Reiss' mailbag today

[SVN]

The mailbag was overflowing after the New England Patriots' disappointing effort against the New Orleans Saints. - ESPN Boston

Some interesting comments

Q: Hey Mike, after watching the D get destroyed again I have to start to question Dean Pees game plans. I just don't see enough from the D. When Romeo Crennel was here, the D would confuse and throw things at the other QB that he has never seen. Just don't see that since Pees has taken over and once Romeo left it seems the D hasn't been as good. Not blaming it all on Pees but I think he should be taking some heat here for it and maybe Bill should look at getting Romeo back. Thoughts? -- Mike (Framingham, Mass.)

A: I'm not as down on Pees as others, Mike. It's my belief that this is Bill Belichick's scheme -- and Belichick's the one making the personnel decisions -- and Pees is more of the overseer. It's easy to say in retrospect, but I think one of the issues Monday night was how the Patriots tried to match up with the Saints' ever-changing personnel. I might have gone with a more simplified approach, thinking that sometimes less is more -- focus on the fundamentals. I almost thought they confused themselves into some mistakes with all the changes, and players looked winded from all the on-the-field, off-the-field movement.

Q: It seems like Belichick has tinkered too much with this team. I understand Bruschi retired, but now it seems worse that we got rid of Vrabel and Seymour. I know we wanted to get younger, but at what cost. Where do you see this defense going? -- Jimmy (Charlotte, N.C.)

A: It's always a tough balance, Jimmy, trying to get younger and remaining competitive. I think the defense actually shows promise in the long run, but as we've seen in two of the last three weeks when the Colts rung up 35 and the Saints 38, it's a unit that is not ready for prime time against upper echelon teams. They have played well against some of the non-elite teams, so all is not lost, but I think most would agree that more alterations are needed if the Pats are to become a championship team.

 

[mgteich]

Well, of course it is Belichick's fault for not bringing in competent coordinators. Of course it isn't the fault of Pees and O'Brain that they are not competent to don their jobs.

But then, maybe the coordinator job is not what it seems. Perhaps, the reality is that Belichick cannot delegate enough and must be the GM, HC, OC and DC, and secondary coach for that matter.

 

[farn]

Too easy to dump on them... the defense was exposed, the players were beat. We are what our record says we are : 7-4.

 

[upstater1]

For 2 or 3 years now the constant drumbeat has been that we need to get younger on D.

 

[brady et al fan]

For 2 or 3 years now the constant drumbeat has been that we need to get younger on D.

oh they're definately younger. I think the beef is that they did not draft well for a few years so that you'd have quality guys ready to step right in without a downgrade as Bruschi, Vrabel, Harrison got old and/or retired and guys like Asante left for $. There's also the Seymour trade and I'm sure that will get more play this week.

 

[MoLewisrocks]

Well, of course it is Belichick's fault for not bringing in competent coordinators. Of course it isn't the fault of Pees and O'Brain that they are not competent to don their jobs.

But then, maybe the coordinator job is not what it seems. Perhaps, the reality is that Belichick cannot delegate enough and must be the GM, HC, OC and DC, and secondary coach for that matter.

RAC was an overseer too. Funny how that concept worked fine for you when they were winning.

 

[Rob0729]

I wonder how much input Pees has on the defense anymore. He is up in the booth and you have seen Belichick for several year working with the starting defense making adjustments when the offense is on the field. I figured that Pees and his staff make the overall gameplans and Belichick takes a lot of the control during games.

 

[SVN]

RAC was an overseer too. Funny how that concept worked fine for you when they were winning.

BB always got more credit than RAC even the rams SB. thats the way itgoes..When D is playing well its "BB knows how to confuse QB's" and when it sucks "fire pees"

 

[MoLewisrocks]

I wonder how much input Pees has on the defense anymore. He is up in the booth and you have seen Belichick for several year working with the starting defense making adjustments when the offense is on the field. I figured that Pees and his staff make the overall gameplans and Belichick takes a lot of the control during games.

Coordinators here never "made" the game plans. They do their film work as does Bill and they meet and he sets the tone for the overall approach to a game. They have input to the extent he agrees with it. Their role is to install and run it. This season Dean has gone up into the booth to call plays. That leaves Matt Patricia running the substitutions from the field. Earlier they had him up in the booth talking to Pees about what he saw. Bill has always taken control of his defenses during games and coached and made adjustments on the sidelines.

Lots of people here seem to be of the opinion that RAC and not Bill and Ernie came up with the concept and game plan that stopped the greatest show on turf... RAC's job was to implement it. Still Bill spent that game roaming the sidelines admonishing his defense on in cuts being the game...

The only offensive TD scored in that masterful game Charlie called came when Bill called for an adjustment to a play they had just run based on what he'd observed as the reason it failed. Charlie called the play in but it wasn't his idea...

RAC and Charlie were brought here because they knew the system Bill wanted to run on both sides of the ball. Bill taught that same system to their successors including Dean Pees mentor Nick Saban who was Bill's DC in Cleveland. Bill has adapted the system since RAC and Charlie left, most dramatically on offense...

 

[Tunescribe]

Well, of course it is Belichick's fault for not bringing in competent coordinators. Of course it isn't the fault of Pees and O'Brain that they are not competent to don their jobs.

But then, maybe the coordinator job is not what it seems. Perhaps, the reality is that Belichick cannot delegate enough and must be the GM, HC, OC and DC, and secondary coach for that matter.

And perhaps you just don't know enough yourself to make sweeping judgments from afar. Obviously, you don't like BB as head coach and have little faith in what he does. Your arguments and "observations" remind me of a political pundit who criticizes the president no matter what he does because he's from the rival party.

