More 3-3-5 Defense this year?

What say you?

We obviously want to put our best players on the field as much as possible, and in 4-2-5 we would be without either Mayo or Hightower (or Collins, I guess, though unlikely).

I remember last year @AndyJohnson advocating for this style of D (I think), but would it be as wise to deploy this year with our new personnel?

The cons would be Sheard/Nink/Chandler Jones and others seeing the field less, but Collins/Mayo/HT is a threesome I'd like to partake in... I mean watch on Sundays.

I wanna see a 7-0-4, blitz every play.

The belief that BB adheres to any one scheme consistently, is a myth.

What you see one week, won't be there the next week. And even if it looks the same, you can bet there is a different wrinkle; different execution off the same looks.

Considering my excitement about the DL, I'm more partial to a 7-3-1.

scott99 said:

I wanna see a 7-0-4, blitz every play.

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Illegal Formation. Draft pick forfeited.

scott99 said:

I wanna see a 7-0-4, blitz every play.

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With 4 Safeties.

A few years ago I said we were a 6-5 defense .... need newer terminology thanks to the defense innovators.

I don't see why we'd need 5 DBs on the back-end. McCourty is capable of playing centerfield, and we have some question marks at CB so why not load up the front instead? I'm not sure who will be where, but we could basically play a 5-2 that Chris Brown outlined here:

Ode to the War Daddies

Ninko, Hightower, and Sheard provide a lot of flexibility to switch back and forth between DL and LB, so there could be a ton of different formations based on these concepts. Brown is no Vince yet, and maybe ever, but he could do enough to make this whole thing work insanely well. Collins and Mayo can both blitz or cover, giving BB a ton of options to play with.

3-3-5 doesn't appear to make best use of the talent in the front 7.

From a strict talent and ability standpoint, it would be ideal to play 7 of

• The top 2 DTs
• The top 3 edge guys
• The top 3 LBs

plus McCourty, Butler and 2 other DBs.

But most situations are likely to call for more DBs than that.

The real question in my mind is how to defend receiving TEs and RBs. That's been an issue for a long time, almost as if BB concedes those plays while defending tightly against others.

I think I am partial to 4-2-5 this season because of our personnel. 4 down linemen that works to our strength...5 for that extra DB (good when you don't have a proven shutdown corner) and leaving just 2 LB invites the short pass (bend but don't break...i'm not a big fan of getting burned deep). All players can be rotated depending on down and opposition.

Screw it lets do the 9-2 baby with McCourty and Butler out back. Release the hounds.

Nice quote from Belichick:

“It's hard to play three guys on the end of the line when you only have two ends of the line,” said Belichick.

http://nep.247sports.com/Bolt/Patri...y-up-front-with-three-defensive-ends-39110389

Reiss has charted how many times we are in a 5 or 6 back defense and it seems we have been in one of those over 60%-too lazy to google it right now so yeah we are doing it already. We are fortunate to have so much depth in the front 7 that we will be able to send in fresh quality players that will overwhelm the offense.

Zuma said:

Illegal Formation. Draft pick forfeited.

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They'd probably change the rules to where NE could not have more that one defender on the field on a play. LMAO

ausbacker said:

3-3-5 doesn't appear to make best use of the talent in the front 7.

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I was thinking more 4-4-2 with Ede!man as a high striker.

I thought one of the keys for us last year was Chung's ability to move into the box and play the run so well out of a 4-2-5. Will be interesting to see if we continue with that.

DSting said:

I thought one of the keys for us last year was Chung's ability to move into the box and play the run so well out of a 4-2-5. Will be interesting to see if we continue with that.

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I like the way Chung played last year (much to my surprise). But, Mayo was out which may be why we saw more of this. We have 3 excellent to very solid (versatile) LBs who I expect to be on the field.