Curran:Will defense betray the Patriots in the end?

[SVN]

Patriots defense | Comcast SportsNet - CSNNE.com

 

[slash83]

It is a possibility, with such a young defense it is unfair to expect them to play every week like they did vs the Jets and Bears. There going to have more better games than bad ones, but the bad ones will rear their ugly head at some point as it did vs GB. Encouraging though that they were still able to make a play to finish GB off.

 

[PATRIOTSFANINPA]

Since 2001,Defenses that give up 6,000 yards in a season are 80-179

No team in NFL in the past 10 years has had a regular season record better than 8-8 giving up this size of yardage to offenses but this years Pats team is on its way to being the first to do so
Talk about timely mistakes from the opponents

Will defense betray Patriots in the end?

 

[BradyFTW!]

Re: Since 2001,Defenses that give up 6,000 yards in a season are 80-179

Just goes to show how meaningless of a stat total yards are. Look at games like the Steelers and the Bengals: the game was over in both cases by the early third quarter, then the opposing team marched up the field at will against prevent D for the second half. In those two games, Palmer and Rapelisberger threw for 732 yards combined, and they were virtually all garbage yards that occurred while the defense was largely doing its job

 

[PATRIOTSFANINPA]

Re: Since 2001,Defenses that give up 6,000 yards in a season are 80-179

Just goes to show how meaningless of a stat total yards are. Look at games like the Steelers and the Bengals: the game was over in both cases by the early third quarter, then the opposing team marched up the field at will against prevent D for the second half. In those two games, Palmer and Rapelisberger threw for 732 yards combined, and they were virtually all garbage yards that occurred while the defense was largely doing its job

Yep,12-2 has a way of having a great argument over that

 

[fair catch fryar]

Patriots defense | Comcast SportsNet - CSNNE.com

This is a great article. In fact, I wish everyone in the national and Boston media would start questioning the defense's ability and cast them as a liability and put a great, big 'ol chip on their shoulder for the rest of the season.

 

[DarrylS]

Captain Obvious makes some obvious albeit redundant points..

What he fails to neglect are the 29 takeaways...

Everyone is concerned about the D, but for some reason... we are 12-2...

 

[PatriotsReign]

Patriots defense | Comcast SportsNet - CSNNE.com

"Will defense betray the Patriots in the end?"

No....it will not.

 

[PatsFan2]

They might be the worst Defense Statistically but one thing of note they all can Catch. A testiment to their fine Coaching, hey some of the better Defenses don't get alot of picks. How many times have our Defense gotten a pick that changed the complextion of the game. Cashing in on turnovers can make a Defense better that they Statistically are.

 

[HEY BRO! WHAT UP?]

I didn't bother to read the article but I will say this...

I've been down on this defense for 5 years and they're finally doing something consistently they haven't done in that time span - win games.

Did Curran not watch what the defense did on the final drive of Sunday night's game?

How about against Buffalo?

How about them taking over the game in Miami and Pittsburgh?

Did they not see how the Pats defense capitalize on San Diego's stupidity?

What about taking out the Jets and Bears in consecutive weeks?

What about stopping Manning and the Colts on their final drive?

This isn't a defense that get's discouraged easily and starts looking around confused when they give up leads or game ending touchdowns like in season's past.

This is a new team, new blood, whatever the heck you want to call it.

This isn't a team that is only looking for paydays.

This defense reminds me a lot like the 2006 Colts defense - terrible statistically but created a lot of timely turnovers.

If you can give Brady and the offense a bunch of turnovers, the opposition is done!

When the Pats wrap up home field, I don't see a team in the AFC that will be a threat.

However, a team like the Eagles or Saints and maybe the Falcons could frustrate this young defense.

So will they fail in the end?

I don't know, but their track record for this season says no.

 

[PatsFan2]

This defense reminds me a lot like the 2006 Colts defense - terrible statistically but created a lot of timely turnovers.

Don't you mean that Colts Team that beat us in the AFC-CG and went on to defeat Chicago in the SB? Because i was thinking the same thing.

 

[Tunescribe]

What concerns me is how this defense will do in the playoffs against a team that has seen it already (Ravens/Colts/Chargers/Steelers). But a bye and playing at home should help.

 

[Ring 6]

Re: Since 2001,Defenses that give up 6,000 yards in a season are 80-179

No team in NFL in the past 10 years has had a regular season record better than 8-8 giving up this size of yardage to offenses but this years Pats team is on its way to being the first to do so
Talk about timely mistakes from the opponents

Will defense betray Patriots in the end?

