- Joined
- Aug 13, 2005
- Messages
- 19,049
- Reaction score
- 12,398
patriots - As playoffs near, pressure on Patriots' youngsters intensifies - WEEI | Christopher Price
“I think [the young players] have to realize the season really starts now,” said wide receiver Wes Welker. “It’s been a long season and everything like that, but you have to stay on top of it and make sure you’re pushing through and understand what’s at stake. [You] don’t let up and don’t get comfortable and every play and every game is so crucial and important. You have to stay on top of that.”
Based on what they’ve shown in recent weeks, former Patriots safety Rodney Harrison believes the New England defense has a group of young players who are capable of raising their game in the playoffs. Harrison, currently an analyst for NBC Sports, said Tuesday it’s been a long journey for this New England defense, one that started with lots of simple looks out of the gate.
“Early on, [Patriots coach Bill] Belichick knew exactly what he was trying to do. He was really trying to get them familiar with the system: The Patriot Way,” he said. “And really trying to build confidence in those guys. Early on, they played a lot of zone coverage, they played a lot of Cover 2, which is a safe cover for the corners, Cover 3 and Cover 4.”
Harrison said that the switch was flipped sometime in late October or early November. With the players fully confident in the system and Belichick confident in his players, the coach started doing some different things, bringing more blitzes, according to Harrison, who added that they also started playing more man-to-man coverage.
“[That’s when] you saw the emergence of Patrick Chung. You saw [Devin] McCourty picking balls off,” Harrison said. “To me Patrick Chung has really been that ace in the secondary, because he’s been a guy who’s been very versatile. He’s played free safety, he’s played strong safety, he played nickel back in the package, the free safety package, where he becomes the primary nickel back.
Last edited: