A few questions about the defense
 

After watching the game, I wanted to ask you guys a few questions.

1. Anyone else a little worried about the secondary? McNabb was able to complete a lot of throws last night that should not have happened. Maybe I am worried for nothing.

2. What are the advantages of playing a 4-3? And is it set that we are playing the 4-3 this year instead of the 3-4 base?

Re: A few questions about the defense
 

Correct me if I am wrong but I believe BB likes to use this time for one on one type matchups so I don't know if any scheme related stuff is appliciable.

I was glad to see the only 2 FG's. It seemed like redzone efficiency was a point of emphasis on "situational football.

Re: A few questions about the defense
 

I thought the secondary played great - the pass rush looked good - the one potential weakness seemed to be the LBs in pass coverage, especially Mayo, Guyton, etc. We knew that'd be a work in progress. But Mayo was keeping it in front of him and limiting the damage, so that's good. I was very pleased w the D overall.

Re: A few questions about the defense
 

4-3 is more of a pass-rushing formation than is the 3-4. You saw some of its vulnerability last night when the Eagles picked up chunks of yards with the screen game. Moving one of the linebackers down to the line means there's one less person who can chase those down in the flats.

Re: A few questions about the defense
 

Detroit went 4-0 in the preseason last year, then 0-16. 'Nuf said. The gameplans for preseason are beyond vanilla, the coaches are mixing and matching players, half the regs don't dress and the other half play sparingly, by the third quarter guys are on the field who'll never see it for real... I'll worry about the D when Buffalo scores 42 in the first game.

I have one concern about preseason: that no one get injured.

Re: A few questions about the defense
 

I kinda wonder if they ran the 4-3 to get a better look at the plethora (yes, plethora) of defensive lineman. And just to give everyone something to think about. I still feel like they open in the 3-4 vs. Buffalo.

Re: A few questions about the defense
 

1. No.

2. We will see a bit of everything you can imagine from our defense as the year rolls along.

Give the 4-3 time. It will get progressively better...eventually dominant for the Playoffs and SB. We're trying to find the best matches right now for the season

Re: A few questions about the defense
 

The DT's (at least one of them) are better pass rushers than your typical 3-4 Nose. One of the DT's will usually be man on man with a guard.

The LB's take on fewer blocks because of the 4th man on the line. In most 4-3 D's the WLB is a tackle machine who often runs free. This is the main reason I don't like the 4-3 for the Pats as I think Mayo can play 4-3 MLB and Thomas can play SLB, but there is not a great weakside option.

The 3-4 allows for more versatility as you can never be sure where the 4th rusher will come from. The ends in the 3-4 are larger and often have to 2 gap which DE's in a 4-3 rarely do.

As for the other question, I am a little concerned about the pass coverage, but not necessarily about the DB's. We seem a little slow to me and the only DB who's speed may be below average for their position is Sanders. I think we need to tackle better in general and cover the shorter routes better across the board in the back 7.

Re: A few questions about the defense
 

Tru dat.

I'm shocked the PatsFans.com Forum has minimal thread posting on the defensive changes and how they'll affect some of the vets (LB's and Line)

Re: A few questions about the defense
 

We don't know yet if its a real base they'll use much in the regular season, or if it's just a change-up they're practicing, or if it's as someone suggested it was required in camp due to new bodies / vet injuries.

Chris Gasper has a pretty good blog entry on the topic:

Patriots are cooking up schemes - The Boston Globe

I.e. TBC or Burgess are playing the Simeon Rice / Regan Upshaw 9 tech in a Tampa Bay style defensive front, just to clear up confusion.

If the Pats are running this a lot it's because they like the pass rushing abilities of their backside 3 and 9 techs: in Preseason week 1, this was mostly Myron Pryor and TBC, two small guys in the base 3-4 but guys who have quick steps and can penetrate.