ILB transition to youth and speed

[JR4]

did you notice the defense snapshot by Reiss?

Patriots blog - Reiss' Pieces - Boston.com

Bruschi only 15 snaps!

Mayo 51 and Guyton 37 out of 51 snaps.

So there we have it - Youth and Speed - our new ILB core for the
future - Jerod Mayo and Gary Guyton

I wonder if this had a lot to do with the very good run Defense
against the Colts

Now If they can just do something about the pass rush.
Guyton has come a long way ... surprised many I'm sure.

 

[DefenseRules]

did you notice the defense snapshot by Reiss?

Patriots blog - Reiss' Pieces - Boston.com

Bruschi only 15 snaps!

Mayo 51 and Guyton 37 out of 51 snaps.

So there we have it - Youth and Speed - our new ILB core for the
future - Jerod Mayo and Gary Guyton

I wonder if this had a lot to do with the very good run Defense
against the Colts

Now If they can just do something about the pass rush.
Guyton has come a long way ... surprised many I'm sure.

This transition was long overdue my friend, and yes, I am very surprised by Guyton's progress. I expected Mayo to contribute early and often to the defense, but I never expected Guyton to be contributing this soon too.

 

[T-ShirtDynasty]

Well, as Reiss points out, we spent a lot of time in sub packages rather than our base defence... Big Vince was only in on 17 of 51 snaps.

 

[JSn]

Yeah, one day a writer will write about how old our defense is and decide (after a blow to the head) to check the facts and be surprised.

Now if we can just liven up the OLB position...

 

[Jimke]

This transition was long overdue my friend, and yes, I am very surprised by Guyton's progress. I expected Mayo to contribute early and often to the defense, but I never expected Guyton to be contributing this soon too.

Some forum members wanted to keep Hobson over Guyton even

though Hobson was struggling learning the system.

 

[KY Pats Fan]

I for one was really worried about the Pats LB corp for the last two season. But I began to realize that BB requires a lot out of them and it's very difficult to drop one right in and have them contribute.

Given that and from what I've seen the past few games, I feel that they have one of the more solid (and dare say best) young LB groups in the league. Mayo and Guyton will prove to be one of the best ILB tandems in the league w/ Alexander backing up. On the outside, Woods and Crable will be a very good pass rush combo along w/ Thomas, Vrabel, and hopefully Ruud.

 

[ALP]

I for one was really worried about the Pats LB corp for the last two season. But I began to realize that BB requires a lot out of them and it's very difficult to drop one right in and have them contribute.

Given that and from what I've seen the past few games, I feel that they have one of the more solid (and dare say best) young LB groups in the league. Mayo and Guyton will prove to be one of the best ILB tandems in the league w/ Alexander backing up. On the outside, Woods and Crable will be a very good pass rush combo along w/ Thomas, Vrabel, and hopefully Ruud.

what if ruud pans out as a started next year?

can u imagine? 3 starting young LB's in one draft? after BB got none in his first 7 seasons?

 

[satz]

Guyton progress i think is might have been helped by mayo. i think BB has been very conservative with the LB core till mayo and then he has adapted to the fact that young players need playing time to develop.

we see so many rookies in the back 7 its shocking from years past.

 

[ctpatsfan77]

did you notice the defense snapshot by Reiss?

Patriots blog - Reiss' Pieces - Boston.com

Bruschi only 15 snaps!

Mayo 51 and Guyton 37 out of 51 snaps.

So there we have it - Youth and Speed - our new ILB core for the
future - Jerod Mayo and Gary Guyton

I wonder if this had a lot to do with the very good run Defense
against the Colts

Now If they can just do something about the pass rush.
Guyton has come a long way ... surprised many I'm sure.

FYI:
LBs = 205 snaps [4.02/play]
S = 102 snaps [Sanders and Meriweather on every play, no one else]
CBs = 131 snaps [2.57/play]
DL = 123 snaps [2.41/play]

So, pretty much, when they went to a nickel formation, they subbed out a DL for a CB.

 

[upstater1]

Well, as Reiss points out, we spent a lot of time in sub packages rather than our base defence... Big Vince was only in on 17 of 51 snaps.

I saw poor Vince sprinting on and off the field several times.