 

[upstater1]

I don't know about RAC having a lot of leeway but I do know that Charlie Weis used much the same system with the Jets, so I would credit Charlie with much of what we saw on offense.

As well, it's not just the system that makes a difference, but the situational play calling, and both Weis and RAC excelled there. Weis especially knew how to keep a defense off balance and to take what the D was giving.

 

[SoCalPatsfan90]

Man people are going crazy... "defense exposed" this, and "hang the DC" that...

There were 8 plays for a total of 300 yards... of the 480 total. We're talking 63% of the saints yardage came on blown coverages, or players tripping up. 3/5 of their TD's were due to blown coverages on those same 8 plays.

When NE's defense wasn't tripping over themselves, they played really well. It just happened that when they tripped, NO made them pay.

As for the offense, name one team that doesn't become one dimensional and pass happy when down by 21 points? Especially when you have people like Welker and Moss on your team? The OLine was a let down, BUT, when you have to pass to catch up, even the best oline in the NFL will break down, and ours certainly did.

There was a potential 21 point swing in favor of the pats if 1 holding call on Thomas' long run after Brady's INT and 2 no calls on DPI against saints defenders in just the 2nd qtr. Players play differently with a lead, or at least a fairly called game.

**** happens people, the sky is NOT falling, and things will be ok. NE laid an egg, it happens. Indy and the saints have been laying eggs for years, and their fans respond just like our do, so I guess it's to be expected, but damn people, calm the hell down, don't go all crazy about how much this team sucks etc... If anyone expected some 2007 type year, with Brady coming back from major reconstructive surgery, you were in lala land.

Being 12-4 or 11-5 and getting into the playoffs is a good start for the team. Especially with such a young defense. Teams that do as drastic a rebuild as happened over the last 2 years in NE, don't win their division while doing that generally.

So as a favorite bumper sticker of mine says, "Get in, sit down, hold on and SHUT UP!" It's going to be ok

 

[oldskool138]

So as a favorite bumper sticker of mine says, "Get in, sit down, hold on and SHUT UP!" It's going to be ok

The same thing is in the Gillette Stadium crowd handbook.

 

[SoCalPatsfan90]

The same thing is in the Gillette Stadium crowd handbook.

Really? lol

Or is my internet sarcasm detector faulty?

 

[oldskool138]

Really? lol

Or is my internet sarcasm detector faulty?

I'm only half joking.

 

[Mack Herron]

Man people are going crazy... "defense exposed" this, and "hang the DC" that...

There were 8 plays for a total of 300 yards... of the 480 total. We're talking 63% of the saints yardage came on blown coverages, or players tripping up. 3/5 of their TD's were due to blown coverages on those same 8 plays.

When NE's defense wasn't tripping over themselves, they played really well.
So as a favorite bumper sticker of mine says, "Get in, sit down, hold on and SHUT UP!" It's going to be ok

"The Patriots did give up a lot of big plays, yielding seven of 25 yards or more that covered a total of 292 yards.

But even if you take those out, the Saints had 188 other yards on 43 plays, or 4.4 yards per play. In other words, if you eliminate their seven most productive plays, you still get more than 13 yards per three downs. Take away the Patriots’ seven biggest offensive plays, which went for a total of 178 yards, and you’ll see New England left with less than 3 yards per play."

Again, Patriots defense wasn’t up to the task - The Boston Globe

 

[SoCalPatsfan90]

Yeah, when you look at the averaged numbers it still looks bad... but those other 43 plays netted only 14 points... NE can win when they give up only 14 points...

 

[RobertWeathers]

RAC was an overseer too. Funny how that concept worked fine for you when they were winning.

I believe it was Milloy and McGinest who made some seemingly innocuous comments at the 2001 TC where essentially they said that RAC "simplified" things for them which made them more comfortable in their execution. I'm not sure I buy that totally but i thought that I'd throw it out there. If I recall, BB did a decent job as a DC in his day.

As veterans who have exposure to BBs D from the 1996 season, I wonder if those comments have any merit or weight when trying to figure out the challenges the D has had vs Manning and Brees.

Personally, I don't think RAC running the D would have made an ant's hill worth of difference vs NO and Indy.

Besides the lack of a pass rush and game changers at LB and DB isn't helping but I'm still grasping at straws and trying to figure out where the D goes from here.....

 

[muzz]

All I know is the Saints went ez on us near the end, they could have poured it on even more if they wanted to, so that # of plays/per play, yada yada yada is only half correct...
Payton felt bad for BillyBob and let him off the hook instead of embarrassing him even more than he did.

 

[Triumph]

Coordinators here never "made" the game plans. They do their film work as does Bill and they meet and he sets the tone for the overall approach to a game. They have input to the extent he agrees with it. Their role is to install and run it. This season Dean has gone up into the booth to call plays. That leaves Matt Patricia running the substitutions from the field. Earlier they had him up in the booth talking to Pees about what he saw. Bill has always taken control of his defenses during games and coached and made adjustments on the sidelines.

Lots of people here seem to be of the opinion that RAC and not Bill and Ernie came up with the concept and game plan that stopped the greatest show on turf... RAC's job was to implement it. Still Bill spent that game roaming the sidelines admonishing his defense on in cuts being the game...

The only offensive TD scored in that masterful game Charlie called came when Bill called for an adjustment to a play they had just run based on what he'd observed as the reason it failed. Charlie called the play in but it wasn't his idea...

RAC and Charlie were brought here because they knew the system Bill wanted to run on both sides of the ball. Bill taught that same system to their successors including Dean Pees mentor Nick Saban who was Bill's DC in Cleveland. Bill has adapted the system since RAC and Charlie left, most dramatically on offense...

Charlie Weis made his own game plans and adjustments.

Theres no way he was a "Yes Man" while OC of the Pats.