Thoughts on the game and a good, long look at this team...

[mayoclinic]

Ok, yes that is a good point. My argument, and one that I made in another thread is that I am postulating that since we return only 5 starters from last year (four for the Jets, with Mayo being out) this squad is relatively young/inexperienced and we may be playing conservative until they become acclimated.

I do agree that our running game is lacking right now.

That's one possible theory as to why we have been so vanilla and generic on defense so far. I've outlines some others in another thread:

I agree with your comments up to a point.

First, I think that recent history in the NFL suggests that BBDB defenses don't work very well. Defenses have to be proactive and disrupt offenses in order to be effective in the pass-happy rules of the modern NFL. The teams that have won the SBs since 2001 have all features physical defenses which rattled opponents and disrupted the offensive game flow. That's how we beat the Rams in 2001 and how we dismantled the Colts offensive juggernaut teams in 2003-2004 that so many in the media favored to win it all. That's also how the Steelers and Giants won their SBs in 2005, 2007 and 2008. The 2006 Colts were much more balanced than their other teams on both offense and defense.

Second, I have felt that since 2004 we have lacked the defensive personnel to effectively attack, due in part to our loyalty to aging but slowing warriors such as Bruschi, Vrabel and Harrison. We just didn't have the speed to attack effectively. Certainly in 2008 we didn't have the secondary. So I understood why we played a BBDB defense, but it was by necessity, not by choice. I've been hoping for several years now that once we reloaded the defense we would get more aggressive and disruptive.

Third, I felt this preseason that we finally were close to having all the pieces in place to play an attacking defense. We have much more speed and talent on defense than we've had in a while, and a lot of players who give us versatility. I thought we would see more attacking (selectively, not necessarily an all out blitzing defense), more defensive looks, moving players around, etc. What I've seen so far has been a lot of the same vanilla BBDB defenses. They haven't been bad, because our players are athletic and have been making plays, but they have been much more limited than I expected. I've been personally pleased with the players so far, but not thrilled with the play calling and defensive scheme.

There are several theories that have been floated on this board to account for this:

1. BB and company are conservative about bringing the defense along with so many new and young players, and are starting out very generic. They will introduce more twists as players get comfortable with the base D, and by the end of the season we will see a much more aggressive defense. Just give things time, and we'll be fine.

2. BB and company intended to do some of the above, but injuries to Mayo and Meriweather have robbed them of the core players they need to do some of this. Once those guys are back and players get comfortable wit hthe base D, we should see a much more aggressive defense. Just give things time, and we'll be fine.

3. BB and company are lost in a time warp and are clueless as to how to build an attacking defense. We need a major overhaul of our defensive personnel and approach.

Theory #3 clearly seems a bit alarmist at this time. However, I would say that I haven't been overwhelmed with the defensive play calling since 2004. I keep waiting for the day when we will let the dogs out of the kennel and attack, and it hasn't come yet. If we don't see it by the 2nd half of the season (when we hopefully have key players healthy and by which time the new guys should be more comfortable with the schemes), then I will feel that the problem is more with the coaching mentality than with the personnel.

Personally, I much prefer us to win than to lose, and I have a lot of confidence in BB. I'm hopeful that this team will be very good by season's end. But I have seen a few things so far which disturb me, and I'd like to see a few things change before I have your level of confidence that all will be well.

 

[Kontradiction]

Wow. I didn't mean to start a debate on what exactly lost us the game. It was a complete TEAM failure. In the past, when that expression was thrown around with Brady starting, it didn't include the quarterback position. This past week, it did.

Special Teams - Fail.
Defense - Fail.
O-Line - Fail.
WRs - Fail.
Quarterback - Fail.
Coaching - Fail.
Penalties - Fail.

From top to bottom, every single one of those units/positions let us down in some sort of way this past Sunday. Belichick and even Brady himself admitted as much. Let's hope those mistakes are corrected and Brady got his stinker game out of his system so we can roll over Atlanta and onto the next challenge.

 

[mgteich]

Yes, this is a perfect board post. Blame everyone when we lose.

When you blame everyone, you never improve.

Wow. I didn't mean to start a debate on what exactly lost us the game. It was a complete TEAM failure. In the past, when that expression was thrown around with Brady starting, it didn't include the quarterback position. This past week, it did.

Special Teams - Fail.
Defense - Fail.
O-Line - Fail.
WRs - Fail.
Quarterback - Fail.
Coaching - Fail.
Penalties - Fail.

From top to bottom, every single one of those units/positions let us down in some sort of way this past Sunday. Belichick and even Brady himself admitted as much. Let's hope those mistakes are corrected and Brady got his stinker game out of his system so we can roll over Atlanta and onto the next challenge.

 

[Kontradiction]

Yes, this is a perfect board post. Blame everyone when we lose.

When you blame everyone, you never improve.

The coach disagrees with you. And I highly doubt that the Patriots are going to be Debbie Downers because KontradictioN on Patsfans.com said he agrees with the coach the loss was a complete team failure.

Did you ever play team sports? "We win as a team, lose as a team" mean anything to you? That's exactly what happened this past week.

