Froob

I too, would be shocked if Gregory was cut. He was really solid. But, I'd rather have someone better out there. Definitely keep Gregory for depth.

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Deus Irae

The linebackers would be better served by the team using more of a traditional 3-4 base. Spikes is horrible in coverage, and Mayo is little better than average. Hightower's coverage skills will likely still improve a bit, but he's not much better than Spikes at the moment.

Someone (Sicilian) mentioned the safeties, and that brings up an excellent point. McCourty is better at safety than he was at corner, but he's still learning the position, and he's not instinctive enough to be really solid at the job yet. Gregory doesn't belong higher than S3, and he's probably not really much more than an S4. He's slow in his reactions, doesn't tackle particularly well, and he takes some really horrific angles. That's not really a recipe for a quality safety.

Draft another S, switch back to a more traditional 3-4, and you'll see the center of the field defended much better, IMO. The question then would be whether or not the D-line could handle the job. I'm not sure the team has the 3-4 DEs needed.

Just my $.02

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Sicilian

It's an interesting point and would make sense to me. It's just logical that it's easier to cover the middle of the field when you've got the extra linebacker out there rather than a defensive lineman. It also allows you to disguise your coverages better, because you never know who the extra rusher or extra drop-back could be from your front seven.

Obviously Wilfork is fine in either 4-3 or 3-4 sets, but the next guys I see that seem to the have the playstyle are Deaderick and Love, who are both serviceable players but not good enough IMO for that kind of assignment. It also brings up the question, where would Chandler Jones fit in that scheme? I'm not sure he's got the size to play 3-4 defensive end, but I don't really see him as a 3-4 OLB either. He would have to adapt to one of those two positions, or be relegated to a pass rush specialist (and I think he has the talent to be more than that).

Sciz

How does going to a 3-4 help the LB coverage issues? I'm not seeing anything in the 3-4 that they can't do from the 4-3, and unless Jones is playing 3-4 DE, then it's taking speed off the field.

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borg

Someone asked Reiss during a recent chat if Fletcher's return would solve some of the Pats LB coverage issues, And Reiss' response was Fletcher was never really in the mix to begin with

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Get it shawtaay

In general it seems the readers of this board overstate the struggles of some of the New England defensive backs. Steve Gregory is bad, but most defensive backs in the NFL are bad.

Anyway, I just looked it up. Even if Gregory is passed by a veteran and Tavon Wilson on the depth chart, 1.5 of his 2 million in 2013 is guaranteed, so cutting him wouldn't do the team much good.

GoWhalers

I think posters here are right on regarding safety play influencing the perceived performance of the linebackers group. I thought the linebackers looked pretty decent in coverage against the Ravens.

The safety strategies employed this season seemed very ineffective -- unable to provide help on outside long balls, big gaps in zone coverages, etc. It seemed like the safety play was seldom able to force the opposing offense into trying to attack the Patriot's areas of defensive strength.

I'm completely unqualified to determine if this was due to intentional schemes or to players' (in)abilities, but I suspect it was a combination of both.

aluminum seats

I think just for the simple reason that if there's 4 guys they'll have less space to cover per man.

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aluminum seats

I like Spikes a lot, and agree that he brings a thumping quality that the Pats overall seem to lack a bit.

The thought behind even throwing the possibility out there was that maybe there's some redundancy with his skills and Hightowers, and Hightower may have more upside. (Also, trying for a thought on a trade that isn't the typical fan suggestion of trading a bunch of what you don't want anyway for something great, which is always annoying.)

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Sciz

That's what I was assuming, but I don't think it's a very good reason. If Belichick really wanted to drop 4 guys into underneath coverage, then he could just drop a DE. Both Ninkovich and Jones did this at times. And if the Pats were go drop all four of their 3-4 LBs into coverage, that'd leave just the three big DLs rushing the passer, which seems like a less than ideal situation.

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