I'm sure he would have rather taken on a couple 300 pounders than done so many wind sprints. It was also very odd that Peyton couldn't take advantage of the Patriots changing packages.

 

[tatepatsfan]

I expected Mayo to be this good, but I didn't think Guyton would be seeing this many snaps on D, at least not this year. If Crable turns out to be a solid pass rusher like I'm hoping, we may have pulled 3 starting-caliber (and in Mayo's case pro bowl quality) LBs out of one draft.

 

[TimU]

It was also very odd that Peyton couldn't take advantage of the Patriots changing packages.

Well, he did win the game with a QB rating of 122!

 

[ctpatsfan77]

I expected Mayo to be this good, but I didn't think Guyton would be seeing this many snaps on D, at least not this year. If Crable turns out to be a solid pass rusher like I'm hoping, we may have pulled 3 starting-caliber (and in Mayo's case pro bowl quality) LBs out of one draft.

Let's not forget that the Pats also have Bo Ruud on the Captain Caveman* plan, and Vince Redd doing well on the PS. It's not out of the realm of possibility that the Pats nabbed five good linebackers in a single draft.

*Seriously, Mike Woicik reminds me of a caveman.

 

[JMarr]

I'd like to think part of it is that BB is keeping Bruschi fresh and also leaving something in the tank for the stretch run. From what I saw he looked great when he was in there.

Mayo has proven me wrong and been solid all season, and Guyton made some plays on Sunday which is very encouraging.

 

[TimU]

Let's not forget that the Pats also have Bo Ruud on the Captain Caveman* plan, and Vince Redd doing well on the PS. It's not out of the realm of possibility that the Pats nabbed five good linebackers in a single draft.

Why all the optimism on Bo Ruud? Doesn't it seem more likely that he is on the Oscar Lua plan, i.e. gets cut as soon as he's healthy?

 

[Jimke]

Let's not forget that the Pats also have Bo Ruud on the Captain Caveman* plan, and Vince Redd doing well on the PS. It's not out of the realm of possibility that the Pats nabbed five good linebackers in a single draft.

*Seriously, Mike Woicik reminds me of a caveman.

The thing that I liked about last year's draft and UDFA signings

was that the Patriots concentrated on linebackers. Mayo and

Guyton are the future MLBs and Crable and Redd will compete

for Vrabel's spot in the future. Rudd and Woods may also fit

into the picture.

 

[ctpatsfan77]

Why all the optimism on Bo Ruud? Doesn't it seem more likely that he is on the Oscar Lua plan, i.e. gets cut as soon as he's healthy?

At this point, there's no way of knowing (if they did know there was no chance, they could give him an injury settlement). And since I'm a glass-half-full type of person, I'll give him the benefit of the doubt for now.

 

[signbabybrady]

Is it just me or would be dogging the older guys if they were on the field for the loss. We would be saying maybe if these guys were not so old we could have stopped indy one more time or kept up in coverage.

But its the young fast guys so we ignore that they lost.

The youth may bnot have been a huge problem with the LBs in this past game but I thought our young fast secondary was playing like a inexperienced secondary at times (mainly the first half) and I thought it really could have used Rodney or some veteran presance. But lets ignore the outcome because we have young players on the field YEY.


Don't get me wrong I like some of the young players we have but I just have never been a big fan of this idea that we had to get younger and faster on De. You need talent and I don't care how old they are. Youth has its advantages as does age one usually is faster and the other usually is smarter. Alot of people say that smarts can actually create a faster player because there is less indecision.

Anyway I think there is a nice balance of young and fast and old and smart in the front 7 but I think the DBs are missing some key experience without Rodney.

 

[JSn]

I think Mike V still has some monster plays in the tank too. We'll have to see, though.

We really need to get things sorted out in the secondary, imo. Do you guys feel that once we changed formations to avoid getting picked our D was better?

 

[signbabybrady]

I think Mike V still has some monster plays in the tank too. We'll have to see, though.

We really need to get things sorted out in the secondary, imo. Do you guys feel that once we changed formations to avoid getting picked our D was better?

I am not sure of the exact switch you refer to. I did notice though that both their touchdowns came on pick plays and we covered tham both differently with the same bad results. On one we did not switch guys and were too late on the other they did switch guys but it seemed as though the switch left our DB off balance.