Defensive Balance

mgteich said:

I was under the impression that the patriots were lacking in depth at LB throughout this season, even with Mayo and Skinner on the roster.

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OK, I had always misread it as you being confused why he was let go instead of someone in the same position.

As for LB, I suspect Bill is planning on a lot of big nickle in the coming weeks. Even with Forte, NE only averaged 2.5 LBs on the field against Chicago and I see little reason to see why that would change against Denver and Indy.

EDIT: Some of those LB snaps were actually subbing for Jones' role.

mgteich said:

That being said, Skinner is on the Practice Squad and all is well.

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I am personally quite content for now with a quarter of Hightower, Collins, Ayers and Casillas, plus White / Skinner / Fleming rotating between the roster and the PS based on need and team-specific planning. The way I look at it is that BB currently has a 7 man LB group: 4 roster players, 2 PS backups, and 1 pure STer. I think at this point of the season the Pats can probably rotate those last 3 guys relatively safely. I don't think we would have more than 4 LBs + 1 STer active on game days. Ninkovich also has the ability to take snaps at LB, though obviously our DE depth situation is not ideal and would be affected by that.

Watching the team come out of the locker room in position groups, the DB line is endless.

Oswlek said:

OK, I had always misread it as you being confused why he was let go instead of someone in the same position.

As for LB, I suspect Bill is planning on a lot of big nickle in the coming weeks. Even with Forte, NE only averaged 2.5 LBs on the field against Chicago and I see little reason to see why that would change against Denver and Indy.

EDIT: And some of those LB snaps were actually subbing for Jones' role.

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Someone else posted we were in nickel or dime on 90% of the snaps, so that LB/play number was probably about 2.1

AndyJohnson said:

Someone else posted we were in nickel or dime on 90% of the snaps, so that LB/play number was probably about 2.1

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That was me. See post #47 above.

mayoclinic said:

I am personally quite content for now with a quarter of Hightower, Collins, Ayers and Casillas, plus White / Skinner / Fleming rotating between the roster and the PS based on need and team-specific planning. The way I look at it is that BB currently has a 7 man LB group: 4 roster players, 2 PS backups, and 1 pure STer. I think at this point of the season the Pats can probably rotate those last 3 guys relatively safely. I don't think we would have more than 4 LBs + 1 STer active on game days. Ninkovich also has the ability to take snaps at LB, though obviously our DE depth situation is not ideal and would be affected by that.

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It is what it is. We cannot count on Ninkovich as a LB, certainly not with Jones out. We have 2 starting linebackers and two players that have been here a week or so, plus some practice teamers.

It is not a matter of being content with Mayo gone. Belichick and Patricia have done all they could since the season started to have us ready at LB. I thought that Skinner was better than he apparently is. In any case, Belichick will likely have an extra defensive back active against Manning.