The Official Patriots vs Broncos POST game thread

When Dowling was in he was playing Safety in the nickel S/LB role that Wilson usually plays.

For those that do not have NFL Game Pass or a DVR, the Pats - Broncos game will be replayed on the NFL Network Tuesday night at 9:30 p.m.

chris_in_sunnyvale said:

Arrington finished 2011 as their best cover corner

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Certainly you jest. Arrington is, perhaps, their "worst" cover corner and that is one reason he plays mostly inside now instead of on the outside corner where he was severely beaten for the long completions game after game after game. No wonder Belichick pulled him off of that position.

Even inside, he is a pitiful cover defensive back. If you bother to take the time and go back and look at his seven interceptions last season, you would see that he was beaten badly on five of them and was fortunate to be standing in wide open spaces, out of position, when tipped or overthrown balls landed in his arms.

On one of them, he was, actually, laying on the ground when the ball rolled down onto his stomach.

I think he is in a lot of trouble in making this team next season.

No wonder he changed his uniform number from 27 to 24. He was being mistaken for another pitiful cover corner, Ellis Hobbs.

I bet you could take screenshots like those from the Denver game from the other 4 games this year and see the exact same things happen to both Jones and Ninkovich, it's embarrassing that the refs aren't seeing/not bothering calling them.

Alfred said:

Certainly you jest. Arrington is, perhaps, their "worst" cover corner and that is one reason he plays mostly inside now instead of on the outside corner where he was severely beaten for the long completions game after game after game. No wonder Belichick pulled him off of that position.

Even inside, he is a pitiful cover defensive back. If you bother to take the time and go back and look at his seven interceptions last season, you would see that he was beaten badly on five of them and was fortunate to be standing in wide open spaces, out of position, when tipped or overthrown balls landed in his arms.

On one of them, he was, actually, laying on the ground when the ball rolled down onto his stomach.

I think he is in a lot of trouble in making this team next season.

No wonder he changed his uniform number from 27 to 24. He was being mistaken for another pitiful cover corner, Ellis Hobbs.

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No, he's a perfectly fine, just not as your #1corner--good ball awareness, doesn't blow coverages, and is the best tackling DB we have.
He got knocked backwards with a wicked stiff arm/facemask yesterday and was still able to bring the guy down short of the 1st down. Huge play that you know BB has to love.

But yes, like Hobbs, he's not a good one-on-one match up with elite #1 receivers. Luckily the Pats have the luxury of usually avoiding that scenario, unlike when Hobbs was our #1.

Alfred said:

Certainly you jest. Arrington is, perhaps, their "worst" cover corner and that is one reason he plays mostly inside now instead of on the outside corner where he was severely beaten for the long completions game after game after game. No wonder Belichick pulled him off of that position.

Even inside, he is a pitiful cover defensive back. If you bother to take the time and go back and look at his seven interceptions last season, you would see that he was beaten badly on five of them and was fortunate to be standing in wide open spaces, out of position, when tipped or overthrown balls landed in his arms.

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No jest. Let's put aside the "lucky" interceptions*. Guy was their best cover corner last season by all metrics...

54% opponent QB completion rate (same as Vontae Davis, better than Ladarius Webb, Jonathan Joseph and Cortland Finnegan).

13 passes defensed (in addition to the 7 picks). More than Webb.

Yes, he gave up** 810 yards which was 10th most in the league (Devin gave up 1004 on 8 more catches), so he obviously isn't a shutdown CB and needs help over the top. But let's also not forget teams were throwing a lot against them while playing catch-up.

In addition to the coverage stats, his tackling was superb, missing only 3 tackles in 74 attempts (out of 930 snaps).

* Luck is sometimes the residue of design (being around the ball).

** Tough to tell how to split the fault of long completions between CBs and safeties who perhaps were supposed to offer help.

Regards,
Chris

JMarr said:

:

doesn't blow coverages,

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He IS a good tackler.

chris_in_sunnyvale said:

No jest. Let's put aside the "lucky" interceptions*. Guy was their best cover corner last season by all metrics...

54% opponent QB completion rate (same as Vontae Davis, better than Ladarius Webb, Jonathan Joseph and Cortland Finnegan).

13 passes defensed (in addition to the 7 picks). More than Webb.

Yes, he gave up** 810 yards which was 10th most in the league (Devin gave up 1004 on 8 more catches), so he obviously isn't a shutdown CB and needs help over the top. But let's also not forget teams were throwing a lot against them while playing catch-up.

In addition to the coverage stats, his tackling was superb, missing only 3 tackles in 74 attempts (out of 930 snaps).

* Luck is sometimes the residue of design (being around the ball).

** Tough to tell how to split the fault of long completions between CBs and safeties who perhaps were supposed to offer help.

Regards,
Chris

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I appreciate your well searched comments but, respectfully, disagree on what he does for the team. I will continue to say that he hurts the team far more than he helps it and with the addition of others, Dowlings return from injury, I expect Arrington to not be a part of this team next season.

Alfred said:

I appreciate your well searched comments but, respectfully, disagree on what he does for the team. I will continue to say that he hurts the team far more than he helps it and with the addition of others, Dowlings return from injury, I expect Arrington to not be a part of this team next season.

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I do think he has slipped from his good play from the end of last year and needs to rebound.

If he does rebound, he has a great opportunity to thrive with this new front-7. His strength is playing tight man on short routes. If Jones, Cunningham and Ninkovich can improve further in bringing consistent heat* and take away the long-developing routes, this should play right into Arrington's wheelhouse.

* And get some holding calls...particularly Jones.

Regards,
Chris

-Dennard looked great from what I saw.
-Ninko stepped up big time
-Cunningham looked good as well
-I think we'd be seeing a lot more sacks if the secondary could re-route receivers a little better. Seems like QB's are getting the ball away quickly as the pass rush closes in.
-Running game was solid
-tempo was unmatched, can't wait to see more of that.

JMarr said:

No, he's a perfectly fine, just not as your #1corner--good ball awareness, doesn't blow coverages, and is the best tackling DB we have.

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Him or Edelman. . . .

thenepatsrule said:

Trent dilfer just called Giants the best team in the NFL despite their record, They have dismantled Panthers and Browns and they are the best team in the NFL ? really?

Except Berman none of the guests talk abt the Pats in a positive way after a victory, Last week when they were discussin abt the Bills game all Dilfer could say was how Bills gifted the game to the pats, and today not a single word abt brady or the offense all he said was the Broncos let Manning down?

Do Manning brothers have some sort of secret tape of Dilfer which he is afraid will be leaked out??????????

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Rumor has it a Buzz Lightyear doll quarterbacked the ravens in 2000 while wearing a Dilfer jersey, but only the Manning brothers have the photo evidence.