Was this a Breakout Game by the Patriots Next Generation Defense?

Lemme see - 4 INT's (Don't sleep on those two in the 1st half when Miami was the better team).

Contain running game.

Gave up maybe two plays over 20 yards.

Limited Yards after Catch.

Show speed and hustle.

Make the opponents go back to work, practice, and get better.

Work needs to be done, but kids are getting it.

Too bad we have a bye week, I am ready to see them play on Wednesday.

defense was swiss cheese again. The 14 points Miami had was aberration.

QuinielaBox said:

Lemme see - 4 INT's (Don't sleep on those two in the 1st half when Miami was the better team).

Contain running game.

Gave up maybe two plays over 20 yards.

Limited Yards after Catch.

Show speed and hustle.

Make the opponents go back to work, practice, and get better.

Work needs to be done, but kids are getting it.

Too bad we have a bye week, I am ready to see them play on Wednesday.

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I am glad tehy have the bye week give them more time to gel and get better i feel kind for the Ravens in 2 weeks revenge aganst thema nd the bye week to prep yikes

They've come a long way since that Monday Night massacre last year. Much more to go but they've broke through in terms of performing before a national audience.

Excuse me? 400 yards given up? Hope this isn't the next gen. Defense.

Should give some of these young guys confidence that the coaches know what they're doing and to listen and play hard.
Several guys made big plays at crucial times so that should give them confidence going forward.

jbb9s said:

Excuse me? 400 yards given up? Hope this isn't the next gen. Defense.

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seriously, what F'ing game did people watch? They moved the ball on our defense at will, their WR's were open all game and converted 3rd downs at will.

I'll take the win, but this isnt the new generation defense or we're screwed.

I did see some improvements and Hopefully the young guys can take some confidence out of this game, but the D is still a work in progress. It's wasn't a great defensive effort, we did get a lot of help from Henne, but I see progress.

jbb9s said:

Excuse me? 400 yards given up? Hope this isn't the next gen. Defense.

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Yes, I agree. 400 yards of offense isnt very good. The Dolphins realistically should have had 17+ points in the 1st half but Henne's INTs were extremely costly.

What it did show is that the Pats do have some playmakers on D. There are a few things that are still concerning on D. The tackling needs to improve, there were a good amount of missed tackles tonight. Also, when the Pats blitz the secondary has a hard time covering WRs one on one and are susceptible to passes over the middle

jbb9s said:

Excuse me? 400 yards given up? Hope this isn't the next gen. Defense.

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The Pats defense in the Super Bowl era would give up tons of yards and little points. The Pats, especially in 2001, had a bend and don't break defense.

This defense will be a rollercoaster. It will have highs like this and possibly higher, but they will also have lows like the last few weeks.

Keyser Söze said:

seriously, what F'ing game did people watch? They moved the ball on our defense at will, their WR's were open all game and converted 3rd downs at will.

I'll take the win, but this isnt the new generation defense or we're screwed.

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i'll give you the third down thing but there is no need to be that negative. they made Henne rush some throws even though they were completed. the Dolphins couldn't run on them that much and they are supposed to be a good running team. I think this D is going to be very good if not great by the time the play offs come around

It's about making plays......I can cope with the yardage given up as long as the defense has a few big plays in it. This week, they were there.

The worst performance was on the Ricky Williams TD play. Aside from that, a lot of bending, but also coming up big with key turnovers. I think this is by design; Six INTS in the last 5 quarters... that's an emerging trend.

Still, I'd like to see more stops on third and long, and I think once they figure that out, watch out.

I also like what I see from Cunningham. He didn't sack the QB today, but he definitely generated pressure and never gave up.

IllegalContact; said:

It's about making plays......I can cope with the yardage given up as long as the defense has a few big plays in it. This week, they were there.

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Exactly. I'd rather the team give up 400 yards and get 2-3 turnovers vs 200 yards and no turnovers. The former far greater correlates to winning.

And frankly it's more realistic to ask this young D to make 2-3 plays in the short term than play consistent D for four quarters.

You guys complaining about this defense would've had a first-class meltdown when looking at the 2001-2005 defenses. Those teams gave up huge amounts of yardage every frikkin' game. How many yards a defense gives up only matters to fantasy football players. the real number is the points given up.

Give it a rest, OK? Jeez.......

Its about Scoring Defense not how many yards the other team puts up

It was encouraging but I wouldn't call it a breakout by any means. Expect at least a couple more 'growing pains' outings in the coming weeks. I have faith it will be very good one day though.

Keyser Söze said:

seriously, what F'ing game did people watch? They moved the ball on our defense at will, their WR's were open all game and converted 3rd downs at will.

I'll take the win, but this isnt the new generation defense or we're screwed.

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14 points is good defense, especially when you score 7 on D, plus 7 more on a punt block.
But you know, lets not let winning or losing get in the way of yardage statistics.

Rob0729 said:

This defense will be a rollercoaster. It will have highs like this and possibly higher, but they will also have lows like the last few weeks.

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Of course they will. What was pleasing for mine is that the defense and special teams made plays today. I'm still concerned with our pressure and blitzing. Confidence can't be understated and hopefully this D takes a little swagger from this game into the next.