Dime defense success

[patsinthesnow]

@DougKyedNESN: In dime, Patriots allowed 1 completion on 7 passing attempts Sunday. Patriots allowed 17 yards with an INT and three sacks in dime.

Thoughts? Speaks to the talent of our DBs.

 

[farn]

Weird that it may actually be that NE has talent and depth in the defensive backfield. Hope the turnovers keep coming.

 

[mayoclinic]

Wasn't Ebner playing in the dime?

The usage of the dime package, with safety Nate Ebner coming on as the sixth defensive back, gives us a chance to highlight how Ebner is seeing more time this year. Ebner played five defensive snaps all of last season (three vs. Carolina, two vs. Houston). So his 13 snaps Sunday more than doubled his output from 2013 and highlight how the core special teamer is expanding his role a bit in his third season.

http://espn.go.com/blog/boston/new-...68229/usage-of-dime-helps-ebner-break-through

 

[mgteich]

Wasn't Ebner playing in the dime?



http://espn.go.com/blog/boston/new-...68229/usage-of-dime-helps-ebner-break-through

Ebner was indeed our dime back.

 

[ALP]

ebner showed of his tackling this preseason...everyone noticed it, and its prob a main reason he is beign tested on the actual defense

 

[mayoclinic]

Sounds like we can expect to see more of Ebner on the field:

In addition to playing 20 of 28 special teams snaps, Ebner – the former MVP of the US junior rugby squad – saw action in 14 of 66 defensive snaps playing free safety. Is that a sign of growing confidence and growth in the 25-year-old Ebner?

“I’€™d say it’€™s yes on both accounts,” Belichick said Tuesday, before beaming about Ebner’s development. “We certainly have a lot of confidence in Nate. We’€™ve seen Nate grow and improve. I would probably put him in the, not the all-time top, but maybe in the top five percent all-time of players that I’€™ve coached from where they were in college to how they grew in the NFL. Nate had almost no defensive experience at Ohio State. He’€™s adapted in a relatively short amount of time€“ going into his third year so it’€™s really two-plus years ‘€“ adapted very well to the knowledge of our defense, to the understanding of opponents’€™ offenses, to instinctiveness and reading and recognition at a position that he plays right in the middle of the field, which is among the most difficult, inside linebacker and safety where the volume and the number of things that can happen are the greatest, where you have to really see everybody on the field, all 11 guys. His development has really been outstanding.

“Nate has, I’€™d say, far exceeded our expectations defensively based on what he had coming out of college. Players like Steve Neal, with zero experience, [Matt] Cassel, very little playing experience at Southern Cal, guys like that, Nate, very little defensive experience at Ohio State, for those guys to become the type of players that ‘€“ I’€™m not putting him in that class yet, but I’€™m saying the evolution and development for guys like that is pretty significant relative to a lot of other players who have just had a lot more opportunity than guys like that have.”

http://itiswhatitis.weei.com/sports...ld-expect-to-see-more-and-more-of-nate-ebner/

I've personally been hoping for 2 years that Ebner would eventually catch on and be able to use his exceptional athleticism on defense as well as on special teams. I think this could be a very interesting storyline this season.

 

[strngplyr]

@DougKyedNESN: In dime, Patriots allowed 1 completion on 7 passing attempts Sunday. Patriots allowed 17 yards with an INT and three sacks in dime.

Thoughts? Speaks to the talent of our DBs.

This success was without 3 players expected to be key contributors to the success of the dime as well, in Dennard, Browner, and Collins.

Exciting times in the NE defensive backfield.

 

[patsinthesnow]

How epic of a story if Ebner continues to step up and takes over the #2 safety job? It's awesome to hear that he's earning reps.

 

[hwc]

I've been chuckling all pre-season at all the complaining about the second safety spot. The reality, in this nickle and dime package NFL, is that the Patriots have incredible depth in the secondary. They are four deep with experienced NFL starter CBs and that's before you get to Logan Ryan and the promising rookie, Butler. And, they've got a bunch of decent safeties.

Nobody in the NFL if 10 deep at ProBowl caliber DBs....

----

I'm a little concerned about Dennard being unable to go with the shoulder. I hope this is just a speedbump on his recovery from shoulder surgery and not a re-injury or a chronic problem. Could see Logan Ryan take his spot on the depth chart.

 

[DocHoliday]

How epic of a story if Ebner continues to step up and takes over the #2 safety job? It's awesome to hear that he's earning reps.

Very amusing if despite all the Chung/Harmon/Wilson it is Nate Ebner that takes the job. I doubt it, but it would certainly be funny

 

[Wheelman]

Very amusing if despite all the Chung/Harmon/Wilson it is Nate Ebner that takes the job. I doubt it, but it would certainly be funny

I would love for this to happen. Ebner is certainly more physical than the other three.

 

[Coach42]

Sounds like we can expect to see more of Ebner on the field:



http://itiswhatitis.weei.com/sports...ld-expect-to-see-more-and-more-of-nate-ebner/

I've personally been hoping for 2 years that Ebner would eventually catch on and be able to use his exceptional athleticism on defense as well as on special teams. I think this could be a very interesting storyline this season.

I wonder if Ebner will be used in the LB/S role that you covet so badly. Certainly he has the raw size athleticism to be that. Maybe his brain is coming around?

 

[ctpatsfan77]

As I wrote shortly after he was drafted:

39" VJ
23 bench press reps
4.04 SS
6.59 3-cone
10'8" broad jump

Those are positively Barwinesque for a DB.

