Discuss the defense

I was impressed by Logan Ryan. When he was in man vs Patterson he played really well. And he is the fourth stringer!

Do you remember when Wilhite was the starting CB?

KevinFaulk-33 said:

Do you remember when Wilhite was the starting CB?

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I keep trying to forget.

KevinFaulk-33 said:

I was impressed by Logan Ryan. When he was in man vs Patterson he played really well. And he is the fourth stringer!

Do you remember when Wilhite was the starting CB?

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I'm not sure how you view Logan Ryan as a "fourth stringer," but yes....he definitely looks promising as one of our DB picks with recent success.

Logan Ryan saw 55% of the snaps last year in his rookie season alone, so I'd expect something in the same kind of ballpark this year as well. When you look at it that way, you can see that a player who is in on more than every other play has a lot of value, and that we don't need to put the "string" label on him.

For what it's worth, he is behind Browner and Dennard as an outside starter, but not overall--as he's still getting lots of looks in the subpackages depending on the gameplan and specific week. If Dennard doesn't come back this week, Logan Ryan will be starting again for the 2nd time in 3 games so far.

supafly said:

I'm not sure how you view Logan Ryan as a "fourth stringer," but yes....he definitely looks promising as one of our DB picks with recent success.

Logan Ryan saw 55% of the snaps last year in his rookie season alone, so I'd expect something in the same kind of ballpark this year as well. When you look at it that way, you can see that a player who is in on more than every other play has a lot of value, and that we don't need to put the "string" label on him.

For what it's worth, he is behind Browner and Dennard as an outside starter, but not overall--as he's still getting lots of looks in the subpackages depending on the gameplan and specific week. If Dennard doesn't come back this week, Logan Ryan will be starting again for the 2nd time in 3 games so far.

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I was talking about the outside CB spot. In theory he is behind Revis, Browner and Dennard so I labeled him as a fourth stringer. But you are right, he plays a lot in the slot and in the sub package to be labelled in that category.

Dominique Easley gator teammate was impressed with size Dominique Easley has regained since injury and then some. He is back to 286-88 but in better overall shape then he was at florida but is targeting 293-298. With his supernatural agility and flexibility to go with the elite rare burst everybody knows about he should be terrorizing QBs and olines like a slasher villian like michael myers or his chucky doll as long as he gets regains his talent pre injury. Here is the size he has regained and added since losing size after acl injury. He was nearly as thin as Jones.

Am impressed that the injury worry seems - SEEMS - to have been overstated, re: Easley. He sure looks like he's jumping right in and aiming to make his mark.

If all goes well this could be a special D, as we were drooling about pre-season, before that hiccup in Miami.

Of course we have to cross our fingers that it was a hiccup. But in terms of talent on the field, the upside for this D is sky-high. It's one of those things where you can't say it IS something special without a lot more game-to-game data... against teams with more varied weapons and with all their weapons on the field.

And yes I am looking forward to "Manning Face" in the AFCCG, or possibly "Rivers face"... although it's not as sweet. And then closing the deal at the end. I mean, not to get ahead of myself or anything.

First thing is beat the Raiders. We can worry about historic off-season heroics in about 16 weeks...

KevinFaulk-33 said:

I was impressed by Logan Ryan. When he was in man vs Patterson he played really well. And he is the fourth stringer!

Do you remember when Wilhite was the starting CB?

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And we were all clamoring for Terrence Wheatley to get a shot.

Some film review by Doug Kyed:

http://nesn.com/2014/09/jerod-mayo-sealver-siliga-stand-out-in-patriots-vikings-film-review/

A couple of nice shots. I think he confuses Skinner with Hightower at one point.

mayoclinic said:

Some film review by Doug Kyed:

http://nesn.com/2014/09/jerod-mayo-sealver-siliga-stand-out-in-patriots-vikings-film-review/

A couple of nice shots. I think he confuses Skinner with Hightower at one point.

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From the article:

Safety Patrick Chung was solid in coverage

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Talk about words I never expected to read or hear.

mayoclinic said:

Some film review by Doug Kyed:

http://nesn.com/2014/09/jerod-mayo-sealver-siliga-stand-out-in-patriots-vikings-film-review/

A couple of nice shots. I think he confuses Skinner with Hightower at one point.

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Like the look of that "standard" 3-4 with Chris Jones/Siliga/Wilfork, it's that photo where he mistakes Skinner for Hightower.

Big-T said:

Like the look of that "standard" 3-4 with Chris Jones/Siliga/Wilfork, it's that photo where he mistakes Skinner for Hightower.

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We will use that situationally and against run heavy offenses that don't throw muchon early downs. I think we ran it maybe 4-5 snaps vs Minn. Its a specialty D in place of our base 34 that sacrifices pass rush for run defense.

mayoclinic said:

I would question the coaching decision to have Skinner on the field in a sub package on 3rd down.

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I missed that one, but it may have been the only one.
We went to 42 nickel after that. That was probably the adjustment made to the first drive problems.

AndyJohnson said:

I missed that one, but it may have been the only one.
We went to 42 nickel after that. That was probably the adjustment made to the first drive problems.

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You're allowed to miss one, Andy. You've done some really fabulous analysis. Thanks.

JackBauer said:

From the article:



Talk about words I never expected to read or hear.

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I still have my concerns with Chung in coverage but i think that Belichick has so many options in the backfield that he can use Chung specifically as he wants to and not have to rely on him as the full time SS.

And all of this without Browner and Dennard!

This show our depth. We are down 2 defensive backs and are doing fine. We are down 2 DE/LB's and are doing fine (although I do wish for an upgrade over Skinner).

It's good to see this turning towards the secondary. The discussion of the front 7 has been enlightening and I would love to see a similar breakdown regarding the secondary and how they are using Revis and McCourty and what they might have in mind going forward.

Ivan said:

It's good to see this turning towards the secondary. The discussion of the front 7 has been enlightening and I would love to see a similar breakdown regarding the secondary and how they are using Revis and McCourty and what they might have in mind going forward.

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Secondary play is hard to evaluate without all 22.

JackBauer said:

From the article:



Talk about words I never expected to read or hear.

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I've been meaning to praise Chung for his play against Minnesota. He really did play a good game. I think he will be OK this time around since he isn't expected to be the best player in our Secondary.

AndyJohnson said:

Secondary play is hard to evaluate without all 22.

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That makes sense.

VrabelJr said:

I've been meaning to praise Chung for his play against Minnesota. He really did play a good game. I think he will be OK this time around since he isn't expected to be the best player in our Secondary.

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Indeed. I'm not fully convinced, yet, but at minimum I don't think he'll be the train wreck that a lot of us expected him to be.