FrontSeven

I thought it was good of Dean Peas to straighten us out about what is going on with Hobbs. I have been holding off on Hobbs in hopes that something like that was his problem (actually not his problem). Sometimes those DBs look responsible on TV or to the average fan (me), but they aren't really responsible. This is life in the fast lane of zone coverage I guess.

That's the good news. I'd say that the bad news is that *somebody* screws up in that scheme often enough to make our pass defense less-than-stellar against guys like Kyle Boller and the other Manning. Peas did not mention that but he alluded to it just by talking about the Hobbs situation. If the play is busted, it's busted. Why do they get busted so often?

I don't know what to conclude about this except that it's probably been the weak point in our defenses for years. I recall that in 2002 we had big trouble stopping the run, but after we got the nose tackle situation under control we never really had much trouble versus the run. But trouble against the pass seems to be our weak point for a long time. Look at the three SBs and you do see a lot of passing yardage allowed, and even a lot of long TD catches. I don't care about the rankings for the league, and that we don't rank at the bottom, etc. I only care about how offenses prefer to exploit us, and it's usually by air. The Browns did a number on them. The Eagles did a number on them. The Colts didn't this time but they were missing major chess pieces.

I think every team has such weaknesses in pass coverage though. Look what Brady did to the Redskins, who were reputed to have an excellent pass defense. Pass defense is not a perfect science - that is my conclusion. You have to give up yards on pass defense at some point. We certainly do.

That's what I see as the good news and bad news about Peas' message. Given that our red zone defense seems to be improved, I certainly don't rate our pass defense as "lunchmeat" by any stretch. I do expect teams to pick on that zone though, and go right down the field on them at times. It's not going to be an easy three games to glory. Nothing new there. If it's not easy for us, though, think about how hard it's going to be for Indy or the Cowboys.

In the end we have the offensive horsepower, but I'm expecting more shootouts than I thought we'd have after picking up Adalius. There is a vulnerability that that we have not solved yet. I suppose it's possible that we'll solve it too. One thing they are good at is adjustments, and they may be getting something new installed as we speak.

fair catch fryar

I'm a homer and I wear "kool-aid" glasses, but I am inclined to believe that this defense will not lie down in the play-offs. BB built this team in response to 2nd half collapse in the AFC title game last year. Our offense will be able to outscore anyone and the D will have more time on the sidelines.

BrianPat

Let's remember what's happened, last year, we took control of the game early, only to lose control towards the end. This year, we did a flip flop and fell behind only to outlast/play the Colts in the end to win the game. I think we're doing ok.

kriskanos

We must crush them!

AndyJohnson

I dont know what you have been watching. In 2003 we had one of the best pass defenses in NFL history. In 2005 we were awful. All other years in between including this one we have been very good.

You have a few curious comments in your post.
"I dont care about rankings"
"Every team has weak pass coverage"
"I only care about how offenses prefer to exploit us, and it's usually by air."

Well, NFL teams choose to throw more than run. Passing yardage in the league more than doubles rushing yards.
This is one of those things that I have a pet peeve with. There are over 100,000 passing yards in the NFL in a season. People expect us to never allow any. This post seems to think that if you arent a HOF QB you shouldn't complete a pass against us.
If you think every team sucks vs the pass, and dont care if we are ranked first or last, then why not just say, "Wow the NFL is a passing league, I hope we do well vs the pass"

stinkypete

This isn't the 1980's. No team is ever going to rank in the top 5 in every aspect of their game again. Look at our Super Bowl teams. The 2001 team had, by most standards, a sup-par passing game (did Bledsoe/Brady crack 3000 yards?). The 2003 team ranked near the bottom in rushing. The 2004 team gave up big passing numbers throughout the season. I think it is a little nit-picky to talk about the passing game as a true weakness.

Look around the league. How many teams are able to consistently shut down opposing QBs? Our pass defense still ranks in the upper tier of the league, even if we give up the occasional bad game (and who doesn't now and then).

Is also should be considered that, starting with the Philly game, teams have gone balls out passing against us. The supposed "blueprint" is throw the ball, take risks, and hope to jump to an early lead. This surely affects our defensive passing numbers.

AndyJohnson

Our pass defense rankings are:

Total Pass D #6
Comp % #12
YPA #6
Sacks #2
QB rating against #11
20+ plays #3 tied
40+ plays #4 tied

All this when half of our games were blowouts and teams were throwing against prevent defenses.

Our pass defense is fantastic.

oldskool138

It's "Pees" not "Peas".

__________________
You can't be two feet tall and expect to take over the world...unless you're Doug Flutie. -MST3K
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.


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

FrontSeven

Right, rankings (stats) do not tell a whole and complete story.

I am aware that points allowed is still low compared to other teams, and that is one stat I do think mitigates the problems we seem to have between the
20s.

I meant to write "has a weakness in".

Yes, there is a trend in the NFL to go to the air a lot more than the old days. That doesn't answer the question as to how an AJ Feeley can run up and down the field on us all night. Some of that success is inevitable because of sheer volume of passes, but you can't account for his huge success in Foxboro with that excuse. He exploited us underneath and down the seam by design, and that is just an unfortunate fact.

FrontSeven

At this point if you are an opposing OC what are you looking at as the best opportunity for you to tool our defense? Run at them? I think not.

Also there are long stretches (like against the Giants) when we don't get sufficient pressure on the QB. This makes it harder for the DBs. Belichick himself was caught on audio complaining about the lack of pressure on Manning the other night. It's not my idea that somebody wants to see it get better.

Am I apolplectic about it? Hardly. Don't forget my post was about the Pees interview and his comments about Hobbs. My intent was to point out that there were catastrophic breakdowns back there, as well as to point out that Hobbs was not necessarily the one to cause them. My point was to acknowledge the breakdowns.

Are the breakdowns acceptable? Answering that is a mere opinion. In my opinion they are probably acceptable in the overall picture. I doubt that they are acceptable on Tuesdays in the film room though. Let's face it, pointing out what is wrong is the first step in fixing something. If you can't even admit that you have a problem how can you fix it?