Sicilian

So, there's been a lot of talk this week about how successful the Patriots were running the ball against the Bills. Throughout, it's been mentioned that they took advantage of the Bills playing primarily in the nickel, which made running a little easier.

Looking at the snap counts for our defense on Sunday, we were also playing primarily in the nickel. Hightower played only 9 snaps before getting hurt, and his replacement (Tracy White) only played 8. I think Niko tosses in a couple, but it was essentially four down lineman, mayo and spikes, then five defensive backs. Despite this, we held a pretty good running team to 98 yards on the ground with a 3.6 ypc.

I know I'm not breaking any huge ground with this, but our ability to effectively contain the run while still utilizing primarily a pass D formation is going to be very handy down the road.

Nunchucks

Ravens really put a hurt on the run defense. Until the Patriots can show that was an anomaly, I am not going to say their run defense is anything spectacular.

Sicilian

Ray Rice is one of the best in the league, he does that to a lot of team. But aside from that, we've had three good run D games versus one. So far this year, the Ravens game HAS been the anomaly, not the norm.

Patriots Nation NY

what team have you been watching the passed few seasons?

aluminum seats

Is this English?

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Patriots Nation NY

relax Francis ... spelling police over here ..

Bhelmet

The run D was exposed by Baltimore. OK, lets go with that. Ray Rice is a double threat - therefore when he is on the field the Ravens do not tip their hand with a run or pass. I still maintain that the refs had WAY too much an influence in the outcome of that game. On the positive, the D learned MUCH about the Ravens in that game and they will struggle to achieve the same outcome - after all, the Pats outplayed the Ravens. Our D is very fluid, but it is moving in the right direction. They are young, but growing up quickly. Our D is over-performing while the O is under-performing. The O will come along b/c they are veterans - the D will come along b/c of youthful exuberance. Either way, as the season progresses - the Pats are sitting pretty. I will predict right now that the tone changes and this team will be amongst the top when the season closes. Let's see if the team can do the same.

supafly

I get what you're saying of course, but the offense hasn't come anywhere close to underperforming like some are stating.

They've put up 30+ pts in 3 of 4 games.

They've also put up 30 and 52 in the past 2, both of them minus Hernandez.

I don't think that the offense is exactly in mid-late season form yet, but some of the offense's struggles have been exaggerated nonetheless.

As you said, it's a work in progress, but they have looked pretty good in 3 out of 4 of the games. ARZ played a very good gameplan, and have a tough defense, so it's not shocking that they struggled a bit vs them.

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Brady_to_Moss

you have to remember too...our secondary has been getting **** on the past few weeks..why run when you can pass it and complete a high %?

ausbacker

The entire DL was being held and big holes were opened for Ray Rice thanks to the replacement officials. The run D is fine.