The special teams let Leon Washington run free on more than one occasion, the defense failed to pressure a rookie quarterback and made him look like Unitas in the process, the coaches failed to adjust defensively and offensively to what the Jets were doing, Brady was having a lot of trouble setting his feet even when he WASN'T pressured and his throws showed it, the O-Line let Jets defenders past them all day long, the WRs (I won't name names) dropped two catchable balls, and the team didn't play Belichick - aka - penalty free football as it continued to shoot itself in the foot with costly errors on both sides of the balls.

In short, yes, it was a total team loss.

 

[mgteich]

Sure. I do get it. We can have one of the worst offensive efforts and certainly the poorest coached effort in the last decade, and yet it is indeed a team effort. Every unit needs to go back, work hard and improve.

HOWEVER, we will not get to the playoffs if the offense doesn't improve an aweful lot.

The coach disagrees with you. And I highly doubt that the Patriots are going to be Debbie Downers because KontradictioN on Patsfans.com said he agrees with the coach the loss was a complete team failure.

Did you ever play team sports? "We win as a team, lose as a team" mean anything to you? That's exactly what happened this past week.

The special teams let Leon Washington run free on more than one occasion, the defense failed to pressure a rookie quarterback and made him look like Unitas in the process, the coaches failed to adjust defensively and offensively to what the Jets were doing, Brady was having a lot of trouble setting his feet even when he WASN'T pressured and his throws showed it, the O-Line let Jets defenders past them all day long, the WRs (I won't name names) dropped two catchable balls, and the team didn't play Belichick - aka - penalty free football as it continued to shoot itself in the foot with costly errors on both sides of the balls.

In short, yes, it was a total team loss.

 

[Kontradiction]

Sure. I do get it. We can have one of the worst offensive efforts and certainly the poorest coached effort in the last decade, and yet it is indeed a team effort. Every unit needs to go back, work hard and improve.

HOWEVER, we will not get to the playoffs if the offense doesn't improve an aweful lot.

It will. Give it some time. The OL is still not going to be stellar, but Brady will clear the cobwebs out. It's just a matter of time.

 

[Patspsycho]

the defense failed to pressure a rookie quarterback and made him look like Unitas in the process

I disagree that the defense failed. They had several miscues, granted, but that does not put them in the 'fail' column. 16 points missing your star D player is good enough for me.

Also it is not true that our D failed to pressure.. they did their job when the package called for a pressure. They only blitzed three times, did a 5 and 6 men rush only three times. The majority of rushes were 4 men rush, and unless you are the Giants DL, that type of rush does not really produce miracles.

 

[Patspsycho]

1. BB and company are conservative about bringing the defense along with so many new and young players, and are starting out very generic. They will introduce more twists as players get comfortable with the base D, and by the end of the season we will see a much more aggressive defense. Just give things time, and we'll be fine.

This is the approach I am going with and I have not seen an argument against this that has sufficiently persuaded me that this is not the case.

I have said elsewhere that this is in line with the philosophy of bringing rookies along, gradually. Rather than throwing them into the fire and risk destroying their confidence. Rather than rookies, we just have a new group finding their own identity and groove, and throwing in complex packages and looks and mixing them up is going to derail that process.

BB has been coaching for 35 years.. I think he has seen a few things during that time span.

 

[Kontradiction]

I disagree that the defense failed. They had several miscues, granted, but that does not put them in the 'fail' column. 16 points missing your star D player is good enough for me.

Also it is not true that our D failed to pressure.. they did their job when the package called for a pressure. They only blitzed three times, did a 5 and 6 men rush only three times. The majority of rushes were 4 men rush, and unless you are the Giants DL, that type of rush does not really produce miracles.

This has already been gone over. Sanchez threw 5 times in the first half. A college school defense could have shut the Jets' offense down that half. If he throws more, they score more. We simply could not stop him. We got pressure once, by my count, when we did not blitz. That was right off the bat when Wright hit Sanchez from behind and knocked the ball out of his hand. After that, he looked all too comfortable in that pocket until we finally decided to bring more that a four man rush late in the game. By then, it was already too late.

 

[Patspsycho]

After that, he looked all too comfortable in that pocket until we finally decided to bring more that a four man rush late in the game. By then, it was already too late.

That is correct.

That is not a failure on the part of the defense, that is a failure on the part of DC play-calling.

Unless you are including the DC under the category "defense," and that is, I think, unfair to the players.

 

[Kontradiction]

That is correct.

That is not a failure on the part of the defense, that is a failure on the part of DC play-calling.

Unless you are including the DC under the category "defense," and that is, I think, unfair to the players.

They had to call the blitzes because the front four wasn't generating nearly enough pressure. That IS the fault of our defense.

 

[Patspsycho]

They had to call the blitzes because the front four wasn't generating nearly enough pressure. That IS the fault of our defense.

The DC called a total of seventeen four men rush, to a total of just three extra-man rush. That is not balanced game-calling.

You could see clearly that the Jets OL assigned protection was primarily for 4 men rush and that is not hard to diagnose especially when you know the Pats shifted to 4-3 right away after Mayo went out last week. And when you factor in knowledge that Burgess and TBC are primarily pass-rushers, even a 10 year old can deduce to call for protection against 4 men rush the majority of the time, especially when you see a 4-2-5 setup, you know they are going to try to get you to throw the ball.. When you know it is coming, you can neutralize it most of the time by adjustment.

They were sitting on it and waiting for it- that was my belief when I was viewing the game.. again I don't have DVR so I cannot go back and conclusively diagnose that.