43 Drop backs 3 pressures

[mayoclinic]

You are absolutely correct that low cap costs elsewhere is what has allowed Seattle to spend so much on the DL this year. That won't hold. Richard Sherman and Earl Thomas will be due extensions, and Russell Wilson will need to get paid after this year.

The Pats obviously can't afford to spend that portion of their cap space on the DL. That's part of why I think it's critical that they figure out what to do with Wilfork's contract - they just can't afford to carry excess baggage at the position - and why I see them investing in the position through the draft rather than through FA. It's still possible to have a deep and strong DL.

My personal approach would be something like the following:

- Cut Wilfork and sign UFA DT Linval Joseph (NY Giants) for money in the ballpark of the Mebane contract. That would give the Pats a young DT nucleus of Joseph, Armond Armstead, Sealver Siliga and Chris Jones, all 25 or younger.
- Dump Isaac Sapoaga.
- Dump Jake Bequette and let Andre Carter retire.
- Let Tommy Kelly restructure.
- Invest through the draft. Use our 1st round pick on one of Trent Murphy, Kony Ealy, Ra'Shede Hageman or Stephon Tuitt, and a day 3 pick on someone like Taylor Hart, Will Clarke , DeAndre Coleman or Brent Urban.

That would give a young, deep, versatile DL with only 2 guys over 25 (Kelly and Ninkovich) and 2 guys with significant contracts (over $3M cap hit: Ninkovich and Joseph). Chandler Jones won't be up for an extension for another year or two. And that doesn't include guys like Jamie Collins and Dont'a Hightower, who can also move up on the line as pass rushers.

There's more than one way to skin a cat.

Seattle's DL isn't really something that can be replicated in New England. Not a single defensive lineman on the team played in over 58% of the defensive snaps, but seven played between 46% and that 58%. Of those 7, five are:
Michael Bennett: $4.8M/1yr
Chris Clemons: Second year of $22M/3yrs, $8.2M cap hit
Cliff Avril: First year of $13M/2yrs, $3.75M cap hit
Brandon Mebane: Third year of $25M/5yrs, $5.2M cap hit
Red Bryant: Second year of $35M/5yrs, $7.6M cap hit

Well there's where your bottom dollar went. The Seattle DL is making over $30M of them. That's about a quarter of the salary cap last season. Seattle essentially has two defensive lines, the run defense one and the pass defense one. They can get away with it because Richard Sherman and Russell Wilson combined for a $1.28M cap hit. The Pats aren't so lucky. The other teams spending more than the Seahawks on the DL are the Vikings and Bengals. The Bengals have Dalton for $1.4M and Green for still a bargain at $5.4M, plus that DL number is inflated by Johnson's $11.2M franchise tag. The Vikings' $33M on the DL is over half Jared Allen's $17M alone, and they're hardly the ideal well-balanced team.

tl;dr: The Seattle DL is awesome. They're also out of the price range of any good team with a good QB off a rookie contract.

 

[Wotan_the_Wanderer]

It would be interesting to see how often Chandler got doubled. From what I saw, he was single blocked most of the time.

But he also often has the assignment of chucking the receiver and disrupting his route timing before getting after Manning. Not saying he had his better games, but I also don't think he alone should be singled out.

While I'm not in total agreement, I understand what others mean when they say the team didn't show up. They were flat on both sides of the ball and really exhibited little fire. This is where the loss of B. Spikes hurt us more than we'll let on. Why the offense was flat is beyond me.

 

[TonyTucker]

A young DT nucleus of Joseph, Armstead, Siliga and Jones? I was thinking of a word more like mucus. That group is pitiful. People really need to get off the Armstead thing until he's actually done something. The guy is a zero.

 

[stcjones]

I'm sorry....I had to laugh here .....HEALTHY and AMENDOLA should NEVER be used in the same sentence! )



QUOTE=mgteich;3734654]Our decimated defense had ONE chance against DEN. We needed to be able to hit the receivers in the first 5 yards and then play great coverage. We were relying on Talib, Dennard, McCourty, Gregory, Ryan and Arrington. We also were relying on Collins and Hightower. The idea was to keep the DEN offense to about 25 points and have our offense score a bit more. This plan was a reasonable one. Putting much more pressure on Manning was an alternative. IMHO, with his receiving options and his quick delivery, DEN would have scored 50 points with this strategy.

Was it really unreasonable to think that our best chance was to score 26 points against the DEN defense?

THE PLAN FAILED

1) The DEN offense needed to take Talib out of the game. They did. We were done.

2) Our offense was pathetic. Very late in the the third, we had totaled 3 points and decided to go on 4th down, so we could have had 6 points if we chose the field goal instead. DEN stopped the run and forced the game on the back of Brady. They were able to adequately cover Dobson.

