Does practicing against an elite O benefit the D?

[pdangle]

After today's scuff-up between Solder and Spikes, it made me wonder if BB unleashing of the O on the less talented D is perhaps causing a bit of bad blood as the defense (presumably) takes in on the chin.

TB's competitiveness must ignite the rest of the veteran O. The poor D are probably wondering what's going on as they try to get their bearings, integrate some new faces and gel for the upcoming season.

However whether they like it or not, it must benefit the D trenendously practicing against a fired up high level offense play after play. You'd think it would at least accelerate their development among other things. I guess it just sucks to be them for a couple weeks

 

[TyronePoole]

yeah I'm torn on this. On the one hand they get to go up against the best Offense in the NFL every day, sort of like warm up swings with a weighted bat. On the other hand it can't be very confidence-building to take batting practice and constantly strike out.

p.s. I'm very proud of this metaphor.

 

[ausbacker]

Assuming they qualify, the Patriots Defense will face good Offenses in the playoffs.

 

[pherein]

Well yes of course it does. But one has to remember training camp is not reality. It just builds muscle memory.

 

[Advil]

The offense is always great because they're forced to be held to Brady's standard. If the D is forced to also accept the whole "good isn't good enough" mentality that Brady embodies, then it might work out just as well.

 

[GrogansArmy]

At the very least they'll be better prepared for better O's out there. If they can find even one thing, however small, to be positive about while going up against our O they can build upon it and know that they've faced the best and everyone else won't be as tough.

 

[doesntmatter1]

It has to. I also wondered about mccourty. No one could throw the deep ball against him his rookie year and then in year 2 without moss on the team everyone had pretty good success with deep balls against him.

 

[Salva135]

In theory, it should. Does it work the other way? Have Flacco and Alex Smith benefited from going up against their respective defenses? Perhaps.

Then again, Sanchez goes up against Revis all week...

 

[randomk1]

Well...some guys on our D have gone up against that O for years now. Just a thought.

But i honestly can't see how it is a bad thing. If you're beating up on a bad O all you might get out of it is a false sense of security.

 

[Salva135]

Thinking about this issue makes me all the more excited about the upcoming joint practices with the Saints and Bucs. It will be an exponentially better learning and evaluation tool for both the offense and defense. I have no idea why teams don't do it more often. And we're doing it twice. Love it.

 

[randomk1]

Thinking about this issue makes me all the more excited about the upcoming joint practices with the Saints and Bucs. It will be an exponentially better learning and evaluation tool for both the offense and defense. I have no idea why teams don't do it more often. And we're doing it twice. Love it.

Yeah and i'm sure the players like it aswell.

 

[patsfan13]

Thinking about this issue makes me all the more excited about the upcoming joint practices with the Saints and Bucs. It will be an exponentially better learning and evaluation tool for both the offense and defense. I have no idea why teams don't do it more often. And we're doing it twice. Love it.

The Saints are an elite O that will be a good measuring stick to see how the D is progressing.

 

[moosekill]

I'm sorry, but even asking this question is perhaps the silliest thread I have ever seen on this board.

Would you prefer we bring in a high school team for them to play?

 

[Deus Irae]

Just to point out....


The defense went against an elite offense last year, too.

 

[Boomer B]

You would think it would help but the D hasn't been very good for a few years.

From what i've read K. Arrington has gone up against W. Welker in the slot many times in training camp, and continually gets beat. At the end of the day if he isn't talented enough to stay with Welker, it doesn't matter how many times he goes up against him. The way to improve on D is to upgrade the talent level, which it looks like they did last draft.

 

[Kontradiction]

I bet Brady wishes he could go up against our secondary every game of his career.

 

[jmt57]

I follow the logic of how a defense going up a great offense (or an offense going up against a great defense) should make it better, but I'm not seeing those results in the recent past. The defenses of the Patriots, Packers and Saints were not anything special last year, nor was the offense of the Ravens or the 49ers.

 

[sly24]

100% it does. What happens to the defense in practice and how much they get beat up is the worst that can happen for them. An average O in a real game will seem slow compared to what they're used to.

 

[aluminum seats]

I think it's an interesting question. What strikes me is how you pretty much always see the coaching staff getting the most out of guys, coaching them up...except for the conerbacks sometimes. Eugene Wilson, McCourty, Butler...these are the only Pats I can think of who have regressed (hopefully McCourty bounces back). Cornerbacks need confidence after all.

At the end of the day, talent wins out. But there might be a little something there.

 

[Patjew]

Obviously not.