Defense impressive

[NEPettyOfficer72]

I believe 10 sacks, 4 picks and 4 dropped picks the last two weeks along with a ton of pressures and only allowing 3 TDs is excellent without Mayo, Wilfork, and Kelly. And keep in mind, Devin McCourty and Alfonzo Dennard did not play in the game against Buffalo, and Kyle Arrington left with an injury. Additionally, did they even have film on Thad? I don't think so, and he is a mobile quarterback that escaped 3 more possible sacks. In the post season, everybody with the exception of Andrew Luck are sitting ducks and won't be able to get away and even being mobile he was still sacked 4 times. And did you know we are 4th in sacks and 9th in overall total defense with a bye, giving players time to get healthy and our staff time to game plan which nobody is better at game planning then Bill Belichick. Also note some of the players that have become playmakers this season, Sealver Siliga, Chris Jones 6 sacks for a DT, Logan Ryans 5 picks, dropped one, Jamie Collins (like what he is doing) and Duron Harmon (very good young safety) just to name a few. And I actually like linebackers as of late (Fletcher is underrated). Secondary wise, Talib is healthy and can lock down anybody, Dennard will be back, Logan Ryans is a young playmaker and McCourty is one of the premiere safeties in the game. I feel like with Ninkovich, Chandler and those guys up front they can play with the back-end as seen against Baltimore. You topple that with the fact that Matt Patricia, Pepper Johnson and Bill Belichick have been getting the most out of their players, as they have gained experienced, have enough veteran leadership (Mayo, Wilfork still travels with the team, McCourty, Ninkovich, Andre Carter) and as mentioned before are the best in game planning and I like our chances against anybody defensively, including Peyton Manning as they made him look very average in Foxboro.

 

[Rob0729]

The one thing that impresses me about this defense is how quickly they have turned their rush defense up the middle from a huge liability a month ago to a strong asset. The addition of Siliga has done wonders for the middle of that defense. Neither Jackson nor Spiller had much success running up the middle yesterday.

 

[VrabelJr]

I think we're all still a little high off an important win but our defense was between mediocre to below average yesterday. We gave up some big plays on broken plays and had some bad tackling in the outside run game. Some credit has to be given to the Bills of course. Our OL is what impressed me this game, not our defense.

 

[NEPettyOfficer72]

I think we're all still a little high off an important win but our defense was between mediocre to below average yesterday. We gave up some big plays on broken plays and had some bad tackling in the outside run game. Some credit has to be given to the Bills of course. Our OL is what impressed me this game, not our defense.

Yeah but just think man, Alfonzo Dennard and Devin McCourty were out. And we had Justin Green start for Kyle Arrington after he went out. And a Buffalo scoring drive, Sealver Siliga had a sack for a stop on third down but they called a bogus hands to the face call on Chandler Jones, which led to points. Aqib Talib, Logan Ryans and someone else can't remember who droped an interception and the defense had 4 sacks. I'd say thats very good, especially considering not alot of film on Thad and our defense will be healthier moving forward

 

[oldrover]

The run D was bad, and the 3rd down D was bad.

Both would improve with McCourty and Dennard returning. Hopefully that happens.

 

[dales804]

Yeah but just think man, Alfonzo Dennard and Devin McCourty were out. And we had Justin Green start for Kyle Arrington after he went out. And a Buffalo scoring drive, Sealver Siliga had a sack for a stop on third down but they called a bogus hands to the face call on Chandler Jones, which led to points. Aqib Talib, Logan Ryans and someone else can't remember who droped an interception and the defense had 4 sacks. I'd say thats very good, especially considering not alot of film on Thad and our defense will be healthier moving forward

To be fair, Green played one snap for Arrington yesterday and had good coverage on it. I am quite impressed with Siliga. He has played pretty well in the middle and has had a sack now in three straight games.

 

[dales804]

The run D was bad, and the 3rd down D was bad.

Both would improve with McCourty and Dennard returning. Hopefully that happens.

Granted I didn't get to watch the game as closely as I wanted to but BUF was 4/13 on 3rd down conversions (and 0/3 on 4th). I don't consider that bad. The run D could have been better, you are correct.

 

[Rob0729]

The run D was bad, and the 3rd down D was bad.

Both would improve with McCourty and Dennard returning. Hopefully that happens.

The Bills only converted 4 of 13 third downs yesterday 30.7%. Not a great defensive third down performance, but definitely above average.

And although the Bills rushed for 169 yards, I never thought the run defense was all that bad yesterday. Spiller got 24 of his 105 yards on a broken play. The middle of the defense played very well against the run. The Pats did get burnt too much outside.

The good news is the Pats probably won't face a good outside runner on the AFC side of the playoffs. Most of the guys they could face are more north/south runners.

 

[oldrover]

Don't confuse me with facts! LOL...

Seemed like the Bills were converting 3rd and long all day... guess my memory was skewed by my, er, fanaticism.

 

[hambone1818]

Run D wasn't terrible, but given their improvements late in the year it was definitely sub-par. I thought they were fine on 3rd down and came up with some huge 4th down stops too.

Gotta cross our fingers taht with the bye week the secondary can get healthy...Dennard, Talib, McCourty and Arrington are as vital to their postseason chances as anyone, hopefully they'll be ready to rock in 12 days.

 

[jmt57]

The raw numbers may not reflect it, but the defense did come through in crucial times.

Specifically, one area that many have commented on that has been an area of concern is the third down defense. Entering the game the Patriots ranked 28th in the NFL, allowing opponents to convert on 43% of their third down plays.

Sunday the New England defense limited Buffalo to just four conversions on 16 third and fourth down attempts. Granted was a Bills offense in heavy rain with a backup quarterback, but holding Buffalo in those situations is certainly an encouraging sign.