VJCPatriot

In my opinion the Pats are the team to beat in the AFC East this season. Here's a summary of what they've done thus far.

1. New England Patriots

Key departures:
Front office - Scott Pioli. OC - Josh McDaniels.
Players - Matt Cassel QB, Ellis Hobbs CB, Deltha O'Neal CB, Rodney Harrison S, Mike Vrabel OLB, Jabar Gaffney WR, Kelly Washington WR, Lamont Jordan RB, Paxton LS

Key additions:
Free agents - Fred Taylor RB, Shawn Springs CB, Leigh Bodden CB, Chris Baker TE, Joey Galloway WR, McGowan S
Trades - Greg Lewis WR, Alex Smith TE
Draft - Patrick Chung SS, Ron Brace NT, Darius Butler CB, Vollmer OT, Brandon Tate WR, Tyrone McKenzie ILB, Ingram LS

Returning Player:
Tom Brady QB

Analysis:
The Patriots improve immediately at the most important position in the game, QB. Brady had a record breaking performance in 2007. Not only does the offense retain Moss and Welker, but it got rid of Gaffney and Washington in favor of veteran deep threat Galloway and a talented rookie Tate who is a threat both in the kick return game and the receiving game. Fred Taylor easily is an upgrade over Jordan and improves on the Pats already solid RB stable.

The Pats completely overhauled their secondary, getting rid of last year's failures and replacing them with veterans Springs and Bodden while adding a promising pair of rookies in Butler and Chung. The defensive line gains additional depth and bulk in the form of rookie Ron Brace and McKenzie looks to add young depth at the ILB position. The only position that hasn't been addressed is OLB. On both sides of the ball, the Pats look to have one of the deepest teams in the league save for that position.

Prediction:
The Patriots should finish with 13 wins or better in the regular season which should be good enough to earn a playoff bye and win the AFC East. Look for the Pats loaded offense to score a lot of points and the upgraded defense to give up less points and show marked improvement on passing third downs.

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RayClay

They look deep at every position. Will they be the first team to primarily employ a 4-2-5 defense?

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VJCPatriot

The Magic 8 ball says that outcome is doubtful. However they might mix in that formation to confuse the offense and/or to stuff the run in certain situations.

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Feep50

New England has a football team? Since 2000 I've had it confused with a Juggernaut! I may never recover from the lost Perfect Season.....

JSn

Would that Warren, Brace, Wilfork, Seymour?

That would pretty much make every down a passing down, no? Who in their right mind would run at that? hehe

Dang.

I do think the 4 3 4 and 4 2 5 will turn up (and in the "5" I'm picturing Tank or Chung roaming around looking for blood at the line).

Still, the 3-4 with our power d-line is our best hope to keep the QB's we're facing under control this year - there's a bunch of good one's. BUT, the 4-3 and 4-2.5 might be nice against the Fishies. For my money Penny's the scariest QB we face in the division.

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RayClay

Well, if it wasn't sarcasm, it would be Warren Seymour Brace and Wilfork alternating the 2DT and one DE spots while Jarvis and Crable alternated at Rush end.

The rest of our rush would come from the extra safety.

I haven't figured out exactly what the 2 linebackers and their 87 free agent backups will do. It's a work in progress.

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JSn

Honestly, I don't totally know how a 4-3 works, I just assumed it could be built from our leading DL/DT guys. Not so?

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Patriotic Fervor

That would be interesting, no?

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....and that's the way I see it!

ALP

where did kelley go?

and i dont believe the name deltha o'neal should be under the heading of "key departures"........

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Last time I lived in New England the Pats became a Dynasty

Then I moved away and they haven't won since

...now I'm moving back, and a Lombardi I predict

mgteich

The normal 4-3 gives the ends pass-rush responsibility. It is less effective against the run since only two linemen have primary run responsibility. In a 3-4, all three linemen have fun responsibility. The patriots use a base 3-4 and have been very effective against the run, and have not had as effective a passrush.

Of course, we use a four man line in pass situations, along with 2 linebackers and 5 defensive backs. This 4-2-5 is sometimes call a nickel package, a big nickel if three safeties are used instead of the normal three corners.

The open question is why we think our passrush will be better this year than in the last two years.