New D performs a lot like the old.

[Patriot_in_NY]

Watched the game again this morning (sober this time). Outside of the first drive and the last 8 minutes. This D was pretty good. Certainly not like last year on 3rd down. Taking out the 14 point (one garbage time TD and the 9 yd Drive). and Miami was pretty much held in check. First drive was ugly, but nice adjustments were made.

Henne had a good game, but I bet he's about as sore today as any QB we've faced in the last few years. We knocked the hell out of him on some play. May not have been sacks, but we certainly disrupted his throwing. credit to Marshall and Fasano who made some all-world catches out there.

Lots of work to do still, but all an all, a good start.

p.s. I <3 Tom Brady (Uggs and all)

 

[condon84]

Amazing that the other team gets paid too. We won by 14 on the road in a historically tough place for us to play with 3/5 th's of our OL playing out of position and held the Phins O to 17 points (7 of those were on the offense), and only 10 over the last 55 minutes of the game after a terrible 1st drive.

The Dolphins have 2 excellent wideouts, a TE who made a few amazing catches, and a RB who is very tough cover out of the backfield.

And after watching Henne constantly check into the right play I am willing to go on record that Sparano has hampered his development with the over-reliance on the running game which is being abandoned en mass in this league with the possible exception of the Raiders.

Given somebody who knows what he was doing (Daboll), the kid looks like an actual NFL QB.

Even given all that, the Pats got a lot of pressure, some sacks, and they could have called half a dozen holds on Incognito alone.

McCourty struggled some with a Pro Bowl wideout, playing bump and run without a lot of safety help. Then when it mattered, in the red zone, he shut him down.

I agree with all your points, but that doesn't change the fact that the Dolphins scored on two long TD drives without having to convert 3rd downs.

If all we had to do was improve on our 3rd down conversions as a defense, then it would make sense to make sure opposing offenses are in 3rd down situations and not give up large chunks of yards on the first two downs.

I think our defense played well during certain stretches, but they also made Henne look like an All-Pro on certain stretches. Even with Henne getting pummeled, he was able to make completions. Our DBs need to do a better job defending the pass. Henne was getting hit a lot and hurrying his passes, yet he completed them. That's Henne out there and not Rivers or Brees.

 

[Boston Tim]

McCourty looked a lot more sticky last year. Including preseason, guys are getting way too much seperation on him.

Gruden mentioned that McCourty seems to have trouble with the larger WR types, and he mentioned Calvin Johnson and Marshall. Of course, I can't be overly concerned about a CB having trouble playing man coverage against either of those guys. Any CB playing in that heat for 4 quarters against that caliber of WR is going to have trouble.

Does anyone get that whole DB on the line thing?

It looked like Arrington's first responsibility was to shadow Bush out of the backfield, and then rush if Bush was staying in to block.

Guyton has no instincts....zero. Haynesworth drew some holds which was nice, but he looked real slow to me. As did VW. Pryor has a GREAT first step, but is poor with his hands. I've determined that we don't know how to blitz. Fat bodied DLs on out team are too slow to stunt.

True, they aren't the best pass rushers. But Haynesworth and Wilfork shut down the inside run, which is still the first requirement for a successful defense. They also wear out the inside linemen over the course of 4 quarters. And when they do hit the QB, its really something to see.

I'll tell a why I'm disappointed....Rob Ryan is in the process of creating a nice little scheme in Dallas....and our defensive genius is creating defenses that are having the same problem year after year.

Did you really just compliment the Dallas Cowboys? After that miserable/pathetic performance? Really?

 

[PatsBoy12]

You're disappointed because the Pats have had a bend, don't break attitude and aren't flashy like Rob Ryan or Rex Ryan.

You want to b!tch and moan but you fail to acknowledge certain things.

1) The refs blew the call on Marshall's 1st catch.. His elbows were out of bounds and on the ground before both sets of toes touched.

2) The refs didn't call any of the push-offs that the Fin players made.

3) This was an off-season without any OTAs or mini-camps, so players have looked less polished.

4) I don't see you making any comments about Josh Barrett or Sergio Brown. Both of whom were lack-luster.

5) The fact you are jumping to so many conclusions after one game is a joke. It shows how little you really know and understand. If you expected them to pitch a shut-out in Miami on opening weekend, then your expectations are the issue. Not the Pats performance.

Unfortunately, that's what people consider to be great defense nowadays. If you aren't flashy, then it must mean you're not as good as someone who is flashy. People don't realize that BB's defenses have NEVER been flashy. They've always been about playing smart, playing with sound technique, and making the big plays when they count. The Ryan brothers definitely win in the flash category, but they also give up tons a big plays, as do the Steelers defenses, especially against Brady.

