Quote:
Originally Posted by PATRIOTSFANINPA
You can say that Seymour was playing hurt or whatever but after checking on the past 3 seasons playoffs games it shows that our defensive line has been dominated by the opponents offensive line for most of the total of 7 playoff games from 2005 to 2007 or simply our front 3 has not been focused or played with more emotion during the 2 or 3 games per playoff year which definately killed our defense,put more pressure on the secondary and helped the result of early exits or a loss somewhere in the playoff games over the past 3 campaigns.
Totals from the 2005-2006-2007 seasons with players Vince Wilfork,Ty Warren and Richard Seymour.......
These are totals from all 3 starters...
4 Sacks
102 Tackles
0 Interceptions
0 Forced Fumbles
Thats approximately 1.3 sacks per player for all 7 playoff games and only an average of approximately 4.4 tackles per game per front 3
Those kind of stats from your most important part of the defense are not the type of stats in playoffs that produces championships too often,Very little pressure on the opposing QBs in 7 games.
Sure these guys did fine against the run for most of the time but NO major pressure,sacks or forced throws for the opposing QB which is apparent with those numbers I have above.
Without going back to the 2001,2003,2004 seasons our front 3 I am sure were much more dominating.
Somewhere the team needs to address intensity in the playoffs for these front 3 - We know they have the talent but have been dissapearing like Houdini since the 2005 season
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I dont think in our defensive scheme sacks by the down 3 is a good measurement. That is not their primary function. They are there to stop the run.
I think the weakness is in our defense when ahead, or in 2 minute drills.
In the last 3 playoff losses:
1) Denver won the game in the last 2 minutes of the first half.
2) Indy came back from a huge deficit by throwing a lot against a D trying to take away the pass.
3) The Giants drove over 80 yards in a 2 minute drill. We could not stop a pass only offense at the most critical time.
Where the blame lies is the question. I saw some but not enough pass rush. I saw some but not enough tight coverage from the corners. I was LBs and Safeties in the area but not covering tightly.
The difference to me between 01,03,04 (esp 03-04) and since is that defensively when we needed a stop, we got it then, but lately do not. The close games we played this season had these trends in them, but we overcame them. Sunday and the last 2 other playoff defeats we did not.
I thought it was very appropriate the way this season went that the Championship came down to our defense stopping the Giants from going most of the length of the field in the final 2+ minutes. This was the question mark that was left from 18-0. As it turned out we werent up to that challenge.
The Patriots front 3 in the past 3 playoff seasons - Below average efforts
Linear Mode
