Well written article on the defensive scheme.

[Brady6]

I wanted to share what I thought was an excellent article by Oliver Thomas of NEPD, he really does a nice job outlining the defensive scheme, and how it has evolved over the years under Belichick, highlighting specifically how Belichick has begun using these 4-3 under and 4-3 over formations which incorporate the best of both worlds as far as odd and even alignments.

The Essential Faces of the New England Patriots Defensive Front | NEPatriotsDraft.com - 2013 NFL Draft

I anticipate that this season are nickel and dime packages will begin to embody some of the flexibility that the base sets have taken on over the past 3 years; recently we’ve been basically only using a 4-2-5 nickel and a 4-1-6 dime, this season I expect them to work in some 3-3-5 and 1-5-5 nickel fronts, as well as some 2-3-6 and 1-4-6 dime packages. I hope we see a lot more organized chaos with players like Hightower, Collins, Ninkovich, and Buchanan standing all over the field and coming from all over.

 

[supafly]

Thanks for sharing, buddy.

I'm still trying to build up a better knowledge of these specifics, so articles like this offer guys like me something for sure.

 

[Brady6]

Thanks for sharing, buddy.

I'm still trying to build up a better knowledge of these specifics, so articles like this offer guys like me something for sure.

I hear you buddy, in my free time I really try and study as much of the schemes as possible, my son is 3 years old so I am hoping that by the time he is ready to play pee wee football his dumb, dumb of a father will be able to contribute in some form as an assistant coach, or H20 distributer.

 

[JoeSixPat]

I wanted to share what I thought was an excellent article by Oliver Thomas of NEPD, he really does a nice job outlining the defensive scheme, and how it has evolved over the years under Belichick, highlighting specifically how Belichick has begun using these 4-3 under and 4-3 over formations which incorporate the best of both worlds as far as odd and even alignments.

The Essential Faces of the New England Patriots Defensive Front | NEPatriotsDraft.com - 2013 NFL Draft

I anticipate that this season are nickel and dime packages will begin to embody some of the flexibility that the base sets have taken on over the past 3 years; recently we’ve been basically only using a 4-2-5 nickel and a 4-1-6 dime, this season I expect them to work in some 3-3-5 and 1-5-5 nickel fronts, as well as some 2-3-6 and 1-4-6 dime packages. I hope we see a lot more organized chaos with players like Hightower, Collins, Ninkovich, and Buchanan standing all over the field and coming from all over.

Good read - I liked the input he compiled from various watchers and transcripts of Belichick himself

There's a lot of factors at play - some are within BB's control - others - like available personnel and health of players - are beyond his control, yet he retains the flexibility to run certain base offenses.

At a fundamental level, everyone has a role to play and is expected to play that role regardless of where they were drafted or how much they are paid.

Ideally he has the personnel to create mismatches in various "situational football"

I don't think you can argue that BB is among the best - if not THE best when it comes to developing a winnable scheme - but whether the players execute is often beyond his control.

Looking across to the offense at TE demonstrates this with BB's obsession with drafting and finding a strong two TE set. Given the available personnell and health however BB may stray from that this year (and in many ways I hope he will - spreading the field that much more)