Defensive Snaps

[PatsWickedPissah]

Woods is playing 35% of the snaps, and is great on special teams. If hes cheap, I'd think hes back.

You need depth, and Woods is a pretty good depth piece.

You motivated me to look up his salary; it's $1,545,000 not the over $2M I mis-remembered. Substantively under $2M is cheap for a vet backup if BB likes his overall contributions.

Hey Ian, Miguel's page needs to be put BACK on the forum page where it's easy to get to this valuable resource.

 

[borg]

Kind of. TBC and Burgess play as much DE as they do LB. Its tough to tell looking at the stats.

An OLB that plays up on the line is still an OLB

 

[Synovia]

An OLB that plays up on the line is still an OLB

Not when you're playing a 4-3 its not. Burgess has never played OLB before, and hes not being used like one.

 

[unoriginal]

An OLB that plays up on the line is still an OLB

If he puts one or both hands down he becomes a defensive end. Banta-Cain and Burgess are the same size as a typical 9 tech end.

 

[Metaphors]

The numbers tell me that the Patriots D was in a 2-4-5 defense.
Positional groupings on field per play =
DL=1.8
ILB=2
OLB=2
S=2.7
CB=2.5

The Pats know they have to go through the Colts, Steelers and (should be) Chargers eventually. The big nickel with Meriweather, McGowan and Chung (when ready) is the best way to attack these teams. With Mayo and Guyton also in the middle, that is a fast-n-flexible five that can do it all:

- Support the run: McGowan and Chung are both comfortable in the box. Mayo is a tackling machine and Guyton has the speed to go sideline to sideline.

- Cover: Meriweather has already stepped up his game and McGowan seems to have the instincts. Chung has struggled a bit in coverage and may have to give way to another corner in certain situations. Mayo and Guyton have the skills to cover the slot, as long as there is deep help and some QB pressure.

- Rush: This is the key. It is pretty obvious that traditional 3-4 or 4-3 pressure isn't going to rattle the QBs on these teams (Goober, Dopey and Grumpy, respectively). Pressure is going to have to come from the middle and all 5 (even Chung) have shown a knack for getting into the backfield quickly.

So I don't think that the 2-4-5 formation you mention is a fluke or even unplanned. I think it is an effort to get chess pieces that can be placed all over the board. Manning throws a lot of timing routes based on pre-snap reads, Roethlisberger forces a good amount of throws downfield and Rivers struggles when forced off his primary targets. Common thread...you beat them with schemes and confusion and not just winning individual battles.

Wilfork and the rest of the DL is still vitally important because you still need to eat up blockers. If the OL is free to release you will get killed with draws and delayed screens. I really like the makeup of the defense to take on the passing attacks that all the elite teams can generate. It has taken a while to get the pieces in place, but now the Chess Master has the board set and some tough opponents coming up.

 

[Jimke]

Gary Guyton shoud be extended and given a substantial raise

even though he will be an ERFA after the 2009 season.

 

[JSn]

Always read your posts, Metaphors. I remember us talking (hoping) for the 2-4-5 back the pre-season of 2008, until suddenly Tank went down in flames.

This defense is exciting to watch and hearing Bill talk "relatively" frankly about it on WEEI was exciting. I think there was some installation and "practice" going on before our very eyes this past week in prep for the upcoming dark alley of foes.

The Pats know they have to go through the Colts, Steelers and (should be) Chargers eventually. The big nickel with Meriweather, McGowan and Chung (when ready) is the best way to attack these teams. With Mayo and Guyton also in the middle, that is a fast-n-flexible five that can do it all:

- Support the run: McGowan and Chung are both comfortable in the box. Mayo is a tackling machine and Guyton has the speed to go sideline to sideline.

- Cover: Meriweather has already stepped up his game and McGowan seems to have the instincts. Chung has struggled a bit in coverage and may have to give way to another corner in certain situations. Mayo and Guyton have the skills to cover the slot, as long as there is deep help and some QB pressure.

- Rush: This is the key. It is pretty obvious that traditional 3-4 or 4-3 pressure isn't going to rattle the QBs on these teams (Goober, Dopey and Grumpy, respectively). Pressure is going to have to come from the middle and all 5 (even Chung) have shown a knack for getting into the backfield quickly.

So I don't think that the 2-4-5 formation you mention is a fluke or even unplanned. I think it is an effort to get chess pieces that can be placed all over the board. Manning throws a lot of timing routes based on pre-snap reads, Roethlisberger forces a good amount of throws downfield and Rivers struggles when forced off his primary targets. Common thread...you beat them with schemes and confusion and not just winning individual battles.

Wilfork and the rest of the DL is still vitally important because you still need to eat up blockers. If the OL is free to release you will get killed with draws and delayed screens. I really like the makeup of the defense to take on the passing attacks that all the elite teams can generate. It has taken a while to get the pieces in place, but now the Chess Master has the board set and some tough opponents coming up.

 

[PaulThePat]

Thanks for all the replies people...some tremendous insight as usual.

Looking at the snaps over the season as a whole it's clear to see that Gary Guyton has made more of an impact than would have been expected considering he was a UDFA. An inspired pick up by BB and you have to wonder why he was undrafted.