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Registered Members experience this forum ad and noise-free.
CLICK HERE to Register for a free account and login for a smoother ad-free experience. It's easy, and only takes a few moments.I think it would be a bigger loss if we were still playing a 2gap 34.
Will in a 43 could be the easiest position on the field to play run D from.
Now I'm now downplaying Mayo, I'm saying if you told me one guy who hasn't been on the field needs to be in run D and I can pick, I'd say Collins as the Will.
We may have lost our best defender but we may be replacing him with the best guy who wasn't getting on the field.
Speaking of leader, I didn't know until this morning that McCourty isn't a captain this year. Good time for his leadership to shine through as his two defensive captains are now sitting on the sidelines the rest of the year.Big loss.. more than just his knowledge of the defense, but a leader as well.
The meritocracy will now kick in...
I don't think it's unreasonable to suggest someone could replicate his level of pass coverage (Fletcher, Collins). But no one is going to be able to replicate what he does against the run.
Alone, I think we could've survived the Mayo loss. But combined with the loss of Wilfork, it guts this team's run defense, which is the heart of the D, and what forces teams to be one-dimensional against us. In the rare occassions we've struggled to stop the run in the last five or six years, we have gotten our ***es handed to us.
Hopefully, he remains on the 53 and is back in the playoffs when stopping the run matters most.
Spikes is more than capable against the run. But any smart quarterback would audible out of a run play when he's on the field and send a TE or RB his way.
The Pats may have to change strategy with Spikes on the field. They may do a lot more LB blitzes with him on the field. Spikes has improved a bit in coverage (which means he sucks less than he did last year), but he is disruptive through the line. Maybe with Spikes shooting through the middle of the line, it will force opposing QBs to get rid of the ball too quick.
Spikes is an excellent blitzer.The Pats may have to change strategy with Spikes on the field. They may do a lot more LB blitzes with him on the field. Spikes has improved a bit in coverage (which means he sucks less than he did last year), but he is disruptive through the line. Maybe with Spikes shooting through the middle of the line, it will force opposing QBs to get rid of the ball too quick.
@brian_mcintyre: With Jerod Mayo going on IR, Patriots now have $20.6M in cap dollars on IR, most in the NFL by over $4M.