Pass Defense -Not as Bad as You Think

[slash83]

Pep Johnson "more than pleased" with the pass rush

BostonHerald.com - Blogs: Rap Sheet» Blog Archive » Why Patriots DL coach Pepper Johnson is “more than” pleased (really) with his pass-rush…


One interesting note from Rapport is where he mentions the 3 step drops opposing qb's are taking which makes it more difficult to get to the qb.

 

[Zeus]

The conventional wisdom (and opinion of many on this board) is that NE has far and away the worst pass defense in the league. The customary ranking is based on passing yards allowed. NE ranks last with 1475 yards through 4 games.

Let's compare NE with the Dream Team Philadelphia Eagles.

The Eagles have given up 871 yards passing through week 4, ranking them 11th in the league. Obviously better than the embarrassingly woeful Patriots, right?

The Eagles superior pass rush (15 sacks, ranked #1) has to be a huge advantage relative to NE (6 sacks, tied for 25th). And the Eagles feature CBs Asante Samuel and Nmandi Asomugha, widely considered to be the most talented tandem in football.

Here's the surprise ending.

Opponents passer rating: Eagles 106.7 (32nd) NE 91.0 (20th)

TDs allowed: Eagles 10 (32nd) NE 7 (T 10th)

Interceptions: Eagles 2 (24th) NE 7 (T 3rd).​

The Eagles have the talent and the pass rush that the Patriots lack yet the results are demonstrably worse in the most important areas.

(By the way, old friend Asante Samuel was brutal last week, giving up an easy TD to Josh Morgan and getting run over by Frank Gore for the game winning TD. This prompted a memorable (and ironic) quote from none other than Deion Sanders: "If you can't cover, you have to tackle. If you can't tackle, you have to cover. But you can't not do both." Who still misses Asante?)

One other quick note - guess who has the 31st ranked pass defense with 1343 yards allowed. That would be the consensus best team in the league Green Bay Packers. What do they have in common with NE? They're just about always ahead.

In today's NFL, the rules are stacked against the defense. The heightened protections for QBs and "defenseless" receivers have clearly exacerbated the situation. Most teams are having trouble playing pass defense.

Things aren't always as simple as they appear. Recognizing that pass defense is definitely an area the 2011 Patriots must improve, I'm not all that convinced that the situation is as dire as many here believe.

 

[Patriots Nation NY]

Eye test says they are horrible ..

 

[SONS_OF_BELICHICK]

stats are for losers.......the only important numbers are in the W category....


Lets go Pats......time to stick it to Gang Green

 

[Horace's Ivories]

Re: Pep Johnson "more than pleased" with the pass rush

some pretty funny comments to the article

 

[PATSYLICIOUS]

I'm a homer and I believe in this defense, but the pass defense is awful right now. Have we held any QB's to under 300 yards yet? We haven't even faced any elite QB's aside from Rivers.

The good news is that it's better to have a bad pass defense than to have a bad run defense. If you can stop the run, you always have a shot in this league. The pass D will hopefully improve with the return of AH/Dowling/Bodden and some more seasoning.

 

[Shockt327]

Re: Pep Johnson "more than pleased" with the pass rush

Sorry, but I'm totally not seeing it. Even if they aren't getting a sack, when I look at guys like Freeny or even Trent Cole -- there is a certain relentless pursuit; even on plays where it looks like, the latter, is simply playing contain. We need guys who can collapse the pocket. We don't have it.

 

[BSR]

Even if you don't think its the worst its still pretty bad. Hopefully they can improve.

 

[D-Money]

Its bad!!!Dont give me stats.The eagles will improve.I am worry about this team improving from game to game.

 

[Deus Irae]

Re: Pep Johnson "more than pleased" with the pass rush

The pass defense has been awful, and receivers have been getting burned deep plenty, meaning QBs have time in the pocket and are dropping more than 3 steps on plenty of occasions.

Instead of investing foolish energy into pretending everyone is seeing something that's not actually happening, the homers should be spending their energy being happy that the team is 3-1 despite the poor play of the defense, and hoping for significant improvement over the course of the year instead of the sort of window dressing we saw in 2010.

Last year apparently wasn't enough for some of you to figure it out.