It's sorta the same reason why BJGE doesn't get his credit even though he ran for more than 1,000 yards and had 13 TD's.

I think BB is still trying to find the right horses to run what he wants to run. I think he realizes that scheme means little if you don't have the right mix. We're still trying to find the right mix. I like this young, athletic group. They just need more experience, especially in big situations.

 

[patsfan-1982]

if anyone was looking for them to turn into a top 5 defense just by adding one player and cuting a pro bowl FS then you was let down big time last night, but bottom line thats patriots defense they will give up some yerds but they got red zone stops and the pass rush was better

 

[captain stone]

Watched the game again this morning (sober this time). Outside of the first drive and the last 8 minutes. This D was pretty good. Certainly not like last year on 3rd down. Taking out the 14 point (one garbage time TD and the 9 yd Drive). and Miami was pretty much held in check. First drive was ugly, but nice adjustments were made.

Henne had a good game, but I bet he's about as sore today as any QB we've faced in the last few years. We knocked the hell out of him on some play. May not have been sacks, but we certainly disrupted his throwing. credit to Marshall and Fasano who made some all-world catches out there.

Lots of work to do still, but all an all, a good start.

p.s. I <3 Tom Brady (Uggs and all)

I generally agree.

The first drive was ugly, but almost as ugly during that drive were the zebras. Notice how the 4-letter network failed to show us even one replay of Marshall's sideline "catch"? And the zebras completely Effed-up Hartline's non-catch later in the opening drive. I could tell that the ball bounced off the ground as soon as it happened. Inexcusable.

And yes, the Doofins' 2 drives in the 4th quarter were indeed too easy. Too much Prevent Defense-style soft coverage, plus too many missed tackles, which was a problem throughout the game.

However, Henne Penne was hit a lot more last night than he's been hit in the past, and that's always a good thing. Not as many whiffs by our pass-rushers, either.

Of course, had the offense not been so in love with passing instead of clock-killing, the Doofins might not have had enough time to score their last TD, but that's a subject for another thread.

 

[Ice_Ice_Brady]

I thought this looked like a team that had a lot of new schemes and responsibilities. Much different from the old defense. Even though the pass rush was still pretty ineffective, they at least created the illusion of a pass rush. The pocket frequently collapsed, albeit slowly, forcing Henne into making relatively quick decisions. Henne picked apart the defense, but that's where getting faster by a split second could make this 4-3 base a lot better. I thought the Pats stopped the run very well. The problem was letting up the big play downfield too often. In fairness, several plays were flukey. The first pass to Marshall was well-defended and I don't think it was a valid catch. The one-handed grab was also well-defended.

Pats missed two great opportunities at picks, too. Bodden should have had an easy pick in the first half, and McCourty should have had an easy one in the end zone, third quarter.

This is what Pats fans wanted: a more aggressive pass rush, and it's going to take time before that starts to get better. There are so many new pieces in our defense, all around the field, that we shouldn't expect a top-tier defense until mid-season.

 

[TheComeback]

I'm not understanding the people who say we had no pass rush last night. We had four sacks, and not only that, we had even more QB hits and pressures.

The end result wasn't what we wanted in terms of yardage, but that was almost entirely a result of poor coverage. Also, sometimes the offense does something called making play. Brandon Marshall isn't just some random guy.

I saw a lot of penetration and pressure last night--not on every play, but definitely the majority of them. More importantly, I saw it coming from a ton of different guys: Haynesworth, Wilfork, Pryor, Ninkovich, Anderson, Arrington, Chung, Mayo, Mike Wright, Andre Carter. I was very impressed with Henne's poise. He made some very good throws while getting hit, which is not what I expected his reaction to be.

Either way, the front seven's performance last night is just further proof that pass defense is more involved than getting a good "pass wush."

We need the DBs to turn on the ball and stick to their man. We also need the linebackers to do that, because they've been getting burned, too. These things are correctable with practice and more importantly, discipline.

Still, with the talent and youth in the backend--and the secondary looks like the youngest part of our roster--this is an area that I expect will only get better as the season progresses.

 

[BPF]

Watched the game again this morning (sober this time). Outside of the first drive and the last 8 minutes. This D was pretty good. Certainly not like last year on 3rd down. Taking out the 14 point (one garbage time TD and the 9 yd Drive). and Miami was pretty much held in check. First drive was ugly, but nice adjustments were made.

Henne had a good game, but I bet he's about as sore today as any QB we've faced in the last few years. We knocked the hell out of him on some play. May not have been sacks, but we certainly disrupted his throwing. credit to Marshall and Fasano who made some all-world catches out there.

Lots of work to do still, but all an all, a good start.

p.s. I <3 Tom Brady (Uggs and all)

You're right, 211 of Miami's total yds came on final 3 drives.