Sign the Beast(s) XXII: Sooo... what now? How to improve the defense.

[luuked]

We just lost our teams 3rd best player, one that was integral to winning a Super Bowl, but oh boy we are sure crybabies worrying about it

You know that there is a middle ground between blind homerism and endless *****ing. How about instead of either of the two you try to be constructive and give a suggestion of what you would do which might inspire an interesting discussion. It is done, lets move on.

 

[ausbacker]

You know that there is a middle ground between blind homerism and endless *****ing. How about instead of either of the two you try to be constructive and give a suggestion of what you would do which might inspire an interesting discussion. It is done, lets move on.

It's almost as if people forget the Patriots have:

• The best QB in the NFL;
• The best TE in the NFL;
• The 2nd best FS in the NFL;
• Arguably one of, if not the league's best RT;
• Arguably one of, if not the league's best, young LB duos;
• A HoF HC; and
• Cap space.

 

[edkk323]

The best defense is offense. Improve the OL and improve the Run game.
in 2007, the O was always on the field. So the D was well-rested and less exposed.

 

[Triumph]

Hobo Stew?

 

[Froob]

Dennard getting his head out of his ass would be a huge boost.

 

[patsfanincleveland]

Revis is done. This thread is not to debate whether we should have offered to pay more or not. It's an undeniable fact that losing Revis causes the entire defense to take a major step back. You cannot replace him. So, what will Bill and the team do to try and compensate for his loss?

Pickings for cornerbacks are currently extremely slim as all the decent ones have been signed to some awful deals. Browner will probably get a stupid deal that we can't match. Are there any potential cornerbacks that might be trade targets? Drafting a CB is really not an option for immediate impact. The best CBs take 2-3 seasons to become consistently great, and we frankly don't have that time.

Another approach is to focus on the d-line. If our pass rush gets a lot better than that can hide a bad secondary. Who is out there in F/A?

Something needs to be done to reassemble a seriously depleted defense. And moves need to be made pretty quickly. Yes the season doesn't start until September, but if we are picking through F/A leftovers in August then we are in serious trouble.

At this time last year, if a proposition was presented concerning obtaining another Lombardi and one year of Revis..............everyone here would have gladly accepted.

This much easier to accept once patsfans.com realizes that a healthy Gronk was the most important factor in another Lombardi.

The level of hysteria is only matched by back in 2010. We had no TE's on the roster before the draft and EVERYONE knew BB can't draft TE's.

 

[RIpats88]

Bill will have a backup plan. I am expecting either draft a CB first round or we will see a trade for a CB. New Orleans seems to be in fire sale mode. and their CB is not happy. Still I wish we hadnt let browner go.

say we got Cromartie/Browner. still no revis/browner. but it is more formidable than what we had prior.

 

[JarOfMayo51]

No easy answers here....just need to upgrade wherever they can with good value signings, offense, defense, and special teams. That was the point of walking away from the Revis deal. They have some cap space to get better and believe the overall improvements added up will be greater than the improvement Revis adds, or at least when you add in the risk factor.

This.

Look I'm disappointed that we weren't able to keep Revis here, but we all knew the second he signed his deal here that it was potentially a 1 year rental and we won a SB.

Losing Revis hurts, but there are 30 other teams that don't have Revis either.

Silver lining here is that now we don't have to strain our brains about how we're going to retain certain guys and fill holes in FA.. we have plenty of money now to do basically whatever we want, and I'm sure BB will fill the roster with solid guys that are good value.. its a formula that has proven to be successful for 15 straight years.

Toucher and Rich this morning were so hysterical that they began contradicting themselves without even realizing it. . Talking about how the Brady window is closing and that they needed a Revis to capitalize on that window... great, fine... that's certainly a perspective that a lot of people share and I was one of them up until we just won another SB.. desperation mode has left the building though..

Right after going on about Brady's window and how they should be trying to win now, win now, win NOWWW! Toucher throws out his contradictory head scratcher comment by saying "Brady isn't going to be here forrver.. and once Brady is gone this team is going to suck!"

Sorry Toucher... but that would only be true if you sold out to win now and then Brady retires, you're stuck with a team in cap hell Ala the Saints and have to completely tear it apart and start over.. by being smart and continuing to keep the future in mind and keep a well rounded team, it sets you up to still be a comoetitve team when Brady retires.


They're going to need to shell out some serious coin for Hightower, Collins and Jones soon to keep that linebacking core together. Without the Revis contract on the books, that becomes a lot more manageable.

Remember that the sum of the whole is greater than a single part. Losing Revis doesnt mean we're a worse team if they use that extra money wisely and get 4 to 5 guys that contribute at a high level.. we may be weaker at the CB position, but if we get stronger somewhere else we could overall be a better team.

