Defense? What defense!!!

[Kid~Brady]

Its gonna start with the pass rush.

Once we begin getting more pressure on the QB, the secondary will have more opportunities to make plays. With that being said we still had 4 turnovers.

 

[PushnPencils]

How did we get booted out of the playoffs again!!!

 

[Rob0729]

I didn't read the whole thread so i don't know if this was said. But one of the best offenses in the NFL had nine possessions agains the Pats yesterday which resulted in three scoring drives, two interceptions, two loss fumbles, one turnover on downs, and one punt. That is a pretty successful day for the defense.

 

[tasmlab]

7 points in the fourth quarter

I kept biting my nails as I watched the Chargers offense seemingly do whatever they wish, going up and down the field at will, and then noticed it was 4th quarter and they only had 7 points.

Made for exciting television.

 

[dhamz]

I think a lot of people made too much of Henne's numbers in the opener without looking at the context. It didn't give enough credit to how well the defense played before they had a big lead (minus the opening drive of course).

I think there is a bit too much focus by some now on "only 21 points allowed" to the Chargers offense. Forcing only 1 punt, allowing 10/12 on 3rd down, and allowing the opposing offesne to keep driving deep into your territory over and over is usally going to lead to a lot more than 21 pts. They didn't score more because Pats made some plays on D and the Chargers, as the Chargers tend to do, shot themselves in the foot multiple times. I don't think it was a defensive performance they are watching in the meeting rooms today and hoping to repeat.

 

[Reckedtrek]

Jackson was held to two catches last week.

.... and to get a better look at the bigger picture, compare Gates stats last week to yesterday's game.

Most teams if they're good enough can stop one. Gates had 0 catches yesterday in case you aren't going to look it up and acknowledge it. The Pats D right now, like almost all other D's in the NFL right now, are stilling pulling themselves together. Therefore the title on this thread applies to the NFL, not just the Pats.

And can someone tell me how many points a team gets for 300, 400, 500 yards of offense that doesn't result in a TD? Zero. That's ZERO. Count all the yards you want until your blue in the face. It's the final score that counts, win or lose.

 

[Reckedtrek]

I think a lot of people made too much of Henne's numbers in the opener without looking at the context. It didn't give enough credit to how well the defense played before they had a big lead (minus the opening drive of course).

I think there is a bit too much focus by some now on "only 21 points allowed" to the Chargers offense. Forcing only 1 punt, allowing 10/12 on 3rd down, and allowing the opposing offesne to keep driving deep into your territory over and over is usally going to lead to a lot more than 21 pts. They didn't score more because Pats made some plays on D and the Chargers, as the Chargers tend to do, shot themselves in the foot multiple times. I don't think it was a defensive performance they are watching in the meeting rooms today and hoping to repeat.

Probably not, but I bet it is one they plan to learn from, build on and get better. It won't be until week 7 or 8 that we start to really see how things (hopefully) start to really gel and come together.

 

[aluminum seats]

And can someone tell me how many points a team gets for 300, 400, 500 yards of offense that doesn't result in a TD? Zero. That's ZERO. Count all the yards you want until your blue in the face. It's the final score that counts, win or lose.

Of course it's the final score that counts to win the game. But as fans discussing the game & this defense, we're allowed to, and should, recognize that regardless of that final score, the Pats defense didn't play very well. The Pats 14-2 record last year was deceiving, and I think it's silly to act like all's super with this year's defense.

I hope it improves. But the pass rush in particular so far has been unquestionably a disappointment. It doesn't make us bad fans to say so.

 

[patsfaninpittsburgh]

Of course it's the final score that counts to win the game. But as fans discussing the game & this defense, we're allowed to, and should, recognize that regardless of that final score, the Pats defense didn't play very well. The Pats 14-2 record last year was deceiving, and I think it's silly to act like all's super with this year's defense.

I hope it improves. But the pass rush in particular so far has been unquestionably a disappointment. It doesn't make us bad fans to say so.

So what exactly would a fan that doesn't think they are bad would want to see against a top 3/4/5 offense in the 2011 NFL?

 

[condon84]

.... and to get a better look at the bigger picture, compare Gates stats last week to yesterday's game.

Most teams if they're good enough can stop one. Gates had 0 catches yesterday in case you aren't going to look it up and acknowledge it. The Pats D right now, like almost all other D's in the NFL right now, are stilling pulling themselves together. Therefore the title on this thread applies to the NFL, not just the Pats.

And can someone tell me how many points a team gets for 300, 400, 500 yards of offense that doesn't result in a TD? Zero. That's ZERO. Count all the yards you want until your blue in the face. It's the final score that counts, win or lose.

There's usually a correlation between the amount of yards a team compiles to the total number of points it scores. Look at the stats from last year, the top ten teams that averaged the most yardage are also the top scoring teams. There are times when special teams and turnovers skews this stat, but for the most part, total yards and number of points are related.

 

[aluminum seats]

So what exactly would a fan that doesn't think they are bad would want to see against a top 3/4/5 offense in the 2011 NFL?

I don't understand your question.

 

[goheels22002]

They didn't score more because Pats made some plays on D and the Chargers, as the Chargers tend to do, shot themselves in the foot multiple times.

