Some Praise for the Defense

[unoriginal]

How was Wilfork doing? Did branch play? That forsett is a tricky little guy.

The DT play inside was miserable, pretty much all night long. Chris Jones is the one player I noticed doing good things, slipping in edgewise to move Flacco off his spot.

But everybody else was routinely getting stonewalled on pass rushes, and everyone including Chris Jones was getting blown out on runs. To beat Baltimore's OL you need to penetrate and only Hightower, Collins, and Chris Jones did it enough.

 

[Sicilian]

Not going to give the defense too much credit, but I will say this: Possibly the best defense the Pats have ever had was in 03 and that D gave up 28 points to a Jake Delhomme led Panthers team in the Super Bowl. The playoffs are wonky, and for me it's no longer about stats, but about PLAYS. For a depressing counter, the 07 held the Giants to 17 points and less than 350 total yards. But it didn't matter at all because they couldn't close the deal on the final drive. That's the playoffs. All that matters is the play happening right now.

 

[Archeryaddict12]

The defense was horrible the first half. But they made plays when needed but it looked like they were really lethargic at the beginning. Just looked SLOW at reacting and reading the offense. As the game went on they looked at getting faster and better overall. I wonder if the defense was really rusty to start.

Also when noted, I don't know if flacco got greedy. I was texting a friend who isn't a pats fan, a Bears fan, and he told me, as the Ravens went away from the run flaccos flaws would show. And I think they did. He held the ball long, threw 2 ints and just wasn't dominating as he was. I think flacco can be deadly with a running game, but pinning it all on him, like they had to after their run was slowin down and pats hadn't been stopped, was huge. Flacco is a great qb, but not good enough as Brady or good enough to carry his team when needed. I think that also helped the defense.

 

[obgod3]

Not giving them any props, yeh they made a few keys plays but third down, forth down and the running game was terrible. Play like that next week and they probably lose the game. They gave up 428 yards to. Baltimore, Denver is a much better offense.

 

[Dagg]

Defense was a big let down and despite the talent played much like the pats defenses of the past few years which were pathetic. We will not have future success playing that way against the talent that's left. Slow start, revis had arguably his worst game. The dilne was horrendous. I will say safety play was good for the most part. Need to see marked improvement going forward and star faster as others mentioned,

 

[manxman2601]

Not giving them any props, yeh they made a few keys plays but third down, forth down and the running game was terrible. Play like that next week and they probably lose the game.

The Ravens were 1/9 on 3rd down.

 

[obgod3]

The Ravens were 1/9 on 3rd down.

It looked different guess I was wrong but ravens were what 3/3 on 4th and NE gave up 428 to them...not good at all

 

[patsfan06]

Defense wasn't great.

But they gave up 10 points in the 2nd half and forced 2 picks. Not sure how people are so jaded about it. Without the defensive adjustments in the 2nd half we don't win the game.

Offense was great. Great gameplan, but we don't win even with that offense if the defense doesn't step up and play as well as they did in the 2nd half.

 

[PrairiePat]

How about J.Collins ... ?? That boy is special man .. Revis penalty was a back breaker for his spectacular play .. How about when he broke up that play with the fullback 30 plus yards downfield .. ? Woah .. Chandler Jones was a no-show, no matter how you dice it .. One trick pony man .. Undrafted Rookie Tackle took his lunch ..

Collins had some good plays, but he completely whiffed on the Ravens TD to the RB in the flat. They ran a crossing receiver right in front of him, and he took the bait and tried to hit him. Meanwhile Forsett slipped out to the right, completely uncovered. That was Collins' guy.

 

[PScottman]

I'd say the Pats need to do a better job preparing for how other teams come out of the gate.

I honestly believe they purposely come out conservative in those circumstances, to see what the offense is doing and adjust. Too many games where we see numerous zone looks on the initial drives of each half then a series of different looks in subsequent series. The only game I don't recall them doing this is Denver where they came out in man looks right from the opening kick before breaking out the zone drops AFTER (the Nink pick).

