Greg Bedard - Spot-on Analysis in this Morning's Globe

[Garbanza]

When was the last time you wrote a post that was positive?

Aside from paying homage to Troy Brown and Tom Brady - not many, I suppose. The defense has been putrid for a few years now.

I find it so darn interesting too. I mean, BB is the defensive guru -and give him credit for scheming this rag tag bunch into some red zone efficiency - but how does he wiff on so many defensive personnel? I don't get it.

 

[BlueThunder]

Sometimes posters here drink too much of the kool-aid.....it happens.

I am probably one of the most Patriot homeristic posters on the internet and I saw very little to excite me about the Pats pass rush,pass defense, or tackling yesterday.....Outside of McCourty and Chung NOBODY in that DB showed anything that would let me say...they have potential.....I used to be a Sergio Brown fan, but even that is fading (except on ST).......

The DL has zero push and I don't think the Pats use the blitz effectively.....Pitt wasn't expecting it late in the game and they got to Ben 2 or 3 times....WHY doesn't the DC use that MORE OFTEN? No confidence in his DB's or poor planning? No pressure on the QB will end up losing to teams with a half decent passing attack.....and Ben is a bit better than good....

Poor Coaching...poor tackling....poor coverage....poor play calling......there wasn't just one problem that needed fixing....


Plenty of work and 5 or 6 days to fix it and get their ship upright....

Go to it BB !

 

[RIpats88]

Romo is terrible.

Romo is streaky in that he has a great game every blue moon. The norm is that he plays like crap.

no, Romo is a good QB who tends to choke in the clutch....the cowboys offense isnt ranked so highly because Romo is a terrible QB...that team lives and dies by Romo many times he is great, but he has a tendency to choke in big moments.

theres no need to try and change facts on players/games so you can harp on the defense....Romo played a good game against the pats...he put up 300yards, only threw 1 interception(the pats had 4 turnovers) but the defense was able to hold them at bay and the Pats won

 

[mgteich]

????

Not counting the gimmee scored after Guyton's interception, the mighty offense score 10 points against the steelers. How is the problem the defense?

The defense gave up 23 points against the steelers and all but scored 7 on on the interception. That should be enough for the offense to work with.

Lebeau owned the patriots yesterday, pure and simple. He beat us with 3 linebackers out for the whole game, and Woodley out for half of the game.

While I disagree with the waiving of Bodden, the fault is not the defense. There were on the field forever, partly because our offense did nothing. The defense has lot of room to improve, but giving up 23 to the steelers is not bad, especially given the interception giving the ball to the offense inside the 10.

Not sure I saw anything in the DB that he could build off of......inferior players give you inferior play no matter how much you scheme...

Pats will get 10 or 11 wins due to their potent offense...nothing on the defense excites me so far......

JMHO

 

[Rob0729]

Sometimes posters here drink too much of the kool-aid.....it happens.

I am probably one of the most Patriot homeristic posters on the internet and I saw very little to excite me about the Pats pass rush,pass defense, or tackling yesterday.....Outside of McCourty and Chung NOBODY in that DB showed anything that would let me say...they have potential.....I used to be a Sergio Brown fan, but even that is fading (except on ST).......

The DL has zero push and I don't think the Pats use the blitz effectively.....Pitt wasn't expecting it late in the game and they got to Ben 2 or 3 times....WHY doesn't the DC use that MORE OFTEN? No confidence in his DB's or poor planning? No pressure on the QB will end up losing to teams with a half decent passing attack.....and Ben is a bit better than good....

Poor Coaching...poor tackling....poor coverage....poor play calling......there wasn't just one problem that needed fixing....


Plenty of work and 5 or 6 days to fix it and get their ship upright....

Go to it BB !

I thought the defense was putrid yesterday other than in the red zone. But I was encouraged by what I saw in the previous weeks and how they were improving. I am not going to jump off the bandwagon after one game. If this is a start of a trend and the defense plays like this against the Giants, then I will then admit I am very concerned.

