Joker

Gotta disagree...I saw basic rush four there at the end..the last play was a three man rush

KontradictioN

Wasn't talking about the last play of the game specifically. The last couple of plays saw a mix of a three to four man front and extra rushers being used. The point being that, even when we used extra rushers, it was still getting picked up and/or exploited.

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CREDIT - Sicilian

hambone1818

It's been mentioned off and on for a few years now but it really seems like Belichick and the defense have a real tough time with younger QB's who they haven't faced before. We saw it against Bradford in the preseason and to a lesser degree against McCoy and the Browns, then of course last night. Going back to '09 there was Trent Edwards in week 1, Flacco laid down 264 and 2 TD's in week 4, Orton torched them in week 5 in his first appearance against them, and then Chad Henne with 335 yards and 2 TD's in week 13.

When thinking about this I go back to Ted Williams, who prepared endlessly to find weaknesses in pitchers and said that rookie/inexperienced pitchers gave him the most trouble because he just didn't have a book on them. Knowing how tirelessly Belichick works on exposing weaknesses and minimizing QB's strength's, how much do you feel this 'unseen QB' effect has on his preparation? With a defense that's still very much learning on the fly I think it's even more dramatic an effect because he has to cover up their weaknesses as well.

The positive in all this? The potential opposing QB's in the playoffs include Manning, Roethlisberger, Sanchez, Cassel, Rivers, Flacco and Garrard, all of whom Belichick and the Patriots have faced at least twice.

Synovia

It is my opinion that the Patriots do more film study/preplanning than any other team in the NFL, and that facing QBs who don't have any tape on them causes them to fall into some really conservative defenses.


It was really clear watching the game last night that Flynn can't handle pressure at all, and yet it took the Patriots 45 minutes to really figure that out.

I think the read-and-react defense that the patriots like to play allows young QB too much time to think, when usually the biggest issue with young QBs is that they can't make decisions fast enough.

SVN

every game is different. flynn hardly had 3 passes more than 10 yards. the problem was we couldnt stop the run. if we had our full Dline and put the packers in 3rd and long with blitzes who knows what could have happened. Iam personally taking this game with a grain of salt on the D because of the really depleted Dline.

AndyJohnson

Thats because fans expect young or backup QBs to go 4-32 with 3 Ints.
YOung and backup QBs can be effective. They can especially be effective TO AN EXTENT against a defense that is conservative like ours
However, if you look at the record, we lose to young or inexperienced QBs a lot less than anyone else does.
This is one of the differences between our D and an aggressive D, the kind people routinely clamor for.
An aggressive D will kill terrible teams. We beat them whether we kill them or not.
An aggressive D will not do as well against good teams.
If you want to win by more points against bad teams, but win less ofen against good teams, then you should continue to complain about the statistics that teams we beat accumulate during their loss.

SpiderFox53

Bravo, sir, bravo.

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IcyPatriot

The way I see it is they are confused to begin with.

So Belichick tries to confuse them but they don't realize what he's confusing them with. They stay with their #1 or #2 option regardless of what the defense is dictating or trying to confuse them with.

Fencer

BB's view evidently is:

• A simple offense should work most of the time even against a good defense.
• However, when gains are short and drives are long, "most" often isn't good enough.
• Also, as the field shortens, the advantage switches toward the defense.

Brady, of course, takes "most of the time" to yet another level, which is why his drives succeed more often than other QBs' do. This is especially the case when he has possession-oriented receivers.

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Lloyd_Christmas

I agree. I was thinking the same thing about them exploiting the short middle area of our defense.

There have been a few games this year where teams have had a lot of success in that part of the field against us.

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"My name is William Stephen Belichick, Coach of the New England Patriots, Three Time Super Bowl Champion, Defensive Guru, Pride of Karlovac, The Greatest Coach in the History of the NFL Since Vince Lombardi. Target of the spygate lynching, Defender of our Dynasty's legacy. And I will have my vengeance, in this game and the rest."