Leon Washington is going to absolutely scorch this D#

[jays52]

You know, I thought about the exact same thing when I first read the title thread. However, I remembered that James Sanders is our starting free safety. If Sanders doesn't play overly cautious, I think Meriweather can stay in the box, can spy Washington, and shut him down. I think this season, so goes James Sanders, so go the Patriots D. If he breaks out this year, we can be extremely dominant this year. If he doesn't, we are going to have alot of games like the one on Monday night. We may still win, but they won't be pretty wins.

FWIW, Sanders looked like a man possessed on Monday night. I have never been so impressed by Sanders. He was beastly. Another interesting thing to note in that he was a key to defending the Wildcat last season in the second Miami game. I wouldn't be suprised to see our surest tackler assigned to a loose bracket on Washington. That said, it starts with getting your hands on his breastplate when he tries to release, grab that lil fuggers jersey, pull him into you, and destroy the timing of his routes. After that: thump him, thump him, thump him.

 

[SidelineSid]

Somehow I don't think it's up to Sanders how "overly cautious" he plays. I suspect that's a decision made by the coaching staff.

According to Rodney, it is. He said on Sunday, on FNIA, that James needs to trust his eyes and make his decisions faster. I think James' tentative play on the field is his own creation and not the team. Rodney's quote only validates this.

 

[HEY BRO! WHAT UP?]

FWIW, Sanders looked like a man possessed on Monday night. I have never been so impressed by Sanders. He was beastly. Another interesting thing to note in that he was a key to defending the Wildcat last season in the second Miami game. I wouldn't be suprised to see our surest tackler assigned to a loose bracket on Washington. That said, it starts with getting your hands on his breastplate when he tries to release, grab that lil fuggers jersey, pull him into you, and destroy the timing of his routes. After that: thump him, thump him, thump him.

I also saw a different style of play from Sanders as well. It seemed as though he was around the football a lot and it's refreshing to see such aggressive play.

But getting back to the post, I think Warren needs to switch from the outside to inside of the D-line and insert Burgess as a full time end. Also, after one week, Guyton is having a very hard time shedding blocks on screens. I'm pretty sure the Jets are going to screen New England to death on Sunday. I hope their ready for it.

 

[Synovia]

15 carries for 57 yards is not doing 'good'.
Its now reached the point where fans are afraid of what allowing 57 yards and less than 4 a carry will mean to our impending doom. Oh brother

When you tack on 90 yards receiving, yeah, its pretty damn good.


The Patriots basic defensive gameplan is this: Take away the team's strength, and make them beat you with their weaknesses. They're more likely to make mistakes like that. Hence, why we always seem to see TEs and 3rd WRs having career days against the Pats.

 

[Synovia]

Remember back February of 2002, there was this back for St. Louis who wore 28? Christ, I can't remember who he was, or if he was any good, but IIRC ESPN said he was a pretty good back, a shifty one, too. Defense seemed to do alright against him.

Remind me who played defense for the Pats then, and still does?

 

[JackBauer]

Remind me who played defense for the Pats then, and still does?

To be honest, many of the players on that defense we not that impressive. They overperformed, no doubt.

 

[Laurence Maroney's Dreads]

************, you would think that in the last 9 years: 5 AFC title games, 4 AFC Championships and 3 Super Bowl titles would give us a little faith that this team knows how to win. But no, the wailing and gnashing of teeth continues. Oh woe to us, HOW WILL WE EVER BEAT THE MIGHTY STEELERS! Give me a break, this fan base can be pathetic sometimes.

You wanna live in Red Sox pre 2004 mode, go ahead. I'll calmly believe that we have the coaching staff and the personell, even without Mayo, to beat the Jets. And if they don't, well it's Week 2 of the NFL season. How did we feel after WEEK 4 of the 2003 season? It was something like "Woe to us, 2001 was a fluke, we're back to mediocrity!" How'd that work out?

 

[jays52]

Remind me who played defense for the Pats then, and still does?

It has nearly zero to do with personnel and nearly everything to do with scheme.

 

[Synovia]

To be honest, many of the players on that defense we not that impressive. They overperformed, no doubt.

Richard Seymour, Mike Vrable, Tedi Bruschi, Ty Law, Lawyer Milloy and Tebucky Jones disagree.


Mike Vrable was single handedly responsible for taking care of Faulk. He's gone. If theres someone on the roster now who could do that, It Mayo, and hes hurt. Thomas isn't fast enough, and while Guyton is, I'm not sure he could handle it yet.

 

[Synovia]

It has nearly zero to do with personnel and nearly everything to do with scheme.

The Scheme for superbowl XXXVI was "Have Mike Vrable knock Marshall Faulk on his ass every single play, whether he gets the ball or not"

 

[jays52]

Thomas isn't fast enough, and while Guyton is, I'm not sure he could handle it yet.

