How about a position by position breakdown of why the defense is struggling?

[fightingirish595]

Blitzburgh rushes 4? Green Bay?
Succrssful pass rushing is a good quality so if course you will find some teams who leveraged that strength to win.
So is stopping the run, throwing the ball, running the ball, turnover advantage and special teams play.
You will find teams with all kinds of strengths winning. Mostly you will find teams that score many points and allow few win.

You can blitz a lot when you have a very good secondary. Patriots dont have that this year. Or a 4 man rush. But I agree, got to stop the run the ball and run the ball. Those are extremely important qualities of championship teams

 

[Ring 6]

You can blitz a lot when you have a very good secondary. Patriots dont have that this year. Or a 4 man rush. But I agree, got to stop the run the ball and run the ball. Those are extremely important qualities of championship teams

Well what it is rush 4 or blitz?
The patriots secondary is better than what Pittsburgh put out there most years.

There is no magical answer. Every team has strengths and weaknesses and there is no real formula of which set beat another set.

 

[Actual Pats Fan]

So you're suggesting we ignore the hard fact: the sum total of yards given up?

Let's see your interpretation of the next championship we won:

2003-2004 Playoffs

Divisional Round- WIN
Total Yards Allowed 284
Points allowed 14

Championship Round- WIN
Total Yards Allowed 306
Points allowed 14

Super Bowl- WIN
Total Yards Allowed 387
Points allowed 29

The fact is BB has always played and will always play the "bend but don't break" defense. Why? Simple- after points, the next thing BB values the most is turnovers. The more reps you give the other team, e.g., making them dink and dunk up the field, the more chances you have of generating a turnover.

This just looks like it's not gonna end well.

...the argument, I mean; I think the team will be fine...

 

[deroc5050]

I am not really sure their are any dominant defenses in the NFL.

You could say Denver but you can run against them
Seattle?
Minnesota?
Baltimore?
Kansas City?
Arizona?
NY Giants?
Eagles?

None of those teams seem to have shut down defenses.

 

[Actual Pats Fan]

I am not really sure their are any dominant defenses in the NFL.

You could say Denver but you can run against them
Seattle?
Minnesota?
Baltimore?
Kansas City?
Arizona?
NY Giants?
Eagles?

None of those teams seem to have shut down defenses.

I don't see nearly as many games as I used to, but looking for trends and improvement will usually reveal clues as to who is going to pose a problem in the playoffs, and who's not. Season statistics are not enough to analyse.

Historically, many teams have emerged in December and January with defenses that have really put it all together. I believe that's typically been an objective of Belichick's each year.

 

[NewFeep]

How about not nitpicking every last detail and enjoying a highly competitive team while we have it......."It is what it is"

 

[Deus Irae]

Bend but don't break (which is a fan euphemism) doesn't mean don't stop the other team. You cannot determine the game plan by the results.
Bend but don't break means play conservative and limit the big play. It doesn't say let them get first downs.
Conservative defense is still trying to win every play it is just not doing it with a risky scheme.

Making good plays doesn't mean you were aggressive.
Your argument seems to be since the plan worked it must be he one you like and that's wrong.

I know what "Bend but don't break" means, thanks. You seem to be confusing a general philosophy (GTFB, avoid huge plays) with a game plan application (stay passive, do almost nothing to put pressure on the opponent). And, on that note, I'm through discussing this with you.

 

[Deus Irae]

So you're suggesting we ignore the hard fact: the sum total of yards given up?

I didn't ignore the sum total of yards allowed. I demonstrated how they came to pass by looking deeper into the game stats than you bothered doing. On your behalf, I'm sorry that your argument sucks, but your argument sucks.

 

[fightingirish595]

I didn't ignore the sum total of yards allowed. I demonstrated how they came to pass by looking deeper into the game stats than you bothered doing. On your behalf, I'm sorry that your argument sucks, but your argument sucks.

it's not his argument. He copied and pasted that from a website. And the person who wrote it deemed it to be bend and don't break

Edit: and what he fails to point out is that I believe in that article it says, that either during multiple Super Bowl runs they gave up the least amount of yards per game in the playoffs, but the author deems it bend and not break because of where the numbers would have ranked among regular season statistics

 

[Deus Irae]

it's not his argument. He copied and pasted that from a website. And the person who wrote it deemed it to be bend and don't break

He's putting the argument forth, though, and PP usually knows better than to post that kind of crap.

 

[fightingirish595]

He's putting the argument forth, though, and PP usually knows better than to post that kind of crap.

