SVN

Answers elusive for Patriots defense

kinda calls out patricia and bb

Sciz

Another Curran article that I'm not overly impressed with. What did he expect to happen? Belichick and his coaches have never given out information before, and they're not going to start now.

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Wrath Mania

Indeed. I like Curran, he's pretty articulate when he wants to be and is pretty fair on the Pats (without being as timid in his assessments as Reiss can annoyingly be), but too many of his CSN articles read like half-baked tumblr updates. Yeah we KNOW the defense is bad and that BB and Patricia deserve the blame. I think everyone who follows the Patriots even poorly get that. But to just half-assedly vomit those thoughts onto a page as a veneer for criticizing the Pats PR is just lazy. I live in the Philly area, and I have to read dumb articles like this in regards to Andy Reid every damn day. They're the complete opposite of insight. Too bad.

TheBostonStraggler

I agree with the sentiment of the other posters. I think Curran is one of the better writers but this was a lazy article. Of course the lack of success by the secondary falls on Patricia and ultimately BB. And the canned, automaton like answers given to the media by BB and staff have nothing to do with it (it actually is a positive to say little to the media, always). Get over it Curran, this is how BB runs the organization (regarding media comments).

I am one who recognizes us Patriot fans have been VERY fortunate to have BB at the helm of the Patriots yet recognize he and his staff have fallen down on the responsibility of fielding an effective secondary. The Patriots have allowed QBs who are considered the mopes of the NFL to put up big numbers last year (the year before that wasn't pretty) and it hasn't changed this year. The Patriots have had a string of questionable secondary selections (draft and FA). The Patriots lack of a consistent pass rush certainly hasn't helped. And it appears that the technique practiced by the Patriots hasn't jived with the players they have chosen to keep/play.
IMHO these are the items that Curran could speak to....items that dig into the nuts and bolts of the secondary's trouble.

The good news is?? With a routinely ineffective secondary in 2011, the Patriots were a play or two from being SB champs. Let's see if that kind of magic can happen again this year (in lieu of what seems like the impossible dream! An effective secondary).

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BSR

What is so elusive? The players are making mistakes. Coaches are trying to teach them not to make mistakes but aren't doing the best job of it.

DarrylS

Just a reminder last week our starting D backfield, totalled less than 6 years NFL experience.. so they need a lot of time to develop.

The lack of padded practices also impedes their progress..

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borg

Just read BB's explanations in this article......his D philosophy is clearly stated...."Manage the Damage." While the best D's in the league try to stop offenses, a Patriots D tries to "Manage the Damage"......aka...Hope the other team shoots itself in the foot. The Pats are very lucky that very few quality QBs are on their schedule

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nekromantique

its funny though...because the run d is very good. thats not 'managing the damage'...thats stopping the run. the secondary isnt managing anything but to give up huge plays. they are getting damaged more.

MoLewisrocks

Everything Bill does is based on percentages. He'd love to have a talented stand alone secondary, but it's been a long time. It is what it is, which is why getting the offense back into a more consistent ryhthm and eliminating mistakes (by players and coaches including bizarro seemingly agenda driven personnel decisions) that are leaving points all over the field actually has to be job 1.

Deus Irae

Every play an offense is on the field is a play the offense could screw up. That's pretty basic stuff, and BB's not wrong there. The problem is that this defensive backfield has a very difficult time limiting plays. You'd rather give up a 20 yard completion than a 50 yard completion, but even giving up the 20 yard completions sucks.

This team has some defensive pieces:

Wilfork
Jones
Hightower
Spikes
Mayo
Love (sort of)

but two of those are rookies and none of them are in the defensive backfield. There's no Rodney Harrison, no Ty Law, no Asante Samuel, or even a James Sanders. This year's draft is supposed to be excellent for safeties. If the Patriots can draft the right one, we could see a very dramatic improvement in overall defensive play.

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