Bruschi analysis - Denver loss

[cstjohn17]

I don't know if he has a ghost writer or what but his analysis is very good.

Tedy Bruschi's thoughts on the New England Patriots' Week 5 loss to the Denver Broncos - ESPN Boston

" Recognizing and adjusting to those gadget offensive formations is one thing, but getting back to the original defense called is one of the most difficult checks a defensive signal-caller has to make. So difficult, in fact, that the Patriots burned three timeouts during the game to settle themselves down -- two in the first quarter and one in overtime. The result was that the Patriots played on their heels most of the game in vanilla zone coverages that the Broncos' offense had no problems recognizing and executing against."

So I guess they looked vanilla because they were vanilla... combine that with zero pass rush and you get 90 yard and 98 yard scoring drives.

 

[Rob0729]

I still maintain that the Pats are doing on defense this year what they did on offense last year. I think they are delibertly pairing back the schemes for the defense to get more comfortable and will open the playbook in the second half of the season when the defense is completely cohesive.

 

[RobertWeathers]

I still maintain that the Pats are doing on defense this year what they did on offense last year. I think they are delibertly pairing back the schemes for the defense to get more comfortable and will open the playbook in the second half of the season when the defense is completely cohesive.

Agree 100%.

 

[cstjohn17]

I still maintain that the Pats are doing on defense this year what they did on offense last year. I think they are delibertly pairing back the schemes for the defense to get more comfortable and will open the playbook in the second half of the season when the defense is completely cohesive.

They didn't make the playoffs last year...

 

[DarrylS]

He did not mention the O deficiencies... there were at least 3 and outs..that is uncharacteristic of our team.

 

[Xplicit]

The offensive play calling on 3rd down is complete trash.

 

[BradyFTW!]

As a flavor, vanilla gets a bad rep. Vanilla ice cream tastes damn good, people.

 

[condon84]

I still maintain that the Pats are doing on defense this year what they did on offense last year. I think they are delibertly pairing back the schemes for the defense to get more comfortable and will open the playbook in the second half of the season when the defense is completely cohesive.

?

Why would you deliberately put yourself in the situation where you might lose games because you make it easeir for the opposition to read your defense?

And isn't the reason to have training camp and preseason games so you can get comfortable, learn your playbook, and have a cohesive unit? I understand that we have new players, but you look around the league, everyteam has high personnel turnover.

 

[pencilneckgeek]

As a flavor, vanilla gets a bad rep. Vanilla ice cream tastes damn good, people.

Yeah, but vanilla defense only wins championships when you've got a spicy apple crisp offense. Er,

Whatever. I am finding myself looking forward to Bruschi's analysis each week. Good stuff.

 

[BradyManny]

I don't know if he has a ghost writer or what but his analysis is very good.

Tedy Bruschi's thoughts on the New England Patriots' Week 5 loss to the Denver Broncos - ESPN Boston

" Recognizing and adjusting to those gadget offensive formations is one thing, but getting back to the original defense called is one of the most difficult checks a defensive signal-caller has to make. So difficult, in fact, that the Patriots burned three timeouts during the game to settle themselves down -- two in the first quarter and one in overtime. The result was that the Patriots played on their heels most of the game in vanilla zone coverages that the Broncos' offense had no problems recognizing and executing against."

So I guess they looked vanilla because they were vanilla... combine that with zero pass rush and you get 90 yard and 98 yard scoring drives.

Very interesting stuff. That explains a lot, unfortunately. I guess the team has to just be better prepared for the wildcat stuff going forward.

Off-topic, but why would he need a ghostwriter?? The guy knows the game of football and is very articulate. This is great stuff from him.

 

[RobertWeathers]

?

Why would you deliberately put yourself in the situation where you might lose games because you make it easeir for the opposition to read your defense?

And isn't the reason to have training camp and preseason games so you can get comfortable, learn your playbook, and have a cohesive unit? I understand that we have new players, but you look around the league, everyteam has high personnel turnover.

I think what Rob is saying is that BB doesn't feel completely comfident that with all the new and/or inexperienced players on D, that moving to a more exotic defense might be a bit premature. Veterans have said that learning this D can be done in a season, but understanding it can take years. Additionally, from a player-standpoint, it just takes time to gel and get comfortable with each other's tendencies, etc.

 

[emoney_33]

?

Why would you deliberately put yourself in the situation where you might lose games because you make it easeir for the opposition to read your defense?

And isn't the reason to have training camp and preseason games so you can get comfortable, learn your playbook, and have a cohesive unit? I understand that we have new players, but you look around the league, everyteam has high personnel turnover.

