Article: Pats' pass defense spotty

[neuronet]

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news;_y...=jc-patspassdefense011208&prov=yhoo&type=lgns

Overall, a fair article. I was surprised how often I was left agape trying to figure out who was supposed to be covering a receiver, or how a receiver got so much space between himself and his coverage. Is it because we focused on the run so much?

Seau had this to say:
"We were just too excited early in the game. We had to calm down, especially me. I had to settle down and let the game come to me instead of trying to force everything."

Personally,it makes me very happy that Seau is so pumped up. Fine, pull the trigger a bit in the early part of the game. Overall, he had a great game.

Plenty of humble-pie material for BB to feed the defense. Good. We'll need them to be extra sharp against the Colts.

 

[State]

I noticed that Asante let his guy get behind him twice, once for the first half TD. It's disappointing.

I'm all for Brandon Merriweather playing more now that he's healthy. Seeing him is like a breath of fresh air. He's got some athleticism and game back there.

And I wish they'd rush more at Garrard. It's Vrabel and Thomas coming off the ends that makes the QB know he has to get rid of the ball.

But let's not get too down on the pass defense. Did anyone else see the QB rating for David Garrard? He's third in the NFL. People underestimated him.

 

[DarrylS]

This D was playing 8 in the box quite a bit, so the Rodney was playing up close, they held the Jags to 80 yards rushing.. so there was a lot of 1-1 coverage.. say what you will. Garard cannot probably beat you with his arm, so they neutralized Drew-Jones and Jackson.. can't have everything unless you are playing with 13 men.

 

[BbRrUeSwCsHkIe]

But let's not get too down on the pass defense. Did anyone else see the QB rating for David Garrard? He's third in the NFL. People underestimated him.

Actually he's sixth and for a point of reference as to how stupid the QB rating is, his rating is 1/2 a point behind Unitas and 7 points higher than Bradshaw.

 

[neuronet]

This D was playing 8 in the box quite a bit, so the Rodney was playing up close, they held the Jags to 80 yards rushing.. so there was a lot of 1-1 coverage.. say what you will. Garard cannot probably beat you with his arm, so they neutralized Drew-Jones and Jackson.. can't have everything unless you are playing with 13 men.

Yes, the key is that the strategy worked. We all knew the Pats had to stop the run. They did it, even though it involved sacrificing a little in the secondary. It was worth it.

The game plan will be different with the Colts.

 

[fillylabinga]

Pretty dumb article if you ask me.

Someone emailed this guy the pick-apart-the-Pats-last-game formula last night. It goes like this:
1. Look at the previous nights box score against Team-X
2. Find Area-Y where the Pats either give up more than 100 rushing yards, 200 passing yards or fail to get 100 rushing yards or 200 passing yards
3. Write an article saying that "Yeah, the Pats are really good, but they had a lot of trouble with Area-Y against Team-X. The Pats are vulnerable in their upcoming game against Team-Z because they are even better at Area-Y than Team-X.

Clearly the Pats D plan was to stop the run first. It's hard to complain too much about a D that successfully executes its gameplan--one that only gave up 20 points in the process. The Jags passing game is WAY better than the 20th best in the league like he says. Were they perfect? No. Do they have things to improve? Yes. But I don't conclude that the Pats will have trouble against the Colts based on last night.