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CLICK HERE to Register for a free account and login for a smoother ad-free experience. It's easy, and only takes a few moments.You have to be talented, you have to be tough, because you have to be able to take on the linemen and fullbacks and tight ends and play in the trenches vs. the run game. So you have to be sturdy and strong enough and tough enough to handle that, but you also have to be agile, and smart enough to be able to read coverages and drop back into coverages and understand different receiver sets and motions and be able to read different formations. It's not easy.
Talkin w/ B Belichick he's definitly in to the multiple fronts in '12. Draft pics Jones, Hightower, Bequette and Wilson all play multiple spo[ts.]
Between free agency and the draft, the Patriots have not only added more talent to the defense, but most importantly for Belichick, they now have a variety of options at all three levels of the defense: the line, linebackers, and secondary.
The options, for Belichick, are literally endless. “On paper, I think there are some possibilities for that,’’ he said. “It will be interesting to see how it goes with some of those players.’’
The Patriots now have linemen - Trevor Scott, Jones, Bequette, Jermaine Cunningham, and Markell Carter - who can drop back and play linebacker. Hightower is the type of linebacker who can easily move down the line in situations.
In the secondary, Steve Gregory, Wilson, Patrick Chung, Ebner, and Josh Barrett can play linebacker in sub packages and effectively play the run. Cornerbacks Devin McCourty, Gregory, Chung, Wilson, Dennard, Sterling Moore, and Malcolm Williams all have the ability to play safety.
Flash back to the beginning of last season, and the roles for most of the Patriots were fairly well defined - for fans and opponents. And the 31st-ranked Patriots defense got chewed up. Only later, out of necessity, did we see any versatility become evident.
Now, the Patriots set off into an offseason of great expectations with a defense that can emerge like a chameleon when the season starts. No one knows what it will eventually look like. That’s likely the way it will go week to week during the season, especially when opponents try to game plan offensively. The Patriots have the potential to dictate the style of the game defensively with the scheme they choose. Usually that’s what the opposing offense does.
“I do think that with some of the players we’ve added on the defensive side of the ball, guys have different skills and maybe they will be able to do some different things for us,’’ Belichick said. “It’s hard to say exactly what that will be until you actually get them doing it and putting it all together to see how effective we are individually and collectively as a team doing different things, changing things up and how versatile the players are.’’