It is possible that it would benefit the defensive performance early on (as well as down the line) to slowly add complexity into the schemes. Considering the AMOUNT of overhaul, and youth into the defense, it is quite possible.

Unless you don't believe that the Patriots run a complex defense so it should be just easy to pick up perfectly in training camp. BB will put his players in positions that he is confident they can handle. If they aren't ready for certain schemes or complexity he isn't going to put them in a position that has a high risk of failure.

 

[patsfan-1982]

yes they are very vanilla on D but they are playing good a nuff to win

its the vanilla O that is killing the pat's

you have the best WR in the NFL in randy moss and he get's one catch ?

every pass to him dose not need to be a 50 yerd bomb throw a screen to him or a 9 yerd come back just get him the ball


and are they realy throwing the ball to Morris and not to maroney if they wanna run the ball with him go for it but dose catch's need to go to maroney he has the game brakeing speed not Morris

line Edelman up one time at wild cat just to give the D some thing to think about

call a reverse what we welker

if your going to be a finesse passing team then mix it up a lil have fun with the paly calling

dont just line up in back yerd shotgun football and think your going to beat a NFL defense on every play

this team has more talent on offense then every team in the NFL and they cant put up 20 point's a game are you kidding me

 

[PATRIOTSFANINPA]

I still maintain that the Pats are doing on defense this year what they did on offense last year. I think they are delibertly pairing back the schemes for the defense to get more comfortable and will open the playbook in the second half of the season when the defense is completely cohesive.

I don't understand why some fans here think BB is HOLDING BACK plays and formations to save later in the season and meanwhile subjecting his team to increase chances to lose early.

You don't hold stuff back in this league or you find yourself 2 or 3 games back by the time you want to implement these and that usually gives too much of a hill to climb that is too high to reach the top,so these holding back plays to get the team to gel later makes no sense.

 

[Deus Irae]

I don't understand why some fans here think BB is HOLDING BACK plays and formations to save later in the season and meanwhile subjecting his team to increase chances to lose early.

You don't hold stuff back in this league or you find yourself 2 or 3 games back by the time you want to implement these and that usually gives to a hill to climb that is too high so these holding back plays to get the team to gel later makes no sense.

Teams hold plays back all the time.

 

[condon84]

I think what Rob is saying is that BB doesn't feel completely comfident that with all the new and/or inexperienced players on D, that moving to a more exotic defense might be a bit premature. Veterans have said that learning this D can be done in a season, but understanding it can take years. Additionally, from a player-standpoint, it just takes time to gel and get comfortable with each other's tendencies, etc.

I understand Rob's logic and I can see why he came to that conclusion, I just don't agree with it.

I think the bigger issue here is our defensive philosophy. We haven't shown any creativity in defense since Mangini left and Pees took over. How much can we blame Bill for our vanilla defense? How responsible is Pees? Who knows?

 

[RobertWeathers]

I don't understand why some fans here think BB is HOLDING BACK plays and formations to save later in the season and meanwhile subjecting his team to increase chances to lose early.

You don't hold stuff back in this league or you find yourself 2 or 3 games back by the time you want to implement these and that usually gives to a hill to climb that is too high so these holding back plays to get the team to gel later makes no sense.

Goodness. The point is that BB is not holding back b/c he believes that he'll gain a strategic/tactical advantage later in the season but because he needs to so this D doesn't start running around like the Lost Tribe of Foxboro. I.E they are not ready for the entire playbook.

 

[satz]

Teams hold plays back all the time.

You mean like raiders,cheifs,rams etc are holding plays back so they can run them later.?

When you have a 16 game season and you are holding plays in week 5 you deserve to loss.

 

[condon84]

Teams hold plays back all the time.

True, but not to the detriment of the team's success.

If the plays called are not getting it done and we have better options, I doubt Bill's gonna say "but we have these plays saved for Game 8."

 

[PATRIOTSFANINPA]

Teams hold plays back all the time.

In this division you don't wait to unleash these so called secrets

This is not the AFC West where you only have to worry about San Diego or Denver (whichever of the two you are)- This is a VERY competitive division with 3 teams that have a legit shot to win it and losing a game or even two because of holding back and therefore producing vanilla predictable plays will cost dearly down the line if in fact this idea in here of BB doing this is true.

The Jets and Dolphins are both very capable of winning 11 games,this division is no longer a cakewalk - you play to win now,tomorrow and into december,no time for slowly gelling in the AFC East anymore it will be a dogfight thru the last week of the season just like last year.