The Defense Was Aweful
 

OK, we were missing Seymour, Bruschi and Harrison. We were playing against the best run offense in football (and one of the worst passing offenses).

Atlanta could have easily scored 40 point, as we could have.

PASS RUSH
Did we have one? The announcers were correct. We didn't get near the QB's. Woods had one fine play.

RUN DEFENSE
Nonexistent. They ran at will.
-----------------------------------------------
That being said let's look at the three units

DEFENSIVE LINE
I think Wright and Sullivan are part of the 53. Smith, Hill, Thomas and Freeman are competing for the last one or two spots. Smith and Thomas looked OK. I think that this unit will be fine when we play the first string and normal schemes, and Seymour is back. Did Green play? I missed him if he did.

OUTSIDE LINEBACKERS
There wasn't much of a pass rush with the vanilla defense; but the preseason is about evaluating players. Banta-Cain, Mincey and Woods all looked good. Chad Brown was out. I think that we are fine at OLB, and might be tempted to move Vrabel back inside. I think we should resist the tempatation and keep this OLB unit intact.

INSIDE LINEBACKERS
The highlight reel is a short one. Gardner and Alexander will be fine when Bruschi is back. Gardner is the key; he will get better each game. Beisel was aweful. If can't get much better, he will be gone. With Bruschi out, and Beisel hurt, we need to bring in a veteran.

CORNERS
I wasn't impressed, were you? Chad Scott looked OK.

SAFETY
I thought Guss Scott was OK.

Re: The Defense Was Aweful
 

You got good points on all units.

ILB - is a big concern - even with Bru back there will probably be a big
drop off from starters to back ups. Not good at all right now.

Corners: well with no pass rush it is hard to judge right now. Certainly if
a QB has 4 to 5 second or more to find an open guy he will a lot of the
time. PATs corners are just not going to contain for that long.

I think the big word is CONSISTENCY. At times the D was showing
some good stuff. I bet once the season starts the D will tighten up and
we will see a pass rush and the secondary will do much better.
I still remain concerned about ILB. I hope we see some activity in the
Front Office about this ... they got the bucks to do it.

Got to remember there was a lot of rotation going on to evaluate players.
I am not that surprised and believe the D overall will get a lot better.

Re: The Defense Was Aweful
 

Belichick always plays very "vanilla" in the preseason.

Re: The Defense Was Aweful
 

Well, you said it yourself. We were missing Seymour, Bruschi, and Harrison, and was playing against the #1 rushing team last season...

Re: The Defense Was Aweful
 

Our D-Line back ups looked pretty good to me.

Given the situation with the inside backers, I don't think there will be any choice but to move Vrabel back inside. Last night's game made me really begin to miss having Willie Mac rushing from the edge.

Seemed like Atlanta's backs were torching the second level of the defense all night. Is Jerrious Norwood as good as he looked or was our run defense just that bad?

I wasn't unimpressed. Atlanta's receivers made some tough catches in tight coverage. Its hard to blame Samuels for that Jenkins TD - good throw and catch by the offense.

Re: The Defense Was Aweful
 

They were terrible, especially on run D but "didn't get near the QBs?" Say what? You and the announcers must have gone to the bathroom and missed Woods' sack, Vrable's and TBC's.

http://www.nfl.com/gamecenter/gamebo...0060811_NE@ATL

Plus, several times the ATL QBs got flushed from the pocket and aside from Vick's big Cassel like gain, they misfired on roll out passes several times.

Re: The Defense Was Aweful
 

I know at least the Vrabel sack was a coverage sack. Didn't see the other ones.

Re: The Defense Was Aweful
 

Don't forget Seymour's backup didn't play either. Even having Green out there would be a step up. Gay was gone too, again not all-pro but he was the starter for alot of the 04 campaign and was at least a nickel before going down last year. I'm sure if this was Sept 10th a few more of these guys would be suited up never mind the Seymours, Harrisons, and Bruschis too.

Re: The Defense Was Aweful
 

I like the commentary on individual play of technique that posters give on players. I wouldn't judge anything on pre season as far as how the Pats D is. The strenght of our D I think is our game plans by BB. Which we know he uses vanilla D in the Pre season. The O has the advantage in the Pres season I think no matter what team you are talking about.

I would add look at our D when Big Sey was out last year and Tedy...we sucked all the way through why...no pressure, once they were back even our secondary without Rodney was pretty good down the stretch. Those players did not play last night , but should be ready to go in the season...so IMO saying the D "sucked" is a little strong, sure some bad play, but when Have we really ever seen "play" by the Pats in the pre season that actually showed us what the Pats were going to be like even the first game. The team that steps on the field that first "real" game will not even resemble the team from last night, not just in perssonel but in schemes and I would bet in quality play.

Re: The Defense Was Aweful
 

How did Roach do?