ausbacker

It's funny how the front 7 were our strength and now it's becoming our secondary. If we can get some beast linebackers who can rush the passer and collapse the pocket, we're looking at a top 3 defense in the next few seasons.

tedylb

Great commentary, as usual, by Ken & the others. I do think there's some nitpicking on Brady. His timing may be a little off, but his is pocket presence is damn good. The Bucs pass rush wasn't bad, causing a few hurries, and only 1 sack (partially due to pretty good pass blocking).

And can we argue, for the season, with 15 passing TD' s, 4 picks & a QB rating of 99.9 in 273 attempts? And yesterday he completed 73%.

Box_O_Rocks

I was waiting for the drugs to kick in this early a.m. and noted thoughts on individual plays as they got my attention.

14:19 1st Qtr, 2nd and 8: Bucs run Williams up the middle for a first down.
Analysis: NE was in a 2-5 Nickel, "5" because McGowan was playing on the line outside Burgess who I'm also counting as a LB, but Burgess was down in a three-point stance. Warren slid over the Center and Wilfork was lined up as a 5-Tech over the LT. It's clear the Pats were playing pass and wanted a "speed" team on the field to contain the Buc's QB. Chung with an assist from Guyton. 9 yds.

13:42 1Q, 1st and 10: Pass to Winslow in the left flat, pushed oob by McGowan.
Analysis: This is the third play of the Bucs first drive and NE is again playing pass with a 4-2 Nickel. McGowan is man on Winslow, looks like a man-under, Cover Two with Guyton and Mayo spying the QB from shallow zones.

The Pats stay in the 4-2N and stuff the run on the next play.

For Meriweather's pick-6 the Pats were in the 1-4 Dime with Pryor on nose and TBC/Burgess as DEs. They blitzed Wilhite from the slot with Meriweather playing a loose man over the slot WR, which had the Buc's rookie QB automatically going to the blitzer's side without seeing the trap. He failed to read Meriweather creeping up before the snap to cover Wilhite's man, reading Bodden it looks like the Pats went to a Cover Three...either that or Bodden just let his man go after reading the QB's eyes.

Sanders has looked good on the first two KRs.

Jarvis Green got his butt handed to him on the first snap of the second Buc's drive, this allowed Williams to sail through the left side for a first down run.

I'll tell you right now NE is not playing the run, they are daring the Bucs to run on them. 11:05 1Q, 2nd and 10: Pass to Williams running a wheel route for a 1st down. NE was in a 4-2N and blitzed Guyton while Mayo spied leaving no one to cover the RB. Nice hold to keep Guyton from the sack - it really was a nice sneaky grab, jerk, and release that went too fast for the ref to see from his angle.

SF really missed out on how to use TBC, putzs.

Pat's second offensive snap is a run to the right side, two TE's over there but Baker was driven back into the backfield disrupting the play.

Adalius is primarily playing back on the defensive right side so far, that was his position last year.

5:58 1Q, 2nd and 23: Bucs run a nice draw against a 3-4 front. Pryor is in at NT and doesn't force a double-team, which allows the Guards to stone Guyton and Mayo. TBC with a nice play to shed the TE before getting inside to make the tackle.

Okay, that's as far as I got before I fell asleep...

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Spiral

I thought Pryor played an excellent game. He was getting some good push up the middle on pass plays, and just missed a couple of sacks. He looks like a steal.

oldskool138

Well, Butler didn't even turn his head or raise his arms or anything to deflect or otherwise disrupt that play. It was embarrassing. I mean, when the guy you're covering looks back for the ball at least attempt to look at what he's looking at.

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"You're all a bunch yahoos, hero worshipers and gutless suck-ups." - Tony Massarotti

Rob0729

This is more perception than reality. Right now the Pats have 6 players with more than 12 catches through 7 games. That means if this is held to form, they will have 6 players with 28 or more catches by the end of the season. In 2007, there were also 6 players with 28 or more catches. In 2006, there were 4. In 2005, there were 5. In 2004, there were 5. Granted this trend isn't likely to hold up since both Morris and Edelman are out for potentially extended periods of time.

Yesterday, 6 different receivers caught balls from Brady and all but one caught two or more balls. Against Tennessee, 9 different receivers caught balls.

Welker is on pace for 105 receptions for the season which would be his Patriots lowest granted he missed two games which would make it on track for his Patriots career average. Moss is on track for 98 receptions which would match his 2007 total.

I don't see Brady being any different than in 2007 in terms of how much he relies on Moss and Welker. The biggest difference is that when he threw to Moss in triple coverage in 2007, Moss was more likely to come down with the ball than he has thus far this year. That is part on Brady and part on Moss (Moss has dropped several passes that he would have definitely made in 2007).

patfanken

Well thanks for the feed back. As you might guess, most of my thoughts are based on "impressions" rather than stats. I "sort of" feel better, but STILL.....I can't seem to shake that "impression" that Brady is focusing too much on just 2 of his options....and the league knows it. I'd really like to see Watson and Moroney figure more into the passing game.

patfanken

Thanks Box, I hope you continue to give us more detailed analysis as this thread continues and you wake up. . I'd also like to know if you agree with me on the VASTLY improved speed of the secondary, especially in reacting to runs.

In regard to the secondary, I hope no on sleeps on Ron Springs. There WILL be match ups where he will be important. I really think that BB might be saving him for the long haul and limiting his snaps early on. The development of Butler, Wilhite, and Chung make that pretty easy to do.

Now if someone can figure out how to light a fire under Ron Brace, this draft will be a hundred percent home run.

JSn

Ron Springs must be a secret weapon in the mould of Julian Endelman and Vince Wilfolk. I keep hearing about these guys but have never seen them on the field.

The defense has a closing speed that allows the front to be a little less worried about the run, though that's still priority one. And as Pryor, Wright and Banta-Cain (who'd have EVER thought those would be your bigger names on D?) keep bringing the heat, along with Warren and Vince being great and even Burgess apparently making Bill happier than he makes PatsFans - yeah, this is becoming a playoff defense. The question is, can play settled down against Indy and New Orleans? I would say yes, we'll definitely be winning one of those games, maybe both.

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Rob0729

Brady focused on those two options in 2007 too and it didn't stop him. In 2007, Moss and Welker made up 52.7% of the receptions by Brady. This year, they make up 49.7% of the receptions for Brady.

Again, the only difference was several more of the balls Brady forced into Moss and Welker in 2007 were caught than this year. People forget all the times that Moss caught balls he should have never caught in double and triple coverage in 2007. There have been very few of those type of catches this year.