Patriots Beefing Up Front Seven During Bye Week, Add Thornton to 53 Man Roster

[PatsFans.com Article]

Patriots Beefing Up Front Seven During Bye Week, Add Thornton to 53 Man Roster

Steve Balestrieri

The Patriots continue to add pieces to the front seven this week. The team signed DL Khyri Thornton to the 53-man roster and also added four more to the PS

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[jmt57]

Okay, am I the only one that quickly glanced at this headline and immediately thought it was an Onion-style satire about the Patriots adding Jerry Thornton to the team?

 

[Tony2046]

Looks like the Patriots are going to make weeden beat them with his arm.

 

[venecol]

Looks like the Patriots are going to make weeden beat them with his arm.

Lol, I hope so.

 

[venecol]

I posted this on another thread.

Looks like BB is looking to fortify the front 7 to stuff the running game and increase pressure on QBs to be faced in the next few weeks. Weeden is known for short passes, Luck can't handle the pressure, same for Fitzpatrick, and Tannenhill. There aren't any deep threat QBs coming up aside from Luck who has looked rattled of late. I think we'll be fine with the DB we have, at least until weeks 10 thru 14.

 

[mgteich]

I posted this on another thread.

Looks like BB is looking to fortify the front 7 to stuff the running game and increase pressure on QBs to be faced in the next few weeks. Weeden is known for short passes, Luck can't handle the pressure, same for Fitzgerald, and Tannenhill. There aren't any deep threat QBs coming up aside from Luck who has looked rattled of late. I think we'll be fine with the DB we have, at least until weeks 10 thru 14.

My guess is that we don't need 12 defensive linemen to play Dallas. How many do you think will be active?

 

[venecol]

My guess is that we don't need 12 defensive linemen to play Dallas. How many do you think will be active?

Idk, 8 or 9? I just think BB is planning for each game as if it was the SB and depending on the outcome during the game he will try out new things to assess the team. It will be curious to see who makes the roster against Dallas.

 

[TheBostonStraggler]

An argument can be made (credit to a recent article' statistics) that the NFL has so emasculated defense and empowered passing offense that having a top tier CB at top tier CB prices is not the optimal way to go (assuming Revis 15m would otherwise equal the money for a relatively good DT, DE, and LB).

Consider defensive stats from this year and last:
Last year(with Revis): The Patriots ended up 14th in sacks and 12th in Ints. They were 15th in net yards per pass completion, 14th in 1st downs allowed by pass, 15th in yards allowed by pass.
2015 (without Revis): the Patriots are #1 in sacks and 3rd in Ints. They are 16th in net yards per pass completion, 17th in 1st downs allowed by pass, 17th in yards allowed by pass.
(with only 3 games admittedly the sample is too small to be conclusive. I am assuming...)
(there are other factors that go into causing these statistics)

Last year's and this year's defenses are overall close to equal in pass defense success. A possible reason they are equal is Revis helped bridge the gap for the barely average pass rush while the much better than average pass rush this year has bridged the gap for below average CB play.
Assuming 2015 does play out as much better pass rush over 2014, it will be interesting to see if this translates to stats that suggest we were better off with no Fevis and the better pass rush. We shall see....

 

[VrabelJr]

The best thing Weeden can hope for is to accidentally punch himself in the face when throwing the ball and knock himself out cold.

 

[VrabelJr]

My guess is that we don't need 12 defensive linemen to play Dallas. How many do you think will be active?

Apparently you haven't heard of the 11-0 defense.

 

[SHOWTIME15]

I posted this on another thread.

Looks like BB is looking to fortify the front 7 to stuff the running game and increase pressure on QBs to be faced in the next few weeks. Weeden is known for short passes, Luck can't handle the pressure, same for Fitzgerald, and Tannenhill. There aren't any deep threat QBs coming up aside from Luck who has looked rattled of late. I think we'll be fine with the DB we have, at least until weeks 10 thru 14.

Fitzpatrick?

 

[TheBostonStraggler]

My guess is that we don't need 12 defensive linemen to play Dallas. How many do you think will be active?

I didn't realize we were up to 12 on the DL. Taking away the roster spots for specialists (K, P, LS), 12 is 1/4 of the roster. That's just too much for a position that varies from 3 to 4 starters on any given play.

So maybe the question isn't who will be active, maybe the better question is who will still be on the team? Hard to imagine carrying 12 DL into any game unless BB is convinced an almost NHL like rotation of the DL will provide a distinct advantage for victory.

 

[venecol]

Fitzpatrick?

Corrected, tks.

 

[venecol]

I didn't realize we were up to 12 on the DL. Taking away the roster spots for specialists (K, P, LS), 12 is 1/4 of the roster. That's just too much for a position that varies from 3 to 4 starters on any given play.

So maybe the question isn't who will be active, maybe the better question is who will still be on the team? Hard to imagine carrying 12 DL into any game unless BB is convinced an almost NHL like rotation of the DL will provide a distinct advantage for victory.

The Patriots depth chart lists 11, who is #12?

 

[TheBostonStraggler]

The Patriots depth chart lists 11, who is #12?

MG posted 12. He usually seems very up with the roster so I take him at his word (but you'll have to ask him who the 12th is ).