- Joined
- May 1, 2008
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I'm actually not unduly concerned. We have the bodies to play a decent cover two. If we can get Jason McCourty or someone similar, they can play one side and then Dennard and Malcolm Butler can battle it out for no2. I actually really like both as cover two corners (have always thought it was Dennard's best fit). That leaves Arrington/Ryan in the slot with Ryan also playing safety along with Harmon, McCourty and Chung. Add some pass rush (Sheard and Hardison) and a better offense and I don't think the drop off is too huge.
I'm not panicking, by any means.
But I had a vision of where I thought the defense should go last year that involved some degree of "Seattle=ization". I outlined it in the OP, and Greg Cosell really described it pretty well (see post #33). It really included 3 major components:
1. Getting more physical. Browner provided that more than anyone.
2. Creating "disruption at the perimeter" with big, physical DBs who could play press-man, mix up coverages, jam and reroute receivers, make them pay for going over the middle, and not give up too many big plays.
3. Use a multi-front hybrid defense in both base and sub with versatile front 7 players who could attack from different angles and "scheme pressure". This was largely dependent on the secondary being good enough to allow the front 7 to get creative.
I thought the Pats by and large executed something along the lines of this blueprint. It was a work in progress, and it was far from perfect, but it was (1) the best defense we'd had since 2003-2004, (2) it showed promise of getting better if the personnel could be largely retained, and (3) it contributed substantially to our getting a 4th SB. So my plan for 2015 was to keep as much of it together as possible, tweak it a bit, and let it gel and mature.
Right now that blueprint is hanging in the wind. The loss of Revis wouldn't upset me, but the loss of Revis and Browner together pretty much tears up the backend (and I understand that it's still possible Browner could be back, but for now I'm not holding my breath).
It's certainly possible to have a good defense without this approach. Carolina did it in 2013, with a very average secondary, and Buffalo last year. But both of those teams had dominant talent on the DL. I'm not sure that's realistically achievable this year.
Time to re-think things a bit, at least for me.