Let's hear it for the defense!

[italian pat patriot]

yes...what a great great game by the defense...Gerard Warren, Ninkovich, Spikes, all were really really good !

awesome !

 

[BTTA]

Impressed by:
-DL consistently beating their OL, particularly up the middle
-tight coverage on Tebow's first couple of options
-took away the deep pass, which has been their strength lately and our weakness all year.

Still worried by:
-missed and broken tackles
-lack of contain on the edge (outside assignments getting seduced into the middle and losing the edge)

 

[cstjohn17]

Hell yeah, loved the attitude tonight.

 

[scout]

I did not mind the late hit by Chung. That shows a different aggressiveness we have not seen since Rodney. Ninkovich's name was compared to Vrabel by the talking heads. Moore did not disapoint. Spikes made his presence felt. We had a great pass rush against a top rated offensive line. I asked Coolguy to come back win or lose as he belittled our defense like a troll. Must be listening to some Black Crow over breakfast.

 

[Rusty Coupe]

"heavenly days"

NFL Videos: Patriots defense, sack, 5-yd loss

 

[alvinnf]

Last night showed how disruptive their DL could be if the play gap penetration football. People complain about their read and react style, wanting more pressure. It was interesting to see them play up field. I wonder if they keep doing it, they looked really good doing it. Nasty actually.

 

[Triggerfish]

What defense can? The 49ers' defense is one of the best defenses in the league and they could only slow down Brees and the Saints for a while. The Saints still had 472 yards and scored 32 points even after turning the ball over 4 times on offense. If a top defense cannot stop a quality offense, who can?

Also, the Broncos' o-line is a great o-line. Say what you will about their entire offense, it is generally recognized that the Broncos' o-line is one of the best in the league. The Pats consistently went through it like a knife in warm butter. Pittsburgh (who are great at pressuring the QB) last week not only had zero sacks last week, they had zero QB hits (granted they lost 2/3 of their d-line early, but weren't pressuring Tebow before that). The Pats had 5 sacks and caused 14 negative plays last night. You look at that as discrediting what the Pats' defense did, but I think it is the biggest evidence they have turned the corner.

To be fair, the vaunted blitz-happy Pittsburgh D was living largely off of reputation this season, instead of actual production. I'm HOPING that a lot of it can be attributed to inuries on the D-line, therefore lacking the push up front. But. regardless, even when we DID actually have both Harrison and Woodley on the field at the same time (which wasn't often), our pass rush was severely lacking this season. We finished 17th in the league in sacks, behind teams like the Raiders and Rams. For a team that has made a living off their defensive prowess and ability to pressure the QB, that's just not good enough.

 

[JR4]

Not at all. Only blind mediots saw the birth of it tonight. I've been watching it do this all season long. Efficiency stats have had them at #2 all season long. Same for GB. They have been a top 3 defense all season long.

But unless you have crap special teams and rushing offenses and give away field position, you're not going to be ranked very good in yards.

That's the deception.

And NE and GB both have great special teams. They both have great total defense. You know, the real total defense that keeps teams from scoring?

They are no different than the 49ers or the Steelers in their ability to stop opponents from scoring. The yards they give up is what makes them so effective in the first place.

The 49ers "give up" 21.1 yards per point. They are #1.
New England "give up" 19.2 yards per point, #2 in the NFL.
Pittsburg Steelers "give up" 18.7 yards per point, #3 in the NFL.
And Green Bay "gives up" 18.3 yards per point , #4 in the NFL.

But in reality what they are actually doing is forcing offenses to travel 21.1 yards just to earn the equivalent of 1 point. If you want to score 7 points against the 49ers you have to travel 147.7 yards. Well the field is only 100 yards long. So what does this mean? They STOP you. You need on average at least 2 possessions, or two tries to score a touchdown or put up 6 points.

What makes them good is all of these teams force their opponents into having to travel a lot of yards, or needing a lot of possessions to score a touchdown against them. That's what makes you good. That means they are STOPPING teams before they can score points, especially a TD, which is what a defense is supposed to do.

The more yards you "give up" compared to the points you allow....the better the defense. The more yards you force an opponents offense to travel, and the more possessions they need against you, for them to score a touchdown, the better you are as a defense.

Because for every time you stopped them you put your offense on the field. And when you have one of the top most efficient offenses in the NFL it almost becomes unfair. Not only do you force them into traveling alot of yards, but your defense also tends to give your offense better field position.

It becomes a no contest.

I really like this perspective of PATs D. Thanks for posting.

I am in the camp I like what I saw from PATs D last night and
think they are ready for any of the remaining offenses in the playoffs.
I like how they are using McCourty.

