Idle thoughts - The non-hearsay edit

[nabwong]

Agreed - Although, to me, the small sample of Harmon's work so far has not been great, atrocious angles of attack. For DB evaluation, a wider view is best to watch the entire play develop. T. Wilson always seemed to be around the ball but just out of position or late on the play in college and continues as a pro. He also does not seem to have top end speed and an overabundance of athleticism. I'm not sure we sign A. Wilson if Tavon was a major force at safety.
Time and Bill will tell. I hope I'm wrong, but I have doubts either will be more than Special Teamers. It would be nice if Tavon or Duron were competing for Starting jobs being 2nd and 3rd round picks. Love the Pats and wish every draft pick was a Maserati. This sounds like a Yankee fan .... GO SOX

Do you think Wilson is always around the ball because QBs are purposely throwing his way cos they're picking on him? Just a thought. I don't know this answer.

 

[supafly]

Agreed - Although, to me, the small sample of Harmon's work so far has not been great, atrocious angles of attack. For DB evaluation, a wider view is best to watch the entire play develop. T. Wilson always seemed to be around the ball but just out of position or late on the play in college and continues as a pro. He also does not seem to have top end speed and an overabundance of athleticism. I'm not sure we sign A. Wilson if Tavon was a major force at safety.
Time and Bill will tell. I hope I'm wrong, but I have doubts either will be more than Special Teamers. It would be nice if Tavon or Duron were competing for Starting jobs being 2nd and 3rd round picks. Love the Pats and wish every draft pick was a Maserati. This sounds like a Yankee fan .... GO SOX

Oddly enough, the general consensus here and in the media is that Harmon has looked decently enough so far, while Logan Ryan is the DB that looks basically lost (aside from his INT).

Not sure what to think, but I've heard from many that Harmon looks okay so far and that T.Wilson looked like he improved a bit last night, but is still having a lousy camp so far.

 

[PatsWickedPissah]

As expected BB praised Ryan today for his big play. A confidence message to the kid?

 

[ROHAN KLEMM]

We have thrown a lot of draft / free agent resources at our defensive backfield over the years, to be in a similar situation of need every year is puzzling. We have big, aggressive linebackers who excel in the pass rush yet are held back because our DB's lack depth and skill. Prime example was Talib's injury completely changing our defensive scheme vs Ravens. We need to hit big on one of these high draft picks and I have not seen any indication this is going to happen this year. I did like every thing I saw of Ras I in his brief stint vs Dolphins, back in the day.

 

[AzPatsFan]

We have thrown a lot of draft / free agent resources at our defensive backfield over the years, to be in a similar situation of need every year is puzzling. We have big, aggressive linebackers who excel in the pass rush yet are held back because our DB's lack depth and skill. Prime example was Talib's injury completely changing our defensive scheme vs Ravens. We need to hit big on one of these high draft picks and I have not seen any indication this is going to happen this year. I did like every thing I saw of Ras I in his brief stint vs Dolphins, back in the day.

Rebuilding the secondary requires a dozen good ball players. You don't do that in a single draft or even two. Rome wasn't built in a day, neither is a secondary. In addition, we lost to injury a couple of good candidates in Leigh Bodden and Deon Butler and James Sanders. BB probably wants Butler's cut back as he starts in the Colts secondary. Ditto for Sanders.

 

[patsfanincleveland]

On a very minor note, Peyton Hillis was not a realistic target for the Pats after McDaniels came back. He traded Hillis away when he was in Denver, and there are rumors that it was because Hillis was making moves on Mrs. McDaniels. If that's anywhere near true, I think it's safe to say that those two would not have been able to coexist in the Pats' locker room.

Hillis is a complete meathead.

One decent year here in Cleveland and he thinks he's worth millions.

 

[captain stone]

Tavon also played more reps on the Special Teams than any of our players last night.

Maybe he's being showcased, in case someone wants to trade us a conditional 2020 7th-rounder for him.

 

[mgteich]

You may not like but are likely to carry 3 DB/Sters and 2 LB/STers.

You might as well forget that A Wilson (or Ebner) play safety. They will make the team as special teamers. They were two critical members of our 2012 special teams units. Cole is another.

Maybe he's being showcased, in case someone wants to trade us a conditional 2020 7th-rounder for him.

 

[Husse]

You may not like but are likely to carry 3 DB/Sters and 2 LB/STers.

You might as well forget that A Wilson (or Ebner) play safety. They will make the team as special teamers. They were two critical members of our 2012 special teams units. Cole is another.

Now I know why our ST units were bad last year. We were playing one man down all along!