This business of the Chargers "shooting themselves in the foot..." is pure nonsense. Just because an announcer on NFLN says so doesn't make it so.

What we saw yesterday were four legitimate take-aways by the Patriots. None of the four turnovers was on a stupid play. None of them was utter ineptitude by the Chargers. Each required a defensive player to put himself in position to make a play and then execute what was available.

Vince read the play, stepped into the passing lane and showed concentration and athleticism hauling the tipped pass in, Mayo stripped the ball on the busted run play, Anderson made a great play to come free and strip-sack Rivers at the end, and the best of them all was was the interception by Sergio Brown who was in the right place and made a terrific pick.

In week 1 Tony Romo shot the Cowboys in the foot against the Jets by making two bad decisions and handing the ball to the Jets instead of taking care of it.

Let the Chargers fans blame their guys for not protecting the ball. These guys deserve credit for making the highlight plays of the day.

 

[Rob0729]

Did anyone notice that on both Rivers' INT and the strip sack that those were among the few plays the Pats got pressure on Rivers? I don't think it was as much the Chargers shooting themselves in the foot as much as the Pats stepping up their game on those plays.

The Tolbert fumble was clearly Tolbert's fault for backing up. Mayo made an amazing play to strip the ball while jumping over a pile, but Tolbert should have just gone down when he hit the pile.

 

[patsfaninpittsburgh]

I don't understand your question.

I know that.

That's the problem with this thread.

 

[Rob0729]

I said it before and I will say it again. If people told you that the Pats would only give up 21 points before this game, you would say that the defense had a good game. Now after the game, the Pats only give up 21 points and all the chicken littles are crying about it.

 

[aluminum seats]

I know that.

That's the problem with this thread.

That's an unnecessarily snippy response. You didn't phrase whatever you wanted to say well.

 

[aluminum seats]

I said it before and I will say it again. If people told you that the Pats would only give up 21 points before this game, you would say that the defense had a good game. Now after the game, the Pats only give up 21 points and all the chicken littles are crying about it.

It's not chicken little-like to suggest the defense didn't play very well. If all anyone is ever going to do is quote the score, there's really not much point in participating in a message board at all.

 

[Rob0729]

It's not chicken little-like to suggest the defense didn't play very well. If all anyone is ever going to do is quote the score, there's really not much point in participating in a message board at all.

When the NFL starts awarding games to people who get the most yards, then the final score is irrelevant. In 2001, the Pats defense was ranked the 24th ranked defense because they averaged giving up 334.5 yards per game. They were sixth in fewest points allowed giving up 17 points a game. Yards mean very little if points don't come with it.

If you want to just focus on yards, the 2001 Pats probably had the worst defense in NFL history to win a Super Bowl. We all know that isn't the case, but that defense gave up a lot of yards that year, but not a lot of points.

Yesterday's defense was similar to 2001 in that the defense allowed Rivers and company to move as much as they wanted outside the red zone, but tightened up in the red zone. They also stepped up and made plays when they had to just like 2001. They have a ways to go to be like 2001, but they have some of the characteristics.

People can focus on yards all they want, but yards don't win games. I would rather focus on something that matters in wins and losses.

 

[Reckedtrek]

It's not chicken little-like to suggest the defense didn't play very well. If all anyone is ever going to do is quote the score, there's really not much point in participating in a message board at all.

No, but what is Chicken Little is when the final score doesn't reflect the level of disaster Chicken Little fans want to ***** and moan about, they look for any stat they can to "prove" that we're screwed. Do I think our D is great? No. Do I think it's good? Right now, no. But I can't argue with the end result. I don't care if the opposing team drives 99.5 yards every time and racks up a 1,000 yards, as long as the result is a goal line stand, or a maximum of a field goal.

One of the best O's in the NFL put up 21 on us. Gates had 0 catches. The Pats D caused 4 turnovers. Mayo's forced fumble, interceptions... the Pats D made plays when they had to. I see that as a foundation to build on.

 

[aluminum seats]

When the NFL starts awarding games to people who get the most yards, then the final score is irrelevant. In 2001, the Pats defense was ranked the 24th ranked defense because they averaged giving up 334.5 yards per game. They were sixth in fewest points allowed giving up 17 points a game. Yards mean very little if points don't come with it.

If you want to just focus on yards, the 2001 Pats probably had the worst defense in NFL history to win a Super Bowl. We all know that isn't the case, but that defense gave up a lot of yards that year, but not a lot of points.

Yesterday's defense was similar to 2001 in that the defense allowed Rivers and company to move as much as they wanted outside the red zone, but tightened up in the red zone. They also stepped up and made plays when they had to just like 2001. They have a ways to go to be like 2001, but they have some of the characteristics.

People can focus on yards all they want, but yards don't win games. I would rather focus on something that matters in wins and losses.

The point is not to "just focus on yards," but not to just look at the score and conclude that all's well. If the Pats give up 10 of 12 third downs and 500+ yards, then that point total for the opponent will be much higher in the playoffs, I guarantee.

The Colts won a ton of regular season games the past 10 years too. We all know how that usually turned out.