 

[PatriotSeven]

The only other elite offense left is GB. So hopefully all the Brady needs to be perfect throughout the playoffs talk can end, even though he was last night aside from one throw. BB has this defense playing, hope it keeps up

Incorrect. The #2 offense in the NFL right now is the SF 49ers if you go off the numbers. Pats move up a spot though to #3 after facing the Broncos defense and Saints ended their season at #6 after facing the 49ers defense. 5 turnovers! Saints dropped a full 2 spots in efficiency for the season after playing the 49ers, below the Lions and even the stinky Jets. If the 49ers can make the Saints less efficient offensively than Mark Sanchez and the Jets in the 2011 season....ouch.

I know some fans may not believe it, but it's no different than the illusion the NE defense suffers from. That 49ers offense suffers from the same illusion. That offense is the real deal and so is their quarterback though it should be noted the best defense they faced this season was the Ravens at #7 and their own in practice. They haven't really had to deal with strong pass defenses like NE's or GB's. But they are FULLY capable of scoring a lot of points as last night showed. They just never really need to with that defense.

People better take not just their defense, but that offense and quarterback seriously.

Alex Smith: 3 touchdowns, 42 passing attempts 0 interceptions against Saints defense....in the playoffs.

The only playoff NFL quarterback with a better interception % is that guy that can't play.....

Tim Tebow: 47 attempts 0 interceptions in 2 playoff games after facing the #1 and #2 defense.

I don't give a crap what anybody says. If you can sling the ball 47 times against the #1 and #2 defense in the NFL in your first playoff appearance and never get picked off once that's impressive. He still ended up with 2 TD's, a 90.0 NFL passer rating, 226 yards per game, 9.62 yards per attempt(2nd only behind Brady) in his first 2 playoff games and holds the record for the longest passing touchdown in playoff history. Despite his completion % Tebow still put up elite NFL passing numbers in his first 2 playoff games overall. Give the boy some receivers and let him throw the ball.

Eli's still doing his thing as well: 3 touchdowns, 32 passing attempts and 0 interceptions.

Right there with Smith but their D absolutely destroyed Atlanta and had no pressure that entire game.

Tom Brady: 34 26 76.5 363 10.68 61 6 1 0 137.6 .

He's #1 overall right now but it's not his best game despite what the numbers may show. Bill could have allowed him to get his number 7 TD to squeeze ahead of Alex Smith and Eli in td-to-ints and I'm not too worried about that, but, Tom's just not played on the efficiency level of Rodgers or Smith this entire year and somehow Denver's suck ass D picked him off on only 34 attempts which is pretty worrisome. He should step it up a notch. Let that be the last interception Tom throws this postseason.

 

[ahmed]

Defense was amazing, most impressive thing about it was how much pressure they generated and how quickly they were swarming to the ball. Moore is really really a good DB, he has amazingly flexible hips. His change of direction and they way he sticks to his WRs is a joy to watch. I think he really impacts our defense.

With that all said, it was against Tebow who can't read a defense or check down to his WR/RB if his life den pended on it. I want them to play this way against a good QB who can check down, make adjustments and throw to his hot read when rushed.

 

[JMarr]

I did not mind the late hit by Chung. That shows a different aggressiveness we have not seen since Rodney. Ninkovich's name was compared to Vrabel by the talking heads. Moore did not disapoint. Spikes made his presence felt. We had a great pass rush against a top rated offensive line. I asked Coolguy to come back win or lose as he belittled our defense like a troll. Must be listening to some Black Crow over breakfast.

Couldn't agree more. I haven't seen that kind of ferocity from the defense in a long time and, like the Defenses of old, it was a beautiful thing to watch. You simply can't have dominant D unless you have players that play with that kind of attitude and nastiness.

A lot of players had great games, but Mayo? Wow. He was completely dominant and should be feared by offenses from now on. Looks like the changing of the guard is finally happening. :rocker:

 

[mgteich]

Congrats to the defense! They did their job. They stopped a college offense. Spikes and Ninkovich understood how to play against the option.

That being said, we are not playing a good quarterback next week, although both are much better than Tebow.

 

[Ring 6]

I really like this perspective of PATs D. Thanks for posting.

I am in the camp I like what I saw from PATs D last night and
think they are ready for any of the remaining offenses in the playoffs.
I like how they are using McCourty.

That is actually a horrendous measure of a defense. Yards per point? Really?
So if I give up 500 yards and 25 points thats 20 yards per point and that is a 'more efficient' defense than one that gives up 100 yards and 10 points because they only give up 10 yards per point?
This has to be the dumbest statistic I have ever seen.

 

[Ring 6]

Incorrect. The #2 offense in the NFL right now is the SF 49ers if you go off the numbers.

What numbers are those?

Pats move up a spot though to #3 after facing the Broncos defense and Saints ended their season at #6 after facing the 49ers defense. 5 turnovers! Saints dropped a full 2 spots in efficiency for the season after playing the 49ers, below the Lions and even the stinky Jets. If the 49ers can make the Saints less efficient offensively than Mark Sanchez and the Jets in the 2011 season....ouch.

What numbers are you talking about?

