Inexperience And Chemistry Holding Back the Patriots Defense

[PatsFans.com Article]

Inexperience And Chemistry Holding Back the Patriots Defense
By: Ian Logue

Listening to some of the reactions Sunday afternoon, it's kind of surprising that fans didn't seem to realize that the Patriots defense was going to have their fair share of struggles early on this season....

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[sbpatfan]

The twitter complaint is so god damn stupid. Chris Johnson eats McDonalds before every game. If twitter or any other type of social network is holding a player back they probably aren't that good in the first place.

 

[PATRIOTSFANINPA]

Its going to take more than a few weeks to get this defense to a respectable level.

This is the NFL and not Madden - you can't flip a switch and suddenly you have a defense good enough to contend for a championship,the guys are young and will make mistakes,do stupid penalties and will be out of place at certain times,its called growing pains.

I expect this defense to take 1 or 2 years to develop and thats a big IF these players show talent down the road.

I am not throwing in the towel on the season because of our defense just yet,but I am realistic and realize if this team is to go anywhere in 2010 the offense MUST put about 30-35 points on the board nearly every game - anytime this team fails to score at least 28 points they will most likely lose.

 

[PatsFanSince74]

Its going to take more than a few weeks to get this defense to a respectable level.

This is the NFL and not Madden - you can't flip a switch and suddenly you have a defense good enough to contend for a championship,the guys are young and will make mistakes,do stupid penalties and will be out of place at certain times,its called growing pains.

I expect this defense to take 1 or 2 years to develop and thats a big IF these players show talent down the road.

...

Wise words. There's a reason that only two QB's have four rings (Joe and Terry) and only two others have three (Troy and Tommy). It takes time to build the two generations of Defense and Offense around great QB's that would be needed to win more. Let's not forget that TB has already had a shot at his fourth and was Tyree'd out of it. We also overlook the fact that the average career span of an NFL player is 3.3 years and that players in the trenches are on the lower end of that average.

 

[upstater1]

I wonder if I watched the same game as multiple posters here.

A couple people mentioned Butler was beaten repeatedly during the game, and I actually heard the announcers say the same thing, but as I watched the game, I saw him only in on 3 plays.

This is what Ian wrote:

Butler got beat quite a few times this afternoon.

I saw him in there on a 7 yard out to Lee Evans and a run by Spiller. The other play was an incompletion. I wonder if Ian meant Arrington and not Butler? Because Arrington gave up a big run to Spiller as well.

Hmmmmmmm.

 

[RayClay]

I think the coaching staff should insist they perform their assignments even if it means dumbing down the defense for a while.

Great article, right on point. Consider we expected growing pains even before the loss of Bossen and Warren too. I think we have the core of a great defense in their somewhere.

 

[Ian]

The twitter complaint is so god damn stupid. Chris Johnson eats McDonalds before every game. If twitter or any other type of social network is holding a player back they probably aren't that good in the first place.

That was really more of just an observation. I just couldn't believe he (it was Gary Guyton) would Tweet at 11:30 at night before an important division game. I was up when he did and I was thinking, "Umm...shouldn't you be sleeping?"

Obviously Wilfork and the other guys handle it just fine...but you don't see Wilfork or any of the other guys tweeting at that hour the night before a game.

 

[RayClay]

he said in the interview that he does this ... for what it's worth.

I think he does, then when they start bumping into each other, he can evaluate who gets it and who'll take time.

Then it will be back to "this is a football"

Seriously, you've got great athleticism, why risk loss of confidence and bad habits? Make sure the technique is right and let the athleticism make plays. Get the basics down, then get more intricate.

 

[Ian]

I wonder if I watched the same game as multiple posters here.

A couple people mentioned Butler was beaten repeatedly during the game, and I actually heard the announcers say the same thing, but as I watched the game, I saw him only in on 3 plays.

This is what Ian wrote:



I saw him in there on a 7 yard out to Lee Evans and a run by Spiller. The other play was an incompletion. I wonder if Ian meant Arrington and not Butler? Because Arrington gave up a big run to Spiller as well.