 

[D-Money]

I for once wanna see one of our CBs turn their backs and see the damn football.They have poor technique.

 

[mgteich]

Re: Pep Johnson "more than pleased" with the pass rush

Oh, that terrible 14-2 team that was 6th in scoring defense for the last half of the year.
We need to improve from last year if we want to win the conference, but let's now make believe that we were awful last year.

BTW, I believe that if the playoffs began today, the patriots would be favored to win the conference by many; others would choose the ravens. My point that this team is close to being the best, right now. If we improve during the year, we will be strongly favored to win the conference.

The pass defense has been awful, and receivers have been getting burned deep plenty, meaning QBs have time in the pocket and are dropping more than 3 steps on plenty of occasions.

Instead of investing foolish energy into pretending everyone is seeing something that's not actually happening, the homers should be spending their energy being happy that the team is 3-1 despite the poor play of the defense, and hoping for significant improvement over the course of the year instead of the sort of window dressing we saw in 2010.

Last year apparently wasn't enough for some of you to figure it out.

 

[Mountain_Commando]

NE ranks last with 1475 yards through 4 games.

Let's compare NE with the Dream Team Philadelphia Eagles.

The Eagles have given up 871 yards passing through week 4, ranking them 11th in the league. Obviously better than the embarrassingly woeful Patriots, right?

The Eagles superior pass rush (15 sacks, ranked #1) has to be a huge advantage relative to NE (6 sacks, tied for 25th). And the Eagles feature CBs Asante Samuel and Nmandi Asomugha, widely considered to be the most talented tandem in football.

Here's the surprise ending.

Opponents passer rating: Eagles 106.7 (32nd) NE 91.0 (20th)

TDs allowed: Eagles 10 (32nd) NE 7 (T 10th)

Interceptions: Eagles 2 (24th) NE 7 (T 3rd).​

One other quick note - guess who has the 31st ranked pass defense with 1343 yards allowed. That would be the consensus best team in the league Green Bay Packers. What do they have in common with NE? They're just about always ahead.

Wow, those are some thought provoking points. Good post.

 

[Brady_to_Moss]

Bend but don't break

 

[jsull87]

The conventional wisdom (and opinion of many on this board) is that NE has far and away the worst pass defense in the league. The customary ranking is based on passing yards allowed. NE ranks last with 1475 yards through 4 games.

Let's compare NE with the Dream Team Philadelphia Eagles.

The Eagles have given up 871 yards passing through week 4, ranking them 11th in the league. Obviously better than the embarrassingly woeful Patriots, right?

The Eagles superior pass rush (15 sacks, ranked #1) has to be a huge advantage relative to NE (6 sacks, tied for 25th). And the Eagles feature CBs Asante Samuel and Nmandi Asomugha, widely considered to be the most talented tandem in football.

Here's the surprise ending.

Opponents passer rating: Eagles 106.7 (32nd) NE 91.0 (20th)

TDs allowed: Eagles 10 (32nd) NE 7 (T 10th)

Interceptions: Eagles 2 (24th) NE 7 (T 3rd).​

The Eagles have the talent and the pass rush that the Patriots lack yet the results are demonstrably worse in the most important areas.

(By the way, old friend Asante Samuel was brutal last week, giving up an easy TD to Josh Morgan and getting run over by Frank Gore for the game winning TD. This prompted a memorable (and ironic) quote from none other than Deion Sanders: "If you can't cover, you have to tackle. If you can't tackle, you have to cover. But you can't not do both." Who still misses Asante?)

One other quick note - guess who has the 31st ranked pass defense with 1343 yards allowed. That would be the consensus best team in the league Green Bay Packers. What do they have in common with NE? They're just about always ahead.

In today's NFL, the rules are stacked against the defense. The heightened protections for QBs and "defenseless" receivers have clearly exacerbated the situation. Most teams are having trouble playing pass defense.

Things aren't always as simple as they appear. Recognizing that pass defense is definitely an area the 2011 Patriots must improve, I'm not all that convinced that the situation is as dire as many here believe.

This is a tremendous post and puts our Defense in harsh perspective. We are not the Ravens... but we are not the worst D in the league. I should copy and paste this every time someone goes on about pass yards given up.

