mosi's man
Practice Squad Player
- Joined
- Nov 8, 2014
- Messages
- 156
- Reaction score
- 143
Nice read on Alan Branch:
http://www.bostonherald.com/sports/patriots_nfl/new_england_patriots/2014/11/branch_operations
I thought Branch was going to be another Haloti Ngata when he came out in 2007. Hasn't happened. But since he's joined the Pats, they have given up 62 rushing yards over 2 games. Far too small a sample size to pass judgment, but a dramatic difference in the run defense: 130 YPG average over the first 8 games, including 3 games of over 190 yards rushing and 4 over 150. Obviously Denver and Indy aren't great rushing teams. It will be interesting to see how much the run defense continues to improve with Branch, and the eventual return of Sealver Siliga.
it's hard to give branch too much credit for the first game when he played 14 snaps. he was better in the second game but indy gave up against the run pretty early. if we can get him at a discount, then great but we need some push upfield from the interior and we just don't have it yet. with saliga, wilfork, and branch the run defense should be stout but it doesn't solve the problems we have on passing downs. against running qbs (and these are the teams that give us the most difficulty) bb clearly has the d-ends play more containment to keep the qb in the pocket. that's a great strategy if we can push the pocket, but if we can't the qb just sits there all day. hell, even geno smith can find someone open when he sits there all day. we need more interior push. maybe easley will provide this but are we sure of that yet? as much as i appreciate chris jones, i think to make this defense truly elite we need more push up the middle.