Fencer

1. BB's old 3-4 scheme is played out. As he observes, it's a passing league. Also, the advantages the scheme had in terms of availability of personnel are long gone, as many other teams pursue similar approaches.

2. BB has been drafting for speed for years -- really since after the Polian rule changes. This is a marked contrast to before, when he sacrificed speed to get everything else he wanted.

3. As per the frequently linked Grantland article, the Patriots evolved last year to a system that hybridized 1-gapping and 2-gapping on the same downs. This change was, IMO, predetermined the moment they acquired Haynesworth, a move that made no sense if they were going to play a purist 2-gap system.

4. The year ago offseason was BB's best chance for tinkering for years, given the labor strife and hence delay in teaching. More precisely, it was his best chance for thinking about how to tinker; implementing what he came up with was a whole other matter, given the compressed off-season time.

Now, however, he has a full off-season to teach.

5. BB is acting as his own DC, but it's not for in-game play-calling reasons.

6. The roster BB is putting together this offseason doesn't really make sense from a classic 2-gap 3-4 perspective: Who's the WOLB? Who are the two DEs?

7. The roster BB is putting together this offseason also doesn't make sense from a classic 1-gap 4-3 perspective: Wilfork would have to be retrained as a 1-gapper. Mayo would have to be the Will. Who exactly are the DEs, and how much confidence do we have in them?

8. BB has had huge success from time to time as a mad scientist, most dramatically by reintroducing the spread offense to the league, then pivoting to a 2-TE scheme.

Conclusion 1: BB is planning a seriously innovative scheme for the base defense.

9. BB has been very open that passing-down sub packages are even more important than the base defense now.

10. The Pats have been terrible defending passing downs in recent years.

Conclusion 2: BB is planning to shake up his passing-down schemes as well.

__________________
"To lose one parent may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose both looks like carelessness." -- Oscar Wilde

DarrylS

Have contended this for a while, BB is morphing a defense into something that defies traditional definition... lots of moving parts, that are interchangeable and will give offenses fits...

Huge infusion of youth, football smarts, speed and versatility in the past three years..

__________________
"Being the best doesn't mean you always win. It just means you win more than anyone else".. tweet from Kurt Warner to Tom Brady.

patsfan13

Bingo, we have BINGO!

BB is trying to figure out the next stage of D to stop the current O's under the Polian rules.

Also the flexibility to match up with any opponent and have the personal to play situational football in any situation.

Very exciting time.

__________________
"Some guys play in all-star games, some guys don't. I don't know who picks all those all-star teams. In all honesty, I don't know who picks the combine, for that matter," Belichick said. "How does (Miami-Ohio offensive lineman Brandon) Brooks not get invited to the combine? How did Vollmer not get invited to the combine? I don't know. We can't really worry about that. We just have to try to evaluate them the best we can."

SONS_OF_BELICHICK

Bring the house

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BradyManny

Great post.

The picks this year certainly signal a shift. We're no longer interested in traditional 34DEs who are stout against the run as a priority. We just took two guys who project more as 43DEs, but can also probably project to elephant (Jones) and OLB (Bequette). We took an LB who can play anywhere in any scheme (Hightower). But Belichick isn't worried about filling his traditional roles anymore.

He wants to kill the quarterback on 3rd down now. It's that simple. He never wants to see Eli Manning go the length of the field on this team to close a game with the ease in which he did this past February. That makes two of us.

fair catch fryar

I am an amateur at this and I find this very informative for me. Well done Fencer. Thanks.

fair catch fryar

Indeed! I'm praying that the stars align for this season and we see a defense for all time emerge. I do believe the best way to prolong Brady's career in NE and increasing the years of success that NE has had is by building the D.

Big-T

Could it be possible BB is planning his own version of the Giants "NASCAR package"?

So far he's brought in Trevor Scott and drafted Chandler Jones, Dont'a Hightower and Jake Bequette who all have played DE in some form (Hightower in nickel packages) add to this players already on the roster, there's a healthy dose of 4-3 defensive ends to pick from.

3rd & long, get 4 defensive ends on the field...not only does it improve the pass rush but it gives the likes of Wilfork & Deaderick more time to rest so they will be fresher in the 4th quarter.

Deus Irae

3-4 teams have won 5 of the last 10 Super Bowls.

3-4 teams have won 2 of the last 5 Super Bowls.

BB has been cracking out exotic defenses for decades.

BB has been using less base and more sub for years.

I don't really see much here which runs counter to that.


Time will tell, though.

__________________
"The object in life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane."
- Marcus Aurelius

Fencer

Thanks for the kind words!

Upon review, I have a specific idea for a scheme element -- double-SAM.

The idea is this:

• BB has always liked LBs who could jam TEs at the line.
• As the importance of TEs goes up, so does the importance of this skill.
• Generally, the league is moving back to timing-disruption -- i.e. press-oriented -- pass defenses.
• TEs can be flipped to either side of the line, put in motion, whatever.
• Ninkovich has become good at hand combat. Jones is said to excel at it. Hightower is projected to SAM or something SAM-like.

In a 4-3 that could make Spikes a reserve, but he'd effectively be backing up all three LB positions (with Mayo kicking outside if an OLB were hurt). (Unless Jones can handle the role.) In a 3-4 he'd play. In short yardage, it's a given that he plays.

In the nickel the line-up might be something like:

Jones - Wilfork - Pryor - Carter
Mayo-Hightower
5 DBs

with Hightower making sure to be up on the line if there's a TE on his side.

__________________
"To lose one parent may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose both looks like carelessness." -- Oscar Wilde