 

[Sciz]

Andre Carter wasn't lying when he said the DL was "almost there." A little bit of improvement in the back end could do wonders for that line's production.

 

[D-Money]

They sure play like the worse in the league.They give up huge plays in the passing game.I havent seen anything yet to make me think they are improving.

 

[Deus Irae]

Re: Pep Johnson "more than pleased" with the pass rush

Oh, that terrible 14-2 team that was 6th in scoring defense for the last half of the year.
We need to improve from last year if we want to win the conference, but let's now make believe that we were awful last year.

BTW, I believe that if the playoffs began today, the patriots would be favored to win the conference by many; others would choose the ravens. My point that this team is close to being the best, right now. If we improve during the year, we will be strongly favored to win the conference.

Did you really crack out the scoring defense from last year as your argument?

Seriously?


Dude, the team scrapped last year's defense, got rid of 2 of 3 starting safeties, brought in a bunch of 4-3 pass rushers, and drafted yet another cornerback. You can pretend that last year's defense was something other than fool's gold if you want to, but Belichick, and a lot of others, knew better.

 

[Patriot Missile]

The conventional wisdom (and opinion of many on this board) is that NE has far and away the worst pass defense in the league. The customary ranking is based on passing yards allowed. NE ranks last with 1475 yards through 4 games.

Let's compare NE with the Dream Team Philadelphia Eagles.

The Eagles have given up 871 yards passing through week 4, ranking them 11th in the league. Obviously better than the embarrassingly woeful Patriots, right?

The Eagles superior pass rush (15 sacks, ranked #1) has to be a huge advantage relative to NE (6 sacks, tied for 25th). And the Eagles feature CBs Asante Samuel and Nmandi Asomugha, widely considered to be the most talented tandem in football.

Here's the surprise ending.

Opponents passer rating: Eagles 106.7 (32nd) NE 91.0 (20th)

TDs allowed: Eagles 10 (32nd) NE 7 (T 10th)

Interceptions: Eagles 2 (24th) NE 7 (T 3rd).​

The Eagles have the talent and the pass rush that the Patriots lack yet the results are demonstrably worse in the most important areas.

(By the way, old friend Asante Samuel was brutal last week, giving up an easy TD to Josh Morgan and getting run over by Frank Gore for the game winning TD. This prompted a memorable (and ironic) quote from none other than Deion Sanders: "If you can't cover, you have to tackle. If you can't tackle, you have to cover. But you can't not do both." Who still misses Asante?)

One other quick note - guess who has the 31st ranked pass defense with 1343 yards allowed. That would be the consensus best team in the league Green Bay Packers. What do they have in common with NE? They're just about always ahead.

In today's NFL, the rules are stacked against the defense. The heightened protections for QBs and "defenseless" receivers have clearly exacerbated the situation. Most teams are having trouble playing pass defense.

Things aren't always as simple as they appear. Recognizing that pass defense is definitely an area the 2011 Patriots must improve, I'm not all that convinced that the situation is as dire as many here believe.

They are allowing 139 yds per game against the run. Teams are using the run to set up the pass against them which puts Samuel and Aso at a disadvantage while committing to run support. Those LB's are not very good and either are there guys in the middle of the line. What I will agree with is sacks are sometimes an inflated stat. Many here are driven to them like flys on $^&*. Philly does lead the league with 15 sacks which isn't saying much considering the amount of points and yards allowed +wins so far. You would figure with 15 sacks you would have more than 2 forced fumbles?

Wilfork has as many INTS as their whole team for whatever reason those sacks aren't equating to turnovers or stopping drives. While our crap defense that can't sack the QB has 7 ints which completely turned the tide back to our favor are a very good 3-1.

As many have stated maybe defenses can't evolve fast enough to completely stop opposing offenses. Might be true but at the end of the day as long as you outscore the other team and win the game your defense did enough to win the game.

 

[ausbacker]

Everything that people queried about the Eagles defense (and offense for that matter) has become endemic and problematic through a quarter of the season. It certainly gives you hope that despite the injuries and problems with performances of the defensive backs, there is hope that the Pats D will come good at some point this season.

I wanted to see one thing on the weekend and the Pats D shutdown McFadden.