Do you always use a hammer?
 

Ok, everyone is saying that the pats run D is weak, and that the tackling is porus. Commentators are talking about the age of the linebackers.

Winning the game is the most important thing to BB. He has been quite emphatic about this in the past. To him, it does not matter if they won the game 2 to 0, as long as they win. (obvious right?)

He does not care much about stats, unless he is using them to blast his own team for the purpose of making them work harder.

The situation dictates whether or not there is going to be a certain stat.

So, does the situation dictate whether or not we are going to see the pat's Defense act like a hammer? Would BB play simply to win the game, and not worry about giving up 6 yards per carry? It almost seems that he can win the game, and generate fodder for the following week in terms of "things that need work."

Yea, I'm a homer. I mean, when you start turning possible weaknesses into planned strengths, by definition that seems pretty homerish.

I guess that we will see. I just have a feeling that the Defense can be the hammer if it wishes to.

Re: Do you always use a hammer?
 

I was just listening to Belichick's interview on WEEI from yesterday - he basically said that although they need to tackle better, once we had the huge lead we went to Nickel expecting them to pass more but they ran their regular offense; he said in retrospect they should have just played their regular defense - and without saying it, he said they'd have looked a lot better against the run had they not been playing the pass almost exclusively.

Re: Do you always use a hammer?
 

Thanks for passing that on. I had not heard that. And, it really makes a lot of sense. This D shut Ltd down. He had nowhere to run. I find it interesting that people feel that they are now too old and are a glaring weakness.

Re: Do you always use a hammer?
 

It is always fun to say that when your average margain of victory is 3 TD's + some. ;)

Re: Do you always use a hammer?
 

That being said, there were still some missed tackles in the nickel that would have made the gains a lot shorter. The nickel D had a huge factor in the Dolphins gaining a good deal of yardage, but tackling could be improved (as Belichick has also said in his chats).

That being said, am I worried about a team gaining 180 yards in a close contest? No.

Re: Do you always use a hammer?
 

No doubt. The scheme thing we've talked about but the players also probably have a little trouble being as fired up about the tackle with a 28 or so point lead. But Warren and Wilfork were both clear that the tackling has to improve. And I'm sure Belichick will show them a Tackling Lowlight film tomorrow.

Re: Do you always use a hammer?
 

That is why I cringe to see the bashing these guys routinely take on their own fans message boards. If you don't know the call or the responsibilities, it's fine to be less than pleased with an outcome - but sometimes your ire is misplaced. Corners in this system don't just decide to play too far off receivers... The really funny dichotemy is when the offense fails to execute the same fans are only too willing to absolve the player and bash the playcaller. I guess the difference is on the one hand they think is a given that Josh would be the goat while clearly on defense that would be pointing a finger at Bill which is much harder to do.

Re: Do you always use a hammer?
 

If that's the case then BB and Pees did a pretty ****ty job, no? Hopefully they improve their coaching performance for when a game is actually on the line.

Re: Do you always use a hammer?
 

I don't think so. Saying they'd have been better off playing a regular D may have kept points off the board and had them look better but with a 42-7 lead I think they'll give up a TD if it takes 8 minutes every time which is what happened on the Dolphins first second half drive (or one of the first anyway). People complain about "prevent defenses" with a one TD lead - this really WAS a prevent and I'm sure they'd call it again but just expect better tackling.

Re: Do you always use a hammer?
 

It seems that fans are very quick to pounce without having all the facts. I don't know much about coaching football, or what exactly a certain play will do against another. It stands to reason that if the defense is playing off, and the oposition plays their regular offence, then some stats are going to be padded for the o and against the d.

Do you get the idea that BB will do anything differently in the future? Because I don't. Yes, he will stress better tackling. But, he always does this. Judging by his demeanor, I don't think that he is as concerned as some of the pundits.