 

[mayoclinic]

I honestly believe they purposely come out conservative in those circumstances, to see what the offense is doing and adjust. Too many games where we see numerous zone looks on the initial drives of each half then a series of different looks in subsequent series. The only game I don't recall them doing this is Denver where they came out in man looks right from the opening kick before breaking out the zone drops AFTER (the Nink pick).

That's fine, but getting down 14 points at the beginning of each half is a hell of a price to pay to see what the opposing offense is doing.

 

[obgod3]

Yeh and Collins got caught badly a few times. I get it they had a couple weeks off and I think that probably affects the defense more than the offense. I don't care for the way they played but I do expect them to play much better next week.

 

[VrabelJr]

Second half defense was much better. I think we only gave up 40-50 yards rushing, made the INTs and made some other plays that got taken away.

Someone was complimenting Chris Jones up there but I think he actually played poorly. Things seemed to settle down when we used more Alan Branch up front.

Revis also shut down Steve Smith the entire second half.

 

[PScottman]

That's fine, but getting down 14 points at the beginning of each half is a hell of a price to pay to see what the opposing offense is doing.

Agree 100%. Normally, the opposing offense isn't taking 10-15 yard chunks play after play on both drives so they can adjust BEFORE that many points are scored like when the team gets to the red zone.

I'm not the biggest fan of BBs conservative approach either, but normally it pays off over the course of the game.

 

[Palm Beach Pats Fan]

4th quarter defense was great, and that was good enough

- 3 plays, -1 yards, punt
- 2 plays, 2 yards, interception
- 16 plays, 73 yards, field goal
- 9 plays, 53 yards, interception

 

[reflexblue]

I don't know what happened to the defense i saw for most of the season but it wasn't out there last night. The way the defense played last night reminded me of past years, very porous. It had better shape up (especially stopping the run) because denver, dallas, or seattle will have their way

 

[patsfanincleveland]

I thought our defense stunk. And, we're lucky Flacco got greedy on their last drive. Which he has a tendency to do. So, I'll give Patricia credit for having help over the top. Got mauled in the running game. No pass rush. Receivers not covered all over. And for all the fantasy football players who think we need a NUMBER ONE WR, who the heck were the Ravens throwing to? A bunch of Jags and the Smiths.

That's probably why ivan started this thread.

If this is what you truly conclude, take a seat in the clown car because it's really clueless.

His objective is to help people like you who can't watch 60 minutes of football and draw correct conclusions. You should thank him for making this effort and take advantage of it and learn so you can start to analyze things properly.

 

[patsfanincleveland]

Hmm, I'm not so sure about giving much praise to the defense last night. On the plus side there were a few big plays that we needed and were made. Both INTs, the 3rd down stop w/Chung, and had Revis not held...a really great play by Collins with the strip sack.

But the bottom line is that they surrendered 31 points. They might have improved somewhat in the second half but they still let up a lot of points. I think the most since the KC debacle.

They got gashed in the run game consistently. Flacco was rarely under significant pressure (hurried two or three times but that was the extent of it). The penalties by Revis really hurt us, even though the PI was very ticky tacky. The holding penalty was a total kick in the nuts considering the outcome of the play had he not grabbed Smith.

The defense made a few key plays but overall we were in such dire straits throughout the game because of the defense.

Wow

This is really dumb also.

Go back and read ivan's points.

It' much more relevant than is dung post.

 

[Oswlek]

But seriously running into a WR on 4th down? Christ that's dumb.

Watch that play again. It was terrific manipulation of the rules by Baltimore (interesting, considering their comments about NE's formation...). Smith didn't just slow down to catch the pass, he slowed down and literally lunged at Browner which not only caused contact but it used Browner's momentum to get pushed back forward toward the pass. Flacco's extra arc was part of the plan, because it gave time to Smith to do all this and still be in position to make the catch.

Going for a DPI is clearly in their playbook because it looked like that was the intention all along.