1) Thomas' sub 4.6 40 says hello.
2) Guyton prison raped Washington last year.

 

[PatsFanSince74]

in the past few years, i've always found that the greater the worry on the board during the week the better the pats play that weekend; and vice versa. like last week when the CW here was to argue over whether we'd beat the Bills by 30 or 40 points, I was nervous all week.

this week, well, I think it's gonna be a war but I fell pretty good that our guys are going to walk away with a W. they always seem to play their best when people doubt them and they're down a player or two; it's one of the reasons I love the Belichick teams.

 

[Laurence Maroney's Dreads]

Richard Seymour, Mike Vrable, Tedi Bruschi, Ty Law, Lawyer Milloy and Tebucky Jones disagree.


Mike Vrable was single handedly responsible for taking care of Faulk. He's gone. If theres someone on the roster now who could do that, It Mayo, and hes hurt. Thomas isn't fast enough, and while Guyton is, I'm not sure he could handle it yet.

Tebucky Jones? Really? Tebucky Jones wasn't mediocre? I really don't get the revisionist history.

How about Bryan Cox, Bobby Hamilton, Anthony Pleasant, Geriatric O-T-I-S, and to a much lesser extent Roman Phifer (who was good but was good because he fit like a freakin puzzle piece right into this system).

For every great player on that team, there was an absolute abortion waiting to happen. Otis Smith got by on pure guile alone. Bryan Cox could hit and that's about it. Willie Mac was a pure pass rusher at that point and still hadn't learned how to do anything else. I still can't think of anything Anthony Pleasant brought to that team.

 

[spacecrime]

Our front seven will have trouble sealing off the edge all season

Way to over-react. Something happens in game one means it will happen all season.

Besides, he ran for 57 yards.

But okay, I'll play. Every game this season opposing teams will rush for 57 yards and catch passes for 212 yards. Sounds good to me, especially when every game this season the Pats will score 14 points in the last two minutes.

Aaron Schobel will set a record for 16 INTs returned for TDs, but the Bills will lose 16 games this year because because TD will only catch 32 passes and Lee Evans only 48. Plus, McKelvin will cough up hte ball every game at the 2:00 minute warning.

Drew Brees will pass for 96 TDs and 5600 yards.

Broncos will go 16-0 by being lucky at the end of games.

The Bengals will find a way to lose every game at the last minute.

Jay Cutler will throw 4 picks a game.

Okay, the last two are possible, but the others are just dumb, including the fact that the D will struggle all season with the same problem.

If you still have doubts, compare how our D did against the Bills in game one of 2003, and how they did the rest of the year.

 

[alvinnf]

We should all start sweatin' the Jets. With their rookie QB coming off a huge win over the Houston Texans? C'mon people get it together.

 

[Synovia]

1) Thomas' sub 4.6 40 says hello.
2) Guyton prison raped Washington last year.

Adalius Thomas is fast. In a straight line. He doesn't move laterally nearly as well as Guyton and Mayo.

Guyton Prison Raped washinton? They probably had 5 plays where they were on the field at the same time all of last year.

 

[jays52]

Adalius Thomas is fast. In a straight line. He doesn't move laterally nearly as well as Guyton and Mayo.

Guyton Prison Raped washinton? They probably had 5 plays where they were on the field at the same time all of last year.

The Thomas point is valid. However, I distinctly remember Guyton being all over Washington in the second game. It was Keller that beat us, Washington was effectively negated by Guyton.

 

[Synovia]

The Thomas point is valid. However, I distinctly remember Guyton being all over Washington in the second game. It was Keller that beat us, Washington was effectively negated by Guyton.

I don't remember all that well, but I don't think Guyton was playing more than 40% of the snaps at that point, and Washington played significantly less than half the snaps. Jonest played most of the game IIRC.

 

[JackBauer]

Richard Seymour, Mike Vrable, Tedi Bruschi, Ty Law, Lawyer Milloy and Tebucky Jones disagree.


Mike Vrable was single handedly responsible for taking care of Faulk. He's gone. If theres someone on the roster now who could do that, It Mayo, and hes hurt. Thomas isn't fast enough, and while Guyton is, I'm not sure he could handle it yet.

Tebucky Jones? <snicker>

Well it's a good thing we're not playing Marshall Faulk circa 2001.

 

[jays52]

I don't remember all that well, but I don't think Guyton was playing more than 40% of the snaps at that point, and Washington played significantly less than half the snaps. Jonest played most of the game IIRC.

Yeah, he was used situation to situation, but he was a major catalyst for that offense leading into the game. Essentially, when he was in the game, he was going to get the football or at least be the primary read. Guyton could run and cut with him, jammed him quite well, and was essentially delegated the responsibility of stopping him. He was outstanding in doing that. There's a reason Washington wasn't memorable in that game.