I don't let one game sway my opinions either good or bad. After the Browns' game last year, most people had this team left for dead and then they went on a run. In 2006, this team was left for dead early in the season because Brady had no one to throw to and they were a minute away from going to the Super Bowl (and probably winning it). I already talked about 2004. In 2008, this team was labeled as a 3 win team after Brady went down. Until I see that what we saw against Oakland (take away the garbage time 99 yard TD drive by the Raiders), Jets, and Cowboys was an abboration and what we saw yesterday is the real Pats, I am not going to go overboard about yesterday.

 

[Bronx Jet]

He can be, but he also beats some good defenses too.

It is funny though that a Jets fan would says yards mean very little when they rag on the Pats defense for all the yards they give up.

I care about point allowed. The best thing for the Pats defense wil be for the offense to score and score again, which they are very capable of. But with that D, and especially that secondary, they are no sure thing come playoffs.

 

[BlueThunder]

????

Not counting the gimmee scored after Guyton's interception, the mighty offense score 10 points against the steelers. How is the problem the defense?

The defense gave up 23 points against the steelers and all but scored 7 on on the interception. That should be enough for the offense to work with.

Lebeau owned the patriots yesterday, pure and simple. He beat us with 3 linebackers out for the whole game, and Woodley out for half of the game.

While I disagree with the waiving of Bodden, the fault is not the defense. There were on the field forever, partly because our offense did nothing. The defense has lot of room to improve, but giving up 23 to the steelers is not bad, especially given the interception giving the ball to the offense inside the 10.

I believe I addressed the Offense in another thread......I'm not a big BOB supporter....what happened to motion and screens coach ?

Noise caused 4 FS penalties.....Mankins and Vollmer if I'm correct.....

and the Steeler defensive players draped all over Pats recievers with impunity (or was it immunity?).....

Pats Offense isn't a problem game to game.....Pats Defense IS the bigger problem....

Pats will outscore most of their opponents most of the time with Brady and his Offensive weapons...(disagree with using Faulk as a RB , he should be blocker to pick up blitz or dump off)......

 

[RodThePat]

????

Not counting the gimmee scored after Guyton's interception, the mighty offense score 10 points against the steelers. How is the problem the defense?

The defense gave up 23 points against the steelers and all but scored 7 on on the interception. That should be enough for the offense to work with.

Lebeau owned the patriots yesterday, pure and simple. He beat us with 3 linebackers out for the whole game, and Woodley out for half of the game.

While I disagree with the waiving of Bodden, the fault is not the defense. There were on the field forever, partly because our offense did nothing. The defense has lot of room to improve, but giving up 23 to the steelers is not bad, especially given the interception giving the ball to the offense inside the 10.

The defense hardly gave our offense a shot. The problem with this D is that it basically requires us to be perfect offensively in order to win a game. If the offense sputters, it's very rare that the defense is able to pick it up, get stops and give us a chance to score. Basically, if this team is down by 7 and we punt the ball, the game might as well be over.

 

[RodThePat]

I thought the defense was putrid yesterday other than in the red zone. But I was encouraged by what I saw in the previous weeks and how they were improving. I am not going to jump off the bandwagon after one game. If this is a start of a trend and the defense plays like this against the Giants, then I will then admit I am very concerned.

I don't let one game sway my opinions either good or bad. After the Browns' game last year, most people had this team left for dead and then they went on a run. In 2006, this team was left for dead early in the season because Brady had no one to throw to and they were a minute away from going to the Super Bowl (and probably winning it). I already talked about 2004. In 2008, this team was labeled as a 3 win team after Brady went down. Until I see that what we saw against Oakland (take away the garbage time 99 yard TD drive by the Raiders), Jets, and Cowboys was an abboration and what we saw yesterday is the real Pats, I am not going to go overboard about yesterday.

You have basically seen that what we saw yesterday is the real Pats since 2009. It's much more feasible to think, when regarding personnel and recent history, that the Dallas and NY games were the outliers, rather than the norm.

 

[mgteich]

If you think that it is OK for a Brady offense to score 10 points, then you are welcome to your opinion.

We might as well trade Brady for some running backs and change the offense. If the goal is time of possession and 15 points game, then Brady is the worong quarterback.

This offense is a 25 points a game offense. The production yesterday was pathetic.