BOTTOM LINE

1) We needed Talib. Even then, DEN had the best offense in the NFL behind one of the best OL's in the NFL.

2) We needed Gronk and another receiver threat. A healthy Amendola and Thompkins would have helped some.

3) This game could be replayed 100 times. With Talib getting injured, I don't think that we would win 10% of the time, regardless of game plan.

4) With everyone healthy on both teams, this could have been a truly awesome game.[/QUOTE]

 

[stcjones]

I believe what the statistic was pointing out that we only got consistent pressure on Manning THREE times out of the 43 times he dropped back to pass....heard this stat on Cowherd show...but Parcels and other guys were remarking how devastatingly poor the defensive schemes/ pressure was......BB was once considered a defensive genius...not any longer I guess

Not true. He rushed 3 something like 8 times

 

[Triumph]

Hard to win a playoff game when your opponent do not punt

Hard to win a playoff game when NE cannot sustain a time killing offensive drive that will score points and give Manning less opportunities.

The defense held Denver to 2 TDs and 4 FGs and if McDaniels doesnt opt for the idiotic Vereen run up the middle for the 2 point conversion, it would have been a 1 score game.

Minus Talib, who had to play if NE was to have a chance at slowing down 4 receiving options with at least 10+ TDs. Its amazing Denver didnt hang over 30 with ease on the Pats.

 

[primetime]

Hence the word potential.

Throwing out 'X player has the potential to be like Y player who happens to be one of the best in the league at his position' based on absolutely zero evidence is such an absurd, disingenuous argument.

 

[chasa]

I think if you look back at the way teams beat the patriots when they were the record setting offense it wasn't because the opposing team had top tier CB's it was because the opposing teams put brady on the ground, constantly.

Denver's Secondary isnt why our offense stalled, Brady had almost no time.

 

[JackBauer]

Throwing out 'X player has the potential to be like Y player who happens to be one of the best in the league at his position' based on absolutely zero evidence is such an absurd, disingenuous argument.

It's not based on absolutely zero evidence and isn't disingenuous in the slightest, but consider your opinion noted.

 

[goheels22002]

Seattle's DL isn't really something that can be replicated in New England. Not a single defensive lineman on the team played in over 58% of the defensive snaps, but seven played between 46% and that 58%. Of those 7, five are:
Michael Bennett: $4.8M/1yr
Chris Clemons: Second year of $22M/3yrs, $8.2M cap hit
Cliff Avril: First year of $13M/2yrs, $3.75M cap hit
Brandon Mebane: Third year of $25M/5yrs, $5.2M cap hit
Red Bryant: Second year of $35M/5yrs, $7.6M cap hit

Well there's where your bottom dollar went. The Seattle DL is making over $30M of them. That's about a quarter of the salary cap last season. Seattle essentially has two defensive lines, the run defense one and the pass defense one. They can get away with it because Richard Sherman and Russell Wilson combined for a $1.28M cap hit. The Pats aren't so lucky. The other teams spending more than the Seahawks on the DL are the Vikings and Bengals. The Bengals have Dalton for $1.4M and Green for still a bargain at $5.4M, plus that DL number is inflated by Johnson's $11.2M franchise tag. The Vikings' $33M on the DL is over half Jared Allen's $17M alone, and they're hardly the ideal well-balanced team.

tl;dr: The Seattle DL is awesome. They're also out of the price range of any good team with a good QB off a rookie contract.

Terrific post. Those numbers blow my mind. I had never looked at the Seahawks cap numbers, and Pete Carroll must be pumped and jacked that he can invest so much in a pass rushing DL while paying his quarterback and most athletic corner nothing. It's sort of like Edelman in reverse.

It will interesting to see if the Seahawks have what it takes to stay on top. They have very serious cap issues to deal with, but if they do it right, they can sustain excellence. None of their DL contracts are outlandish, and with a little re-structuring and a strategic trade for daft picks, they could keep the core of an outstanding defense together.

 

[captain stone]

...I may be overly optimistic on the potential trio of Jones, Ninko, and Buchanan, but I'd rather not spend a top 100 pick/FA $$$ on a DE considering our needs elsewhere.

DE is exactly where we should spend a top-100 pick, along with TE & C/G.

 

[mayoclinic]

DE is exactly where we should spend a top-100 pick, along with TE & C/G.

That's the way I see it. You can never have enough of those guys.

The Seahawks had Clemons, Irvin and Bryant and they added both Bennett and Avril this past off-season. The Giants drafted JPP when they had Osi, Tuck and Kiwanuka in place.

You can never have enough of those guys.