November 7, 2007
Defensive look
By Mike Reiss, Globe Staff
From time to time, we'll take a look at defensive snaps of Patriots players. Here is how it looked Sunday against the Colts, with the most notable aspect the low number of snaps for Adalius Thomas:
(note: snaps include 2 defensive pass interference penalties; 1 illegal contact penalty; 1 drawn holding penalty)
S/CB Randall Gay -- 65 of 65 snaps
S/LB Rodney Harrison -- 65 of 65
CB Asante Samuel -- 65 of 65
S James Sanders -- 65 of 65
CB Ellis Hobbs -- 61 of 65
OLB Mike Vrabel -- 60 of 65
DE/DT Ty Warren -- 54 of 65
DE/DT Jarvis Green -- 51 of 65
DE/DT Richard Seymour -- 42 of 65
DT Vince Wilfork -- 42 of 65
ILB Junior Seau -- 39 of 65
OLB/DE Rosevelt Colvin -- 35 of 65
ILB Tedy Bruschi -- 26 of 65
OLB/DE Adalius Thomas -- 19 of 65
S Rashad Baker -- 17 of 65
DE/DT Mike Wright -- 9 of 65
S Brandon Meriweather -- 1 of 65
ANALYSIS: Adalius Thomas was on the field for three of the Colts' 10 series -- the final two of the first half and the final series of the game. That meant he was on the sidelines for the first five possessions of the second half. He played once in a 3-3-5 alignment as a defensive end. His final two series came in the team's 1-4-6 dime package. ... As the numbers reflect, it was a monster effort from the team's defensive backs, four of whom went wire to wire -- Randall Gay, Rodney Harrison, Asante Samuel and James Sanders. ... Hobbs missed a few plays after he was apparently shaken up on a kickoff return. ... Four-year veteran Rashad Baker was the sixth defensive back over rookie first-round pick Brandon Meriweather. ... One factor that might have contributed to some of the strong pass rush the Patriots generated late in the game was how players were conserved along the way. Rosevelt Colvin, in particular, seemed to be fresh and it makes sense -- he played just 11 of 36 snaps in the first half -- and only six of the first 12 in the second -- before his strong finishing kick in playing 17 of the game's final 18 snaps.