The defense hardly gave our offense a shot. The problem with this D is that it basically requires us to be perfect offensively in order to win a game. If the offense sputters, it's very rare that the defense is able to pick it up, get stops and give us a chance to score. Basically, if this team is down by 7 and we punt the ball, the game might as well be over.

 

[BlueThunder]

If you think that it is OK for a Brady offense to score 10 points, then you are welcome to your opinion.

We might as well trade Brady for some running backs and change the offense. If the goal is time of possession and 15 points game, then Brady is the worong quarterback.

This offense is a 25 points a game offense. The production yesterday was pathetic.

Ummm...ya think maybe the Steeler Defense showed up bigtime would be a distinct possibility?

They get paid also....

When you get a 40-20 TOP usually the 40 TOP team wins the game......the defense didn't give Brady the ball enough......even at the end of the game that extra 1:30 that Pats would have gotten if BB had challenged Gronk's non TD call (that the ref blew) may have been the difference in Brady pulling out the game.

Gonna have to agree to disagree on this....

 

[Deus Irae]

While it's good to see people like Bedard and Reiss shining the light on the personnel issues, the media is late to the party. They've been carrying the team's water as much as many of the homers here have been doing. Maybe now we can finally have an honest discussion about what's been going on with this team since the end of 2008, instead of all the "But... BB knows everything, and you don't know anything about what's going on there!" nonsense that's just a way to stifle the debate and discussion.

 

[IllegalContact]

While it's good to see people like Bedard and Reiss shining the light on the personnel issues, the media is late to the party. They've been carrying the team's water as much as many of the homers here have been doing. Maybe now we can finally have an honest discussion about what's been going on with this team since the end of 2008, instead of all the "But... BB knows everything, and you don't know anything about what's going on there!" nonsense that's just a way to stifle the debate and discussion.

not really.........the need for a pass rush has been clearly documented for years........

 

[chris_in_sunnyvale]

I learned something new from this article: Cotchery is a good interview.

Regards,
Chris

 

[Deus Irae]

not really.........the need for a pass rush has been clearly documented for years........

The homers were talking about how sacks were overrated, that the pass rush was fine, etc...

 

[BlueThunder]

I wasn't one who said sacks were over rated

How can a loss of yardage and down be worse than just pressure? ( Yes, there can be an INT if pressured...but there also can be no loss of yardage or a GAIN......)

 

[Raymond]

I now he is sits next to the $6 million Tweeter...

This made me laugh.

Ya think maybe we could find a woofer cheap and at least make a nice speaker.

 

[Bobs My Uncle]

Enough, those Patriots teams had an excellent front seven and probowl (plus a borderline HOF Safety).

I am not saying they can't catch lightening is a bottle, ala 2007 Colts but be realistic.

DL - Warren, [Wilfork/ Traylor / Washington], Seymour
LB_ Bruschi, Vrabel, McGinest, Phifer, Johnson
CB - Law, Samuel
S - Harrison, Wilson (before he sucked)

Aside from Wilfork and maybe Mayo no current Patriot would start on the 2003 & 2004 teams.

Indeed, spot on.

Outside of Wilfork, and a healthy Mayo, all of the rest of the Pats current defenders are replaceable. Given how much resources have been spent on this defense since mid 2000 season, that's mindboggling that so few VG players are on this side of the ball. Mindboggling and, given all of the draft picks available during this timeframe, mildly depressing as well.

 

[makoute]

I never said that this defense is anything like the 2004 defense, I was just attacking the comment that a team cannot win with talent like this. I pointed out that a team has won a Super Bowl with possibly worse talent at several positions.

I don't think this defense can turn it around like the 2004 team, but they don't have to. This year's NFL is nothing like 2004. Assuming they didn't play each other in the regular season, the 2004 Pats and the 2004 Steelers would easily face each other this year in the AFC Championships both 17-0. This year is a year of very flawed football. There isn't any team in the league that you can point to that doesn't have major issues including the Packers. If this was a normal year, I would be more concerned. But I can't think of one team including the Packers that doesn't have a major weakness that can be exploited by the right team.

But his statement was right.

 

[Triumph]

Oh, the Pats can win with the talent at hand. Brady will do his part.

But, they arent winning a Super Bowl any time soon with that pass defense and he pains me to say that. I thought some if not all of the problems were corrected.