Speed on D

[Iron Helmet]

Just rewatched the game against Denver. Major problem: We lack speed at LB, and will get gashed by quick RBs. T. Bell beat our LBs to the corner on several plays, even when we had angles on him. I guess when your ILBs have 70+ years between them, speed will be an issue.

 

[satz]

You are right but i think the thing got bad as the offence kept going 3 and out.You just cannot do that any defence.

 

[D-cleater]

great observation . Seems like the most worthwhile posts get the least attention around here sometimes.

We've been slow at LB for years and as satz says, it doesn't help that the offense was unable to control the clock or score points for most of the game.

Eventually we are going to have to draft solid players at LB.

 

[Brownfan80]

I haven't watched film, but you'd imagine that we'd be pretty slow at ILB with Bruschi (never a speedster) and Grandpa Seau. I'm not sure that Vrabel or Colvin are slow though. I think once the DL starts disrupting running lanes like they should, and once the LBs all get used to one another then we'll see some better run D.

And don't forget that Denver is known for their running ability. (From reading the breakdown it also appears that they were chop blocking quite a bit, so they cheated to get some of those lanes). I hope to see our run D step up this week against Johnson. If they don't it'll be a hard game to win.

 

[holyredeemer]

Colvin and Vrabel are far from being slow, and it is their jobs, along with the DE's to contain the outside. Bruschi and Seau need to be clogging up the 2-4 and 1-3 lanes. I think they have been doing a pretty good job at that. Our run D has been pretty stout up the middle and for the most part the outside. But, our DB's arent collapsing on the outside and dont seem to be helping the matter much themselves. I have watched the Broncs game a couple times myself, and the only time I saw speed being an issue was when Seau got outrun by Plummer for the first down to get them unpinned from the endzone.
I have one question...where's rodney??

 

[Ochmed Jones]

The 3-4 is a defense with natural lanes (due to the 3 DL) for a running game to exploit. The key for the Pats LBs is discipline. The biggest problem I saw with the run defense was Colvin. He kept getting pinched and Bell would just explode by him. Not even Carl Lewis at ILB would be fast enough to cover that much ground when the OLB is not doing their job.

However I do agree 100% with the premise of this thread. Speed is always good for a LB. I put it second behind instincts.

 

[mgcolby]

When you have an offense that has Brady, Dillon (half a game), Maroney, Watson, Graham, and Faulk, 17 points allowed by the defense should = a win. The D struggled a bit especially in field position but bottom line 17 points should be good enough to win. Our woes with the exception of some tackling issues on 4 plays have been the inconsistency of the offense.

 

[Brownfan80]

I have one question...where's rodney??

Great point. Rodney was a HUGE factor in the run game before his injury, but has not been so far this year. He hasn't really had much of an impact in any area just yet. I'm hoping he gets better and better the more gametime he has.