This week's Defensive Snaps..

[DarrylS]

According to Reiss, interesting to see who is ascending.. looks like Cunningham, Butler and Page are getting more snaps..

Maybe Reiss & Staff will come up with what has changed over the past 12 games...

New England Patriots Blog - ESPN Boston

CB Kyle Arrington -- 65 of 65
LB Jerod Mayo -- 65 of 65
S Brandon Meriweather -- 64 of 65
CB Devin McCourty -- 62 of 65
LB/DE Jermaine Cunningham -- 61 of 65
DL Vince Wilfork -- 51 of 65
DL Gerard Warren -- 45 of 65
CB Darius Butler -- 42 of 65
OLB/DE Tully Banta-Cain -- 40 of 65
LB Gary Guyton -- 39 of 65
S James Sanders -- 36 of 65
S Jarrad Page -- 28 of 65
S Patrick Chung -- 26 of 65
DL Ron Brace -- 25 of 65
LB Brandon Spikes -- 23 of 65
LB/DE Rob Ninkovich -- 22 of 65
DL Kyle Love -- 14 of 65
LB Dane Fletcher -- 7 of 65

 

[IllegalContact]

looks like the early lead gave many more snaps to the nickel and dime packages.

 

[mgteich]

I prefer the last two games with a corner (Butler) as our nickel back instead of Chung.

Per Reiss, Deaderick was a healthy scratch on Thanksgiving and didn't play a defensive snap on Monday. It is not clear what happened to our "starting" DE, especially with Wright and Pryor out.

 

[ALP]

looks like the early lead gave many more snaps to the nickel and dime packages.

i would agree

also of note, from the 4 safeties, chung played least, wonder why

seems as if meriweather, however much we (and I) berate him really is our best safety, the guy in on the field ALL the tiem

Jermaine's counts are increasing, but ninko's going down

wilfork played a heck of a lot

butler has regained BB's confidence, being in on a lot of snaps (even if not starting)

 

[mgteich]

For a few weeks Chung was getting lots of reps as a nickel or dime back. That has stopped in the last couple of weeks. Butler is our nickel. I believe Sanders is our dime back (and secondary captain). Also, Page was given some reps which also took away from Chung's reps.

And yes, it seems that Belichick values Meriweather much more than those on this board do (as has usually been this case for both Meriweather and Sanders).

Don't get me wrong, Chung has had an awesome year. However, he is just one of the safeties in the mix for the patriots, depending on scheme and game plan.

i would agree

also of note, from the 4 safeties, chung played least, wonder why

seems as if meriweather, however much we (and I) berate him really is our best safety, the guy in on the field ALL the tiem

Jermaine's counts are increasing, but ninko's going down

wilfork played a heck of a lot

butler has regained BB's confidence, being in on a lot of snaps (even if not starting)

 

[Sicilian]

Butler seems to be regaining some favor with Bill, but let's not forget there's no other corner behind him. With Wheatley gone and Wilhite hurt, we have McCourty, Arrington, and Butler. So if Butler's not playing the nickel, we're forced to use a 3rd safety, which may not be ideal against all opponents.

That said, I'm seeing better things out of Butler than we saw earlier in the season, and I can't remember any time he was beaten in the Jets game despite 42 snaps. Hopefully he's on the upswing.

 

[mgteich]

Both Chung and Sanders have had a lot of work at nickel this year.

Butler seems to be regaining some favor with Bill, but let's not forget there's no other corner behind him. With Wheatley gone and Wilhite hurt, we have McCourty, Arrington, and Butler. So if Butler's not playing the nickel, we're forced to use a 3rd safety, which may not be ideal against all opponents.

That said, I'm seeing better things out of Butler than we saw earlier in the season, and I can't remember any time he was beaten in the Jets game despite 42 snaps. Hopefully he's on the upswing.

 

[Sicilian]

Both Chung and Sanders have had a lot of work at nickel this year.

Right, which is why Butler's improvement and increased playing time are related. But again, I'm sure there are players that BB doesn't think a safety can cover effectively, and if Wilhite were here he might still be taking those 3rd corner reps, it's hard to say.

 

[RayClay]

I don't think Chung is 100%. Both being healthy, i think he would get more snaps than Page, they are similar.

 

[Anj]

It's nice to see Butler getting more time. My hope is that he can keep progressing enough to be a good third corner next year when Bodden returns.

I also like having three solid OLB's in Banta-Cain, Cunningham, and Ninko and having three solid ILB's in Mayo, Spikes and Guyton.

Maybe the defense doesn't have a whole lot of what people may call superstars, but they have the personnel to adapt to most offenses with a wide variety of talents from different players