Well what I mean is that what he posted is not his material

 

[luuked]

Would you keep Wilfork (8.4m cap)?

Definitely not at 8.4m. I haven't watched enough Texans games to determine if he is worth those 5.5m that he is getting from them this year.

 

[luuked]

2. Jones gone so nobody demanding consistent double teams and no somewhat consistent edge rush.

I hope someday someone makes a breakdown of how often Chandler Jones had to deal with double teams because this is one of those narratives that now gets thrown around a lot. Not saying it's not true but I have not seen any stats or evidence one way or the other.

 

[PP2]

I didn't ignore the sum total of yards allowed. I demonstrated how they came to pass by looking deeper into the game stats than you bothered doing. On your behalf, I'm sorry that your argument sucks, but your argument sucks.

You may want to look at these numbers in the context of yards allowed in the playoffs, and superbowls, and the numbers (as far as yards allowed) aren't anywhere near the low end of least yards allowed (in the 100-200's).

 

[PP2]

Well what I mean is that what he posted is not his material

Correction: I copied and pasted the statistics, not the author's arguments.

 

[deroc5050]

Well I don't know what their total ranked defense was in 2014 but they fell 14 points behind Baltimore twice in that playoff game. (One of the most enjoyable and amazing playoff games I can remember)

They smoked the Colts.. it was Men against Boys.

And Obviously the epic Super Bowl 28-24 win was one of the best Super Bowls ever played.

Point is New England put up 28 points+ every playoff game in the 2014/15 playoffs. They will need to replicate that to win another title this year.

And if they don't win it this year, I doubt Brady will get ring #5 with New England. With 65m in cap space next season we have no idea how the roster will turn out.

 

[fightingirish595]

Correction: I copied and pasted the statistics, not the author's arguments.

But you probably wouldn't have done that if the author deemed that to be bend not break. The patriots were going against the better teams in the league. Of course their numbers in the post season aren't going to look as good compared to regular season games. That author loses all credibility using that as his argument

 

[skinnydog]

That's not even true Brady destroys the blitz.

Let me explain.
If you are the better team and you play a cunservarive game you likely win. The worse team needs to be aggressive to flip the script with big plays. When a game comes down to big plays the better team has less of an advantage.

Rex Ryan plays aggressive defense and gives up more points has fewer takeaways and wins fewe games. Look at the numbers of him as a hc and BB for the same time period.
Fans like aggressive when it works and then assume it always works and it doesn't.

Good god. What are you talking abou

That's not even true Brady destroys the blitz.

Let me explain.
If you are the better team and you play a cunservarive game you likely win. The worse team needs to be aggressive to flip the script with big plays. When a game comes down to big plays the better team has less of an advantage.

Rex Ryan plays aggressive defense and gives up more points has fewer takeaways and wins fewe games. Look at the numbers of him as a hc and BB for the same time period.
Fans like aggressive when it works and then assume it always works and it doesn't.

Good god what are you talking about. Playing an aggressive style doesn't mean blitzing. Seattle plays an aggressive attcking style of defense and they are on track to have the best scoring defense for the 5th year in a row. Who cares about Rex Ryan?? He sucks as a head coach. Most of the top defenses play a more aggressive style of D.

 

[skinnydog]

Our only real achilles heel is when the other team is able to collapse our pocket while rushing only four.

That's by no means an aggressive defense.

Please. Really? Rewatch the Denver game of last year. Watch the Seattle games of the few years. Watch The loses to Baltimore.

 

[goheels22002]

That's not even true Brady destroys the blitz.

Let me explain.
If you are the better team and you play a cunservarive game you likely win. The worse team needs to be aggressive to flip the script with big plays. When a game comes down to big plays the better team has less of an advantage.

Rex Ryan plays aggressive defense and gives up more points has fewer takeaways and wins fewe games. Look at the numbers of him as a hc and BB for the same time period.
Fans like aggressive when it works and then assume it always works and it doesn't.

Agreed. Rex's Dad, Buddy Ryan, ran the most aggressive defense we ever saw with the 53 when the Bears demolished the '85 Patriots. Buddy had very special personnel to do that, and a ball-control offense that kept the chains moving. That was also pre-salary cap.

As a HC, he was never able to pull off similar success because he didn't have all the players needed, and because coaches figured out how to attack pressure. Those late 80s Eagles teams were a blast to watch, but gave up big plays. Belichick was a DC with the Giants back then, and built an aggressive D around LT that played a more conservative game in the secondary to keep receivers in front of the defensive backs.