Third down D with Junior and Rosey

[JSn]

I don't think the 3-4 is going anywhere, but we might need to see another DE playing OLB. The question is, who is the fastest one?

Another thought was that if Colvin is going to strictly drop into a pass rusher role, he might actually be surprisingly good. He's rested, naturally talented and fully healed (says him) and playing in a system he's very familiar with.

We get riled up about 4-3 vs 3-4, but we're using converted DE's as OLB's in a lot of cases, so you walk up Vrabel or walk back a Green and you've essentially changed your D-Formation anyway.

I doubt there's a lot of time spent running the DL's in single gap, but if they were, and are athletic enough, I don't disagree that the pocket would be toast for most teams. Trouble is then if you try to blitz a corner or safety or ILB, you have exposed someone and an escaped QB is a BIG problem.

This team is in a defensive pickle, there's no doubt about it, but we now have veteran's with intangibles that increase their danger to opposing teams despite waning physical tools. This is the moment where Bill can really shine as a defensive coach.

 

[VJCPatriot]

Talk about optimsim! Then again we are facing a 2-10 seattle team and a 3-9 oakland tem coming up. If the Pats O/D can't look good against those cellar dwellers, then the odds are really against us of making the postseason!

 

[NYCPatsFan]

Then again we are facing a 2-10 seattle team and a 3-9 oakland tem coming up. If the Pats O/D can't look good against those cellar dwellers, then the odds are really against us of making the postseason!

Agree. That said, being the optimist , I hope that the next two games allow Rosie and Seau to get their bearings quickly and enable our coaches to figure out the best way to tweak our D so that we go 4-0.

 

[Patriot Missile]

To be honest I don't know why we didn't sign these two in the first place. It's no secret parts of our defense are aging,so are these two. But we could of been using these guys in sub packages all season long, in doing so keeping the defense fresh.

 

[Wotan_the_Wanderer]

Though he's been inactive for most of this season and this was his first real game of the season, I still think Colvin held up better than what I've seen of Woods for most of the season and Guyton who was forced to play OLB in Woods' stead for the first half of this game. The guy obviously still has some rust to work past, but he was holding his gap assignments far better than Guyton and even managed to put some pressure on the QB. It doesn't show on the stat sheets nor will it be in the highlight reels, but on one running play for the loss, Rosey got deep into the backfield, cut off the outside to contain and force the runner into Seymour for a mop up tackle. There's something to said about "old and slow vets" who understand this defense and play within the system.

I just hope the front office extends him after the season for a far team friendlier contract. Even if he's not the same player of a couple seasons ago, the guy can still play and play well in this defense.

And Seau, well, what more needs to be said about this guy other than that he's a true warrior.

 

[TheBostonStraggler]

This is a stop the run, stop the big gain pass play, hope the other team makes enough mistakes to have to punt, type defense. I doubt at this point in the season it will be anything more than that. Nothing right now and none of the guys just brought in are going to change that in any significant way. If everyone gets relatively healthy, maybe we can do a measured amount more with the D.

 

[pats_premi]

It is understandable folks being exicited about Mayo and Guyton, but both of these guys appear to be libility in the pass defence. Seau on the other side may not be as fast, but he is always around the ball. It was nice see the third down defence improvement with Rosie and Seau in the game.

 

[JR4]

It is understandable folks being exicited about Mayo and Guyton, but both of these guys appear to be libility in the pass defence. Seau on the other side may not be as fast, but he is always around the ball. It was nice see the third down defence improvement in this game with Rosie and Seau in the game.

I was thinking the same thing... these Vets made a difference for sure!

 

[JSn]

This all I can contribute to the conversation:

 

[PATSYLICIOUS]

Can't wait to see this defense next week with these 2 playing the whole game. We were solid in the 2nd half on D. If not for the big play to Branch it was a shutout. And that's with less than a week to prepare for both.

 

[NYCPatsFan]

Can't wait to see this defense next week with these 2 playing the whole game. We were solid in the 2nd half on D. If not for the big play to Branch it was a shutout. And that's with less than a week to prepare for both.

I am also hoping for a greater contribution from these two and our D's performing going up next week, especially if Warren plays. But the Wilfork, Bruschi and Sanders injuries worry me.

 

[jczxohn1]

Sounds good to me. It pains me to see how little real pressure [yes that would be sacks or hits] that guys like Seymour, Warren and Green get on the QB. I understand much of the time it's due to a stop-the-run- first/gap control philosophy, but I wouldn't mind seeing that philosophy being tweaked at the very least.

I'm sure BB is proud to be one of the pioneers of the 3-4, or at least to have really brought it to its ultimate fruition with the Giants. Maybe he's too in love with it for that reason. The NFL has changed alot from the days when "Air Corriel" was thought to be a freakish, gimmicky offense. And we don't have any LTs, Banks or Carsons on this team.

You bring up a good point of how long this team has run the 3-4 and in this copy-cat league, it makes bringing in talent more difficult as more teams are looking for the same type of player. Not to mention that back in 2000, opponents might only see 2 teams who played a 3-4. Now, many others are playing it and consequently, offenses are more comfortable attacking it.