Hmmmmmmm.

I wrote that before I watched it again, and I saw two plays where he was too far off and didn't close as quickly as he did in week one, and another where there was an incompletion. However, had the throw been better it probably would have been a completion. He obviously got outplayed by Arrington in this one, and I really hope he gets back to the way he looked during the opening game.

As I wrote it's just so strange watching him now...he's so tentative compared to the Bengals game. If you go back and watch the first couple of possessions by Cincinnati and watch how quick he broke on the ball and came up and made the hit, it's quite a difference from what we've seen the last couple of weeks. I don't know if he's just not dealing with it well or what his issue is...obviously I don't want the kid to fail and want to see him improve, so hopefully he gets it figured out.

 

[IcyPatriot]

The twitter complaint is so god damn stupid. Chris Johnson eats McDonalds before every game. If twitter or any other type of social network is holding a player back they probably aren't that good in the first place.

reminds me of when they asked Terry Glenn what his diet secrets were for being a great athlete.

He told them he loved junk food ... ate it every day.

 

[IllegalContact]

People are forgetting a lack of talent and mediocre personnel decisions have something to do with it also

 

[VectorPrime]

People are forgetting a lack of talent and mediocre personnel decisions have something to do with it also

How, prey tell, do you know that our defense lacks talent?

 

[Ian]

Regarding the difference in the line-ups (7 different starters from last year):

Sunday's Starters:

Brace
Wilfork
Gerard Warren
Cunningham
Jerod Mayo
Spikes
Ninkovich
Arrington
McCourty
Patrick Chung
James Sanders


Here are the starters from week 3 last year:

Ty Warren
Vince Wilfork
Jarvis Green
Derrick Burgess
Gary Guyton
Adalius Thomas
Tully Banta-Cain
Shawn Springs
Leigh Bodden
Brandon Meriweather
Brandon McGowan

So obviously it's going to take a few games to get the timing and communication down between these guys.

 

[upstater1]

I wrote that before I watched it again, and I saw two plays where he was too far off and didn't close as quickly as he did in week one, and another where there was an incompletion. However, had the throw been better it probably would have been a completion. He obviously got outplayed by Arrington in this one, and I really hope he gets back to the way he looked during the opening game.

As I wrote it's just so strange watching him now...he's so tentative compared to the Bengals game. If you go back and watch the first couple of possessions by Cincinnati and watch how quick he broke on the ball and came up and made the hit, it's quite a difference from what we've seen the last couple of weeks. I don't know if he's just not dealing with it well or what his issue is...obviously I don't want the kid to fail and want to see him improve, so hopefully he gets it figured out.

I agree that he's not playing well, but even Reiss has him in there on only three plays with only one ball being thrown his way for a 7 yard gain.

That's why i asked.

Personally, I believe Butler has never looked as bad as Arrington did yesterday. Arrington made the same mistake against Spiller that Butler did, but I've never seen Butler lose his man twice by 15 yards. So, I can't say Arrington played better than Butler yesterday.

 

[ALP]

Regarding the difference in the line-ups (7 different starters from last year):

Sunday's Starters:

Brace
Wilfork
Gerard Warren
Cunningham
Jerod Mayo
Spikes
Ninkovich
Arrington
McCourty
Patrick Chung
James Sanders


Here are the starters from week 3 last year:

Ty Warren
Vince Wilfork
Jarvis Green
Derrick Burgess
Gary Guyton
Adalius Thomas
Tully Banta-Cain
Shawn Springs
Leigh Bodden
Brandon Meriweather
Brandon McGowan

So obviously it's going to take a few games to get the timing and communication down between these guys.

owww, wilfork is the only guy that on both those lists.....

 

[Kontradiction]

You must have missed the other day when Bill says he throws the entire playbook at them at one time.

Yeah, I pointed that out to him the other day. But mav doesn't seem to want to read that. He almost seems content in his own ignorance.

 

[Coach42]

Well if you want to take an optimist's approach you got to think that his D should improve more through out the year than an older veteran D. Right? Right?????