2013 Pats Defense: Most Sacks of Belichick Era in NE

[Brady6]

How does that compare to the broncos defense? Everyone is gloating about how inferior the pats receivers are compared to the broncos, but they never bring up how inferior the broncos defense is compared to the patriots.

They didn’t do nearly as well as the Patriots in any of the metrics.

http://www.sportingcharts.com/nfl/teams/332/denver-broncos/#Points%20per%20Game$SeasonMax=9999&SeasonMin=1990

 

[strngplyr]

Personally I though the defense was excellent this season, its week point was the rush defense which is not that shocking considering the lost the best run stopping DT in the NFL Vince WIlfork and their perennial leading tackler and top NFL tackler Jerod Mayo.

The pass rush was very good; being 5th in the NFL in sacks indicates it was not mediocre. Take a look at these numbers I point them out because sometimes total yards or total number can be misleading the Patriots allow their opponents to run more plays than most teams because of the pace of our offense so it is not surprising that we allow more total numbers but in terms of averages and percentages the defense was outstanding.

• 21.1 points per game against which ranked 10th in the NFL
• 1,118 plays run against which ranked 3rd in the NFL
• 5,969 total yards allowed which ranked 26th in the NFL
• 5.34 yards against per play which ranked 16th in the NFL
• 29.6% opponent scoring efficiency which ranked 6th in the NFL
• 42.2% opponent third down efficiency which ranked 26th in the NFL
• 3,824 pass yards against which ranked 18th in the NFL
• 57.0% opponents completion percentage which ranked 3rd in the NFL
• 25 passing touchdowns allowed which ranked 10th in the NFL (tied)
• 17 interceptions which ranked 7th in the NFL
• 87 pass defended which ranked 14th in the NFL (tied)
• 48 sacks which ranked 5th in the NFL
• 2,145 rush yards against which ranked 30th in the NFL
• 4.5 rushing yards against per attempt which ranked 9th in the NFL (tied)
• 11 rushing touchdowns allowed which ranked 7th in the NFL (tied)

We were 5th in sacks because our defensive backs covered extremely well more often than not. A great pass rush gets the quarterback off of his spot in a hurry. Our pass rushers get their sacks by having a good motor and playing cleanup duty, most of the time.

Imagine what this defense could be with quick pressure? That's what I'm getting at.

Also, the pace of our offense had as much to do with us having more plays run against us as the defenses inability to get off the field as a whole unit. If the D makes the stops more frequently the number of plays run against them will decrease dramatically.

I love the potential. We have the makings of a top 10 defense when healthy. But we can still use another pure pass rusher to move a qb off the spot quicker and allow ACTUAL hurries, you know, within 1 to 1.5 seconds of the snap, and not a "hurry" after holding the ball for 4 or 5 seconds already because no one is open.

Most qb we sack probably made their 3rd 4th and 5th reads before getting hit. Teams like the Bengals, Bills and Panthers are hitting the qb before they can make their second read. That is how a good pass rush looks, we don't look anything like that. But we can.

 

[AzorianPats]

I think Chandler and Ninko are great DE pairing, but I'd love to see what Jaime Collins can do rushing the QB. This kid is an athletic freak, and he played DE in college. He's playing the coverage LB spot this year, but hopefully next year with Mayo coming back we can see him get to the QB more.

 

[AzorianPats]

All I know is Siliga got pushed back literally 10 yards by Marshall Yanda on one run play. And right next to him Hightower and Spikes were holding their blocks and they only ran for 5 yards fortunately.

We're lucky to have Siliga with our injuries upfront. But to say we can replace Wilfork....that's nuts!
.

Why is the thinking nuts though? We all know what Vince was, but the key word is was. We have to be realistic and think there's a strong possibility Vince best days might be behind him. 350lbs+ player, on the wrong side of 30 coming back from an Achilles injury. That doestn sound good.

Siliga probably will never come close to being as good as Vince was, but there's a chance that Siliga might be better than the 2014 version of Vince.

 

[Fencer]

Wilfork was a decent pass rusher in college. I think he peaked with a 7 sack college season. But he's been used as a pure nose tackle on most plays since joining the Patriots.

 

[UK_Pat37]

I love wilfork, but he has always been a liability when it comes to rushing the passer. The fact wilfork in his entire 9 season career has only 16 sacks speaks a lot.

Siliga IN HIS three games here in new england has equaled wilforks highest season sack total.

Why he's not HoF material in my eyes. We need a DT who can rush the passer in this years draft.

 

[AzPatsFan]

The Title of this post is misleading. This team has accumulated more sacks than any of Belichick's and Carroll's and Tuna's and assorted other Head Coaches until you go back to Ray Berry, "Squish the Phish" and the Bears Superbowl.

That is some 29 years!

 

[tasmlab]

not trying to throw cold water on this but I think that a good amount of this sacks were in garbage time, like the first game against the Dolphins, they were sacking Tannehill with free tickets.

it's a good stat anyway but let's not get too much enthusiasm on this, pass rush is still a big need and I would totally endorse draft a stud DE in the 1st round to pair with Chandler Jones.

Did the Pats have garbage time this year? Besides Baltimore, Pittsburgh and TB I seem to remember biting my nails to the very end of every game.