I know some fans may not believe it, but it's no different than the illusion the NE defense suffers from. That 49ers offense suffers from the same illusion. That offense is the real deal and so is their quarterback though it should be noted the best defense they faced this season was the Ravens at #7 and their own in practice. They haven't really had to deal with strong pass defenses like NE's or GB's. But they are FULLY capable of scoring a lot of points as last night showed. They just never really need to with that defense.

They can score a lot, but choose not to?

People better take not just their defense, but that offense and quarterback seriously.

Alex Smith: 3 touchdowns, 42 passing attempts 0 interceptions against Saints defense....in the playoffs.

The only playoff NFL quarterback with a better interception % is that guy that can't play.....

Tim Tebow: 47 attempts 0 interceptions in 2 playoff games after facing the #1 and #2 defense.

How are the Patriots the #2 defense?

I don't give a crap what anybody says. If you can sling the ball 47 times against the #1 and #2 defense in the NFL in your first playoff appearance and never get picked off once that's impressive. He still ended up with 2 TD's, a 90.0 NFL passer rating, 226 yards per game, 9.62 yards per attempt(2nd only behind Brady) in his first 2 playoff games and holds the record for the longest passing touchdown in playoff history. Despite his completion % Tebow still put up elite NFL passing numbers in his first 2 playoff games overall. Give the boy some receivers and let him throw the ball.

You should have watched last nights game.

Eli's still doing his thing as well: 3 touchdowns, 32 passing attempts and 0 interceptions.

Right there with Smith but their D absolutely destroyed Atlanta and had no pressure that entire game.

Tom Brady: 34 26 76.5 363 10.68 61 6 1 0 137.6 .

He's #1 overall right now but it's not his best game despite what the numbers may show. Bill could have allowed him to get his number 7 TD to squeeze ahead of Alex Smith and Eli in td-to-ints and I'm not too worried about that, but, Tom's just not played on the efficiency level of Rodgers or Smith this entire year and somehow Denver's suck ass D picked him off on only 34 attempts which is pretty worrisome. He should step it up a notch. Let that be the last interception Tom throws this postseason.

I had a massive headache now.

 

[JR4]

That is actually a horrendous measure of a defense. Yards per point? Really?
So if I give up 500 yards and 25 points thats 20 yards per point and that is a 'more efficient' defense than one that gives up 100 yards and 10 points because they only give up 10 yards per point?
This has to be the dumbest statistic I have ever seen.

I think you may be missing the point.

Try this

Situation 1:
To get 10 points against a Team that gives up one point for every 20 yards
of offense, my Offense need to go 200yds.

Situation 2:
To get 10 points against a Team that gives up one point for every 10 yards
of offense, my Offense need to go 100yds.

Which team situation would you rather have?
I would think situation 2 is more desirable.
Am I missing something here?

 

[AzPatsFan]

I have to admit, I was impressed by the Pats D last night. Most suprising to me was the pass rush they were able to generate. I mean, let's face it...the Pats certainly aren't known for their fierce pass rush, but they got the job done. They flushed Tebow out of the pocket a lot, and as much as the idiot talking heads calling the game like to talk about how he's so "dangerous" outside the pocket, Tebow is MORE apt to making bonehead mistakes when scrambling (fumble, etc) in my opinion.

All of this being said, I'm not a 100% believer yet. Some of this MIGHT have been smoke and mirrors. No credit taken away from the Pats, but in fairness the Broncos played a pretty horrible game in general last night. That's just their thing. They look terrific at times, and terrible at other times. They showed a lot more terrible than terrific last night. Tebow was off his game, the receivers dropped a lot of passes, the secondary looked like they were sleeping at times, and their usually-solid O-line crumbled. The running game with McGahee was heating up, until they were pretty much forced to abandon it. That let the Pats D pin their ears back and tee off on Tebow, since the score dictated that they'd be passing a whole lot more than Denver would have liked to. I told my wife (who is the big NE fan in our household) that Denver was virtually done for when they were down by 14+. That team just isn't built for the BIG comebacks. They need to keep the game close to work their late game magic, and anything more than 2 scores spells a whole lot of trouble for them.

I give credit where credit is due. The Pats defense definitely exceeded expectations, but Tebow and the Donkeys helped by just looking like a different team from last week. Maybe an emotional win like last week took its toll on them or something? Who knows, but if I were a Pats fan, I'd want to see more before I get too excited. But boy....that offense was definitely firing on all cylinders. I'm not convinced that either of the remaining AFC teams are going to be able to score enough points to stay in the game against Brady and Co. if they continue to be this sugical and efficient on offense.

Best of luck in the AFCCG. As hard as it is for me to root for or even compliment the Pats, I'm glad your boys may have finally put an abrupt end to all of this Tebow hype.

Thanx. I agree with your observations, and I'm sure that there will be many more great games between our teams. The Pats have had years when they staggerd into the Playoffs, all beat up and a shadow of themselves.