the salary cap will be once a new CBA is hammered out. Regardless the Patriots are loaded with cap friendly draftees, so I don’t see his $3.1 million cap hit to be a major issue.
As for Bodden it’s not like the guy is coming off major knee surgery or anything. And just today he said:
“The rehab is great, my arm feels great,” Bodden told hosts Bob Papa and Ross Tucker. “I was thinking to myself the other day, ‘Man, I’m ready for some action. I’m ready to play.‘”
So on that front I don’t see how we don’t immediately pencil in Bodden as starting RCB across from McCourty. Of course Kyle Arrington emerged as a viable option and should not be written off if Bodden has lost anything.
Both players will be rusty but color me still extremely optimistic that their return will have major impacts both on and off the field.
Pretty safe to say this this was a defining moment of the 2010 Patriots season, despite everyone (including my boo Mayock!?!?!?!) thinking he was just going to be playing special teams.
The thought of a McCourty and Leigh Bodden tandem in 2011 is pretty tantalizing, but it will raise the biggest question in my mind of the 2010 offseason and that is how Kyle Arrington will be used assuming Bodden returns to 100%.
Jonathan Wilhite had been a decent nickel corner this year before going down, but I think Arrington could be even better. His skills as a blitzer have already been noted this year, and his physicality would certainly help discourage runs against their nickel defense. Of course there is still much to play out before we get into all this offseason team building stuff, so we’ll save this analysis for the coming months.
But let’s look forward to a long career for McCourty of doing real life versions of stuff like this:
Side note: have you ever noticed tons of people put games of Madden on YouTube? Like full games. Who has the time or the interest to watch someone else’s Madden game?
Well it’s been a hectic few hours since news broke that Leigh Bodden was out for the season with a torn rotator cuff. Seems like I’m one of the few Pats fans who aren’t suicidal about it.
There’s no doubt that they Patriots would be a better team in 2010 if Leigh Bodden and Ty Warren were playing. But they’re not, so we have to get over it and look at the bright side.
What’s the bright side you ask? Well, here’s a newsflash, the Patriots did not have a Super Bowl caliber defense with Bodden and Warren and they still aren’t one now. They’re young and unproven, and will be greatly inconsistent at times this year.
The bright side is that their talented young players are going to get a lot of experience this year. And who knows, maybe with more experience Devin McCourty or Darius Butler will prove to be better than Bodden.
Either way, the Patriots are still in the early stages of rebuilding their championship defense and injuries can do nothing but expedite the growth of their youngsters. It’s not ideal, but when you think of the 2011 Pats with Bodden and Warren back, along with then experienced veterans Ron Brace, Devin McCourty, and Darius Butler, things will be looking even brighter.
Adjust your expectations. This is a young defense, but luckily the offensive Patriots are still going to be elite, and as has been proven over and over again you really only need one elite group to win a Super Bowl. You just have to all peak at the right time.
Here’s a graph of the playing time for the defensive backs. As you can see McCourty has been 100% across the board. Meriweather is spiking back up towards 90% playtime as of late. Sorry it’s a little hard to clearly read, I’ll be experimenting to see if there’s a better graph that makes it easier.