 

[UK_Pat37]

We have thrown a lot of draft / free agent resources at our defensive backfield over the years, to be in a similar situation of need every year is puzzling. We have big, aggressive linebackers who excel in the pass rush yet are held back because our DB's lack depth and skill. Prime example was Talib's injury completely changing our defensive scheme vs Ravens. We need to hit big on one of these high draft picks and I have not seen any indication this is going to happen this year. I did like every thing I saw of Ras I in his brief stint vs Dolphins, back in the day.

People don't address the real issue; interior pressure. I lost count how many coverage sacks we had last year. When you allow a QB time to step up, you may as well have me out there for free.

Too long we have hung our DBs out to try. Support is what they need.

 

[Oswlek]

potential cuts: T. Wilson / Harmon / Bequette / Washington / Tebow (definitely) / Cole / Ebner

Harmon and Washington are locks to make the team, and it is likely that one of Cole or Ebner does as well. Really strange comment.

 

[Oswlek]

Oddly enough, the general consensus here and in the media is that Harmon has looked decently enough so far, while Logan Ryan is the DB that looks basically lost (aside from his INT).

Actually, Ryan was OK, it's been Green who was off the charts terrible at CB (at least he was week one, I haven't had a chance to rewatching the TB game). And Tavon was a lot better on Friday than he was the week before. Not good, but not the travesty people are thinking it was. He was much closer to being in good position (even had it at times and was just beaten by a good throw) and the hold was largely because Green was picking him. Better to take a chance at a grab that wouldn't be called most times than to allow a guaranteed TD.

 

[Marqui]

Oddly enough, the general consensus here and in the media is that Harmon has looked decently enough so far, while Logan Ryan is the DB that looks basically lost (aside from his INT).

Not sure what to think, but I've heard from many that Harmon looks okay so far and that T.Wilson looked like he improved a bit last night, but is still having a lousy camp so far.

Ryan was solid last game when playing with the starters.

 

[JMC00]

Ya. It was Ryan's man coverage on Vincent Jackson that contributed to the Jones sack.

Freeman looks to the left side the whole time which was was where Jackson was matched up on Ryan.

 

[mgteich]

Ryan's play was the major plus from last night on defense.

 

[patsfanincleveland]

My first impression was that we are going to see a MUCH more aggressive and creative D this season. Its been driving me nuts for the last 3 years to keep seeing vanilla fronts with the same alignments over and over again. It didn’t matter if it were a 3 man front or a 4 man front, you could almost count on seeing the DL line up the same places all the time.

Ken,

When you know that your talent is not up to snuff, you make coaching changes that reduce your exposure, as much as possible, and hope. That is what BB has been doing for 4 years, and It worked.

Although being rated 29th or 30th in the League, the vanilla Defense, using Bend Don't Break principles, depended on the other guys Offense to screw up and often they usually did. The Defense finished in the Top Dozen every year in the only stat that really matters, Points Scored Against. But it suffered against complete, winning clubs in the Playoffs,who were too good to screw up very much.

This season, like I have maintained after 4 years of total rebuilding, his Defensive talent does not have to take a step back behind anyone in the League. Belichick & Matty Patricia, have the Pass Rush, the great crew of LBs, including two coverage LB solutions, and plenty of talented secondary players, finally. They are now flexing their young defensive wings.

Ofcourse, this does ignore the fact that when the "elite", "#1", "all world" SF 49er defense faced both NY and Baltimore......they were a materially worse defense.

Did anybody bother to catch that disaster defense in the Super Bowl?

In the AFCCG the Ravens were shut down until the Talib debacle. What exactly was the 49ers excuse?

 

[JMC00]

Ofcourse, this does ignore the fact that when the "elite", "#1", "all world" SF 49er defense faced both NY and Baltimore......they were a materially worse defense.

Did anybody bother to catch that disaster defense in the Super Bowl?

In the AFCCG the Ravens were shut down until the Talib debacle. What exactly was the 49ers excuse?

How about when Ponder beat them?

Peterson was a non-factor running the ball that game. He had 86 yards on 25 carries.

 

[BTTA]

Here are my non-Tebow observations from last night:
2 - I really like Shane Vereen. He is going to be the fourth best player in this offense behind Gronk, Amendola, and Ridley.

There are at least four on the offense not named Gronk that are worth ranking ahead of Amendola, Ridley, and Vereen.

 

[JMC00]

There are at least four on the offense not named Gronk that are worth ranking ahead of Amendola, Ridley, and Vereen.

And they would be?

 

[Oswlek]

And they would be?

Yeah, that is a bizarre one. :confused4: