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Another great piece by Reiss that helps understand the backstage of defensive resurgence and also sheds a light to future expectations.
In one of the countless D threads around the bye week I envisioned the Scarnecchia scenario for fixing the D - deciding on the starting personnel (whoever that might be), sticking with them, gluing them together as a unit. Revolving door at CB stopped turning, BB & MP decided to stick with McClellin despite not showing up in games, added Van Noy in unimpressive trade in stead of Collins and put Roberts back to his comfort zone. (They also benched Sheard to send additional message in the aftermath of the Collins trade).
The schedule gave them 4 weeks to turn things around. It seems that's what they did.
The Seahawks game came simply too early. Now the D seems ready for the final stretch to fulfil some of the expectations from the preseason in terms of versatile personnel and surprising schemes. The timing looks to be just about right - Flacco is a good customer to try some more of this:
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Quote:
This wasn't a blitz-heavy approach of regularly sending more rushers than the standard four. Technically, the Patriots only blitzed (defined as sending 5 or more rushers) seven times in the game. Instead, this was a game-plan of brilliant disguise, one that showcased the versatility and hybrid nature of the team's front-seven personnel.
In simple terms, the Patriots mostly rushed the standard four defenders but Goff and the Rams' over-matched offensive line never knew who was surging forward or dropping back, or who was stunting up front or simply executing a straight-up pass rush. That created the type of confusion that the Patriots' 2014 Super Bowl championship defense often generated, especially when facing a vulnerable offensive line.
Reiss' article: Patriots' D didn't exactly bring the heat, but won with brilliant disguise
_
And here's another important thing many of us were missing highlighted by Hightower:
"The past couple weeks, we've been growing together as a defense and just being able to trust one another and building that camaraderie to be able to know where each other is going to be," linebacker Dont'a Hightower said Monday on sports radio WEEI.
_
The camaraderie was more and more visible in the last three games. Now lets hope it sticks, grows and besides better energy brings also consistency.
In one of the countless D threads around the bye week I envisioned the Scarnecchia scenario for fixing the D - deciding on the starting personnel (whoever that might be), sticking with them, gluing them together as a unit. Revolving door at CB stopped turning, BB & MP decided to stick with McClellin despite not showing up in games, added Van Noy in unimpressive trade in stead of Collins and put Roberts back to his comfort zone. (They also benched Sheard to send additional message in the aftermath of the Collins trade).
The schedule gave them 4 weeks to turn things around. It seems that's what they did.
The Seahawks game came simply too early. Now the D seems ready for the final stretch to fulfil some of the expectations from the preseason in terms of versatile personnel and surprising schemes. The timing looks to be just about right - Flacco is a good customer to try some more of this:
_
Quote:
This wasn't a blitz-heavy approach of regularly sending more rushers than the standard four. Technically, the Patriots only blitzed (defined as sending 5 or more rushers) seven times in the game. Instead, this was a game-plan of brilliant disguise, one that showcased the versatility and hybrid nature of the team's front-seven personnel.
In simple terms, the Patriots mostly rushed the standard four defenders but Goff and the Rams' over-matched offensive line never knew who was surging forward or dropping back, or who was stunting up front or simply executing a straight-up pass rush. That created the type of confusion that the Patriots' 2014 Super Bowl championship defense often generated, especially when facing a vulnerable offensive line.
Reiss' article: Patriots' D didn't exactly bring the heat, but won with brilliant disguise
_
And here's another important thing many of us were missing highlighted by Hightower:
"The past couple weeks, we've been growing together as a defense and just being able to trust one another and building that camaraderie to be able to know where each other is going to be," linebacker Dont'a Hightower said Monday on sports radio WEEI.
_
The camaraderie was more and more visible in the last three games. Now lets hope it sticks, grows and besides better energy brings also consistency.
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