Fencer

Defensive snapshot - Reiss' Pieces - Boston.com
OLB Mike Vrabel -- 77 of 77
S James Sanders -- 77 of 77
S Brandon Meriweather -- 77 of 77
CB Ellis Hobbs -- 75 of 77
ILB Jerod Mayo -- 73 of 77
OLB Pierre Woods -- 72 of 77
CB Deltha O'Neal -- 71 of 77
DL Richard Seymour -- 66 of 77
LB Tedy Bruschi -- 55 of 77


No wonder guys were gassed.

I also don't know what much can be done about it, given the injury situation.

Grinding the clock with ball control -- which at least somewhat reduces the total number of defensive plays -- just isn't the right choice against every team.

Tunescribe

Man, 77 plays is a lot of plays to play. And Hobbs played special teams too.

BelizePats

This my friend is a very good observation that I've not heard anyone else mention.
That's a lot of snaps for most of our starters.

Deus Irae

Try getting this point across to the "Blame the defense!" crowd.



Good luck.

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PrairiePat

Very revealing stats.

Mack Herron

Yes, I guess that explains why the Jets marched up and donw the field all first half.

Deus Irae

Apparently I needed to refer specifically to the thread I was talking about....

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"The object in life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane."
- Marcus Aurelius

Urgent

Yes, a revealing stat. Great point.

However, the defense clearly was much better in the second half than the first half.

The Jets scored, with apparent ease, on their first four possessions. Boom, boom, boom, 24 points in their first four possessions (three if you throw out the run-back).

Then the defense tightened up a bit.

As noted in another thread, it also puts Mayo's amazing 20 tackle night in perspective. 20 tackles is not quite as impressive when the team generated 112. It means they didn't make many stops. The Jets converted nine third downs, compared to the Pats four. Yikes.

The other thing to note is the depth. Take out Warren, Harrison, and Thomas, and guys like Wright, Green, Meriweather, and Woods, who would normally be subbing in for 20 or so of those plays, are playing full time. Take out Wheatley and Sanders, and Hobbs and O'Neal are stuck on the field all game.

So, who are you going to sub for Vrabel or Woods, especially on a short week?
Who are you going to sub for Sanders, with Ventrone injured on the first play?
Who are you going to sub for Hobbs, with Wheatley and Sanders injured?

Add together the injuries, the short week to prepare back-ups, and the inability to get off the field causing long drives, and you've got the context.

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BelichickFan

As has been said, this is the second level of the problems caused by the injuries. Woods used to rotate in. Meriweather used to rotate in. Now they're full time and the guys they used to give breaks to are full time. Probably especially tough on a short week.

captain stone

And those #s underscore the fact that we can no longer afford to employ ST-only "mavens", e.g.: Izzo, Alexander, Slater, Spann, Bubba. We need defensive players who can actually, you know, play defense.

The FO needs to make desicions on Alexander & Lew Sanders: neither of them are worthy of being carried on the 53 if they can't contribute next week @ Miami. If they can't be activated by then, then injury-settle their azzes, send them packing, and sign 2 healthy bodies, one of whom must be an OLB; the other either a SS or a CB.

These issues must be addressed by next Sunday, because if they lose their next game, their season is over, period.

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