But thats not really the case. A lot of the yards were allowed with big leads when frankly they were meaningless.
Yards that dont add to points are not as relevant as yards that result in points, and yards that result in points when you lead by 3 scores not as relevant as yards that result in points in a tie game.
This is the reason that UNDERLYING statistics are not a better gauge of how good a team is (and a team is only as good as its abilty to win, no more no less) than the actual results of winning and losing.
For some reason sports fans in this country want to think they can judge what statistics have the most to do with winning and losing when in fact the weight on different categories is different from team to team, season to season and game to game.

 

[Ring 6]

What concerns me is how this defense will do in the playoffs against a team that has seen it already (Ravens/Colts/Chargers/Steelers). But a bye and playing at home should help.

Not sure why you have that particular concern.
I see it the other way. Those offenses are what they are and the Pat D has seen them, but the Pat d is growing and changing week to week.

 

[RobertWeathers]

Don't you mean that Colts Team that beat us in the AFC-CG and went on to defeat Chicago in the SB? Because i was thinking the same thing.

We discussed the parallels a couple of months ago in a different thread.

2006 Colts- SB Champions

The Bad
Allowed 22.5 ppg
21st in yards allowed
30th in yards allowed per play
32nd in 3rd down defense.
32nd in rushing yards and ypc.
31st in rushing TDs allowed
30th in comp %
20th in INTs
30th in sacks
28th in 1st downs allowed

The Good
5th in passing TD allowed
15th in Qb Rating
2nd in passing yards allowed
2nd in yards per comp.
1st in fewest pass plays > 20 yrds
6th in forced fumbles

My take: They kept everything in front of them. Sounds familiar?

 

[ctpatsfan77]

Re: Since 2001,Defenses that give up 6,000 yards in a season are 80-179

But thats not really the case. A lot of the yards were allowed with big leads when frankly they were meaningless.
Yards that dont add to points are not as relevant as yards that result in points, and yards that result in points when you lead by 3 scores not as relevant as yards that result in points in a tie game.
This is the reason that UNDERLYING statistics are not a better gauge of how good a team is (and a team is only as good as its abilty to win, no more no less) than the actual results of winning and losing.
For some reason sports fans in this country want to think they can judge what statistics have the most to do with winning and losing when in fact the weight on different categories is different from team to team, season to season and game to game.

The only thing that's truly p***ed me off this season is going into prevent against Peyton Manning. If you attack, he's going to go for the big yards, if you don't, he's still going to go for the big yards.

 

[RayClay]

Will we be vulnerable to the run with only three Defensive linemen and no Spikes? Duh?

Let's look at a laundry list of statistics instead of watching how they're getting it done each game and how they will continue, if they are healthy.

 

[RayClay]

Re: Since 2001,Defenses that give up 6,000 yards in a season are 80-179

The only thing that's truly p***ed me off this season is going into prevent against Peyton Manning. If you attack, he's going to go for the big yards, if you don't, he's still going to go for the big yards.

If you attack, he'll pass for 6 touchdowns. That's just so ridiculous. Let's send the house and depend on our total of three cornerbacks, [a rook, an UDFA and a 2nd year demotee] to stop Manning. No problem, he's not really a good passer.

*It's all right, Boston's not much of a college town*[/SpinalTap]

Reality check... Manning had beaten us five out of the last 6 meetings.

Our "prevent defense" (it was hardly that) held him to a long pass of 28 yards (including YAC) we intercepted him 3 times and we won!

 

[Ring 6]

Re: Since 2001,Defenses that give up 6,000 yards in a season are 80-179

The only thing that's truly p***ed me off this season is going into prevent against Peyton Manning. If you attack, he's going to go for the big yards, if you don't, he's still going to go for the big yards.

It was about more than the pass coverage calls.
The pf penalty was 15 yards of a 60 yard drive. (or something like that)
The draw play was almost half the yardage of another drive.
The offense didnt stay on the field very long in between any of those drives.
Pretty much from the point where the comeback started up until the Int, pretty much every single thing went prefectly for the Colts, and they still almost ran out of time. Play that style of defense 100 times, and they run out of time 95 of them. That is not the makings of bad strategy.

 

[Ring 6]

We discussed the parallels a couple of months ago in a different thread.

2006 Colts- SB Champions

The Bad
Allowed 22.5 ppg
21st in yards allowed
30th in yards allowed per play
32nd in 3rd down defense.
32nd in rushing yards and ypc.
31st in rushing TDs allowed
30th in comp %
20th in INTs
30th in sacks
28th in 1st downs allowed

The Good
5th in passing TD allowed
15th in Qb Rating
2nd in passing yards allowed
2nd in yards per comp.
1st in fewest pass plays > 20 yrds
6th in forced fumbles

My take: They kept everything in front of them. Sounds familiar?

They also played substantially better in the playoffs than at any point in the regular season, particularly vs the run.