 

[JarOfMayo51]

Hope we can somehow fix Dennard. We wouldn't be looking that bad if Dennard reverted to 2013 form along with Arrington in the slot and hopefully Butler wasn't a fluke......still we won just barely with Revis and Browner.

The seahawks threw the ball fewer times than any team in the league last year, and in the Super bowl they were making plays all over the field.. including giving up huge plays that lead to a touchdown with 30 seconds to go before the half and nearly gave up the game winner in the final seconds if not for Malcom butler

 

[Ivan]

1. Make DT Terrance Knighton the #1 priority. Nick Fairley and Alan Branch would be back up plans.
2. New Orleans is having a fire sale. Investigate whether CB Keenan Lewis (given his want for larger guarantees) may be available. If he's available for a 2nd or 3rd (given the Pats will have 10,000 of them), make the trade.
3. Further upgrade the line with starters or rotational guys such as George Johnson, Greg Hardy, Adrian Clayborn, B.J. Raj, Da'Quan Bowers etc.
4. Re-sign Ayers and Sheard to play DE/OLB. Pass rush the hell out of it.
5. Take a long, hard look at Tramon Williams, Chris Culliver, Carlos Rogers, Charles Tillman for the short-medium term.
6. Consider the implication of switching scheme.

Whatever way the Patriots go, it is imperative that the team has thumpers who play with attitude. This is where Browner channeled Rodney Harrison. That was worth just as much as Revi$' play.

Best post in this thread. Props for looking at what can be done rather than crying about what is done. At this point this is what everyone should start focusing on.

 

[JarOfMayo51]

Jones better stop vanishing in games if he expects to be hard to sign. I like the kid, but this forum way overrates him. You would think he was one of the premier pass rushers in the league, yet whole stretches of games go by without ever hearing his name.

This is true, but you know someone will overpay him.. that's always the problem, players go to the Pats and suddenly everyone and their mother wants them. . Casillas just got like 4 mill a year from the giants. He was a special teamer/rotational LB and they paid him starting LB money. You think if he stayed on Tampa and became a FA, he would have made that kind of dough?

 

[RIpats88]

see if Keenan Lewis is available from the saints. Go after terrance knighton and sign PASS RUSHERS

a good pass rush can mask an ok-poor secondary

 

[Patriots1364life]

Its easy to sugarcoat things when u have number 12 but he is gonna be 38 in a couple of months. I thought they would make a push for that fifth championship but they took two steps backwards. I would feel better had brady been 32. Just feel better that brady won his 4th ring. I think I can see brady hanging it up after this season.

 

[JarOfMayo51]

BB is great but he is by far not perfect. It came down to 4 million dollars difference in guarantee money if thats what u believe. I just wonder why we cant keep a steady defense. Now he has to get creative on defense and draft another player on the secondary!! We have seen this picture before!!

Of course it only comes down to a few million dollars... they were in a bidding war with the Jets and eventually, just like at an auction, somebody has to say enough. . Otherwise the price just keeps going up and up. . but regardless of what the end price was, it's obviously only going to be a few million more than the 2nd place team.

It's not like the Pats would offer 35 million and the Jets would be like, "F That! We'll give you 75 million! "

Each team goes higher and higher until someone decides they don't want to go higher anymore because it's more than the value they had in mind

 

[JarOfMayo51]

If it comes down to keeping 2 out of 3, in my mind, it's a no brainer to keep Hightower and Collins ahead of Jones.

I agree, but the huge downer there is that we're back to where we were with no legit pass rusher on the roster.. and Ninko will be like 34 years old when that time comes

 

[SHOWTIME15]

I love everyone's contingency plans like sign players A, B,C, D, but the truth of the matter is there is only $15 million in cap room. Terrence knighton, for example, won't come cheap.

 

[JarOfMayo51]

we don't have a #2 CB on the roster..maybe dennard but i doubt it.

Logan Ryan, Butler or Dennard would all be capable #2s, its the #1 that's the problem.. but our defense is going to change quite a bit anyways back to a zone scheme with Revis and Browner gone

 

[Patriots1364life]

Mevis gets some blame here as well. I hope we open up against the jests. Fix that dline

 

[Patriots1364life]

I love everyone's contingency plans like sign players A, B,C, D, but the truth of the matter is there is only $15 million in cap room. Terrence knighton, for example, won't come cheap.

They can open up cap space. I am just surprise at how our awful our defense got in one night. This is where the drafting comes into play.
You have to spend the big bucks on defense. Our d line is average right now and our secondary is an unknown.

 

[Peachhead]

This jabaal shared fella..2 sacks last year & like 29 tackles...why so many pats fans think he's so good? Sounds like a jag no?

I agree whole heartedly. Sheard might be good in this system. But the respect he gets here is over the top IMO. Isn't Akeem Ayers a free agent now? We should lock him up. He made some plays at key moments last year. We know he fits