 

[mayoclinic]

Very amusing if despite all the Chung/Harmon/Wilson it is Nate Ebner that takes the job. I doubt it, but it would certainly be funny

At the very least Ebner will be a core STer (Slater 2.0) who can add some depth at S. If he can play an effective role in dime and big nickel sets, all the better. Beyond that would be challenging Chung/Harmon/Wilson. That bar's not terribly high, but baby steps is ok for me right now. I agree that it's a long shot that Ebner develops into a full time starter at S, though he certainly has the build and raw athleticism to excel, and the light seems to be coming on.

 

[Fencer]

I wonder if Ebner will be used in the LB/S role that you covet so badly. Certainly he has the raw size athleticism to be that. Maybe his brain is coming around?

BB's quote uses the phrase "inside linebacker and safety".

 

[pencilneckgeek]

I wonder if Ebner will be used in the LB/S role that you covet so badly. Certainly he has the raw size athleticism to be that. Maybe his brain is coming around?

This is exactly the role that he plays in the dime. It's likely his ability to take on blocks when the offense springs a draw that makes him the first choice for the dime, given how thoroughly the Pats have been gashed by the run in their sub defense. The fact that he is there, however, means that the light bulb is probably coming-on in terms of his coverage ability.

 

[mayoclinic]

This is exactly the role that he plays in the dime. It's likely his ability to take on blocks when the offense springs a draw that makes him the first choice for the dime, given how thoroughly the Pats have been gashed by the run in their sub defense. The fact that he is there, however, means that the light bulb is probably coming-on in terms of his coverage ability.

Exactly. If he can play that role successfully in the dime then he could work his way into big nickel packages, and from there ... well, just to do that much would be a big step forward.

He's also equalled and perhaps exceeded Slater as the best STer on the team, and one of the best in the NFL. Remember, this is a guy many people thought was on the bubble. I never did. I think he'll be a part of the team for a while.

 

[Kontradiction]

BB's quote uses the phrase "inside linebacker and safety".

Yep. When I noticed Ebner on Sunday, it was because he was playing closer to the LOS.

 

[ctpatsfan77]

He's also equalled and perhaps exceeded Slater as the best STer on the team, and one of the best in the NFL. Remember, this is a guy many people thought was on the bubble. I never did. I think he'll be a part of the team for a while.

Here's how highly the Pats think of Ebner's ST skills: he really did "make the club from the tub" last year, as he didn't play a single snap in the preseason.

 

[BradyFTW!]

Just went back and reviewed the game, and from what I saw (I may have missed a play or two) Ebner was in on defense for 11 plays, all dime personnel. 7 of those snaps were in the final two minutes of the game, where the Pats are using big dime instead of nickel when facing 3WR formations with Gray as Minnesota's TE. For the most part, Ebner lines up over Gray.

In 8 of the 11 plays, Ebner lines up on or near the LOS, and is basically playing as a pseudo-LB. He even blitzes from the 9 technique on play (3rd and 8 at 7:36 in the 3rd), forcing Rudolph to chip him him then being blocked by Loadholt while Hightower gets the sack.

On the last drive, the Pats have Ebner mostly matching up with Gray (Vikings TE3). I don't know much about Gray--only that he was good in college--but he's clearly a receiving specialist, because despite not catching any balls that I saw he was an awful blocker but pretty quick as a receiver. Ebner jammed him at the line a couple of times, with mixed success. He clearly disrupts Gray's route on Ninkovich's sack, but on the very next play he has the same assignment and Gray gets a clean release on him (this is the play where Patterson drew the long PI flag on Ryan).

In coverage, he was a mixed back as far as I could tell. His first defensive snap of the game came at 14:36 in the 2nd, where he was lined up 6 yards off the LOS on 3rd and 10 and appeared to be in zone coverage. He ended up trying to cover Rudolph on a corner route. Cassel made a pretty bad throw that Rudolph had to try to one-hand but couldn't come up with. If he had caught it, Ebner would've had an opportunity to tackle him short of the first down, and it would've been interesting to see him try, seeing as Rudolph's 260 pounds. My guess is that Rudolph would've had the first down on a better throw, since Ebner didn't have a great angle on him and stopping a guy that outweighs you by 50 pounds dead in his tracks is no easy task

The next time he was called on to do much in coverage was at 1:56 in the 4th, when he lined up 10 yards off the LOS in a traditional safety role. This was one of the few plays that he was in on--maybe the only one--where he was one of two safeties instead of big dime. Pats rush 3, with Hightower and Ebner dropping into shallow/intermediate zone coverage over the middle. Hightower picks up Patterson in coverage as he runs a shallow crossing route. Naturally, the Vikings exploit this, with Cassel hitting Patterson and Patterson turning upfield and beating Mayo to the edge when Mayo takes a bad angle (kinda, I can't fault him too much for being beaten by Patterson's raw speed). Patterson gains 15 before being taken down by Butler, and Ebner has put himself in position to make the tackle if Butler cannot. It looks like they would have been vulnerable to Patterson cutting back across the field there, and I wonder if that would've fallen on Ebner's shoulders for overpursuing if it had happened. Hard to say, though.

I should also note that on the last play of the game Ebner dropped back into coverage and had his man pretty much locked down.

All in all, Ebner looked a lot more comfortable playing as a big dime pseudo-LB than as a standard safety, and while he was a mixed bag overall, it didn't look like he was directly responsible for any significant gains. At a bare minumum, I would much, much rather have him in as a big dime pseudo-LB than ever see Deontae Skinner as a nickel LB. My guess, though, would be that he was taking what would usually be Collins' snaps, and that Collins will get them back when he returns to the field. Still, it makes me feel slightly better about our LB depth's coverage ability if Ebner's able to step into that role when injuries demand it.