We should change NOTHING on defense till further notice IMO

[Neely8]

I know that Seymour is a superb player and one of the best on the team and Harrison although aged is still a hard hitter and a motivator but my point of this thread is this ...

WE HAVE NOT GIVEN UP MORE THAN 14 POINTS THUS FAR IN ANY GAME

I can't see how the defense can play any better right now than with the guys who we have in the lineup.

The only way it could be better is if we shutout every opponent.

We are friggin ranked #1 in total defense for gods sake at this point and you guys are arguing about us getting even better - is it possible? - There is no higher ranking than #1

I know I am nothing more than a fan but a forum is where you express what you think is best and that is my opinion like it or not
I know BB could not care less what I think which is irrelevant as its stupid to think otherwise but as BB says it is what it is and he will do what he thinks best,Thats why hes HC and thats good enough for me whatever he does to keep the team on topWhether he follows similar to my thoughts or goes totally opposite.

The defense could play better. We are giving up twelve points a game. The defense would be playing better if, for example, they gave up seven a game. There are also other numbers between twelve and zero. I realize that might be surprising.

You also seem to be arguing that if we are playing defense better than every other team, we are playing the best we possibly can. That's obviously not true by almost any criteria.

I, for one, am confident that Belichick will use the personnel he has available in a way that will yield great results...

 

[Patriot_in_NY]

You are correct,Sanders is NOT Rodney and I am not saying he is but SANDERS is most likely our future Safety at that spot and the more time he gets to play this year the better for the future once Rodney retires which may be next year,especially if we win the SB this year.

I hear you from a football future sense (I'm excited about Sanders future too), however, BB is gonna play the best players out there, and unless somethings changed, that is Rodney (he was a beast in preseason).

That said, he's no spring chicken and I think Sanders will spell Rodney quite a bit this year and get his reps. Just rest easy knowing that when the time comes, we all know Sanders WILL be ready. He's already proved it :rocker:

Welcome back Rodney....

 

[ATippett56]

Your thoughts?

The Patriots have played four offensively challenged teams this year. The Cincinnati Bengals offense was short handed last night. Without Chris Henry and Rudi Johnson, the Bengals offense can be contained.

 

[PatsFaninAZ]

I think you put your best players on the field. Rodney is unlikely to be in game 5 shape next week, so I agree you put him back in slowly and let him get his feel back. Asante still looks like he needs to do a bit of catching up to me, and he has 4 games under his belt now. Rodney will take time too, but the thought we wouldn't play our best guy seems silly to me. Defense can always improve, and number of points allowed is not the best way to judge. In fact, I think it's kind of a crummy way to judge.

I think the single most important stat to explain the defensive point totals is the fact that our offense has been on the field for more than 35 minutes per game. Couple that with the disparity in average starting field position, and you have your answer for our opponents' points totals.

We are playing really well on third down, though. And 11 sacks is a pretty good indicator that our secondary is doing well. The secondary still looks a bit soft to me at times, though, and I just can't see having a player of Rodney's quality and not using him.

 

[Nordy]

Haha this thread is ridiculous. Yeah let's make one of the NFL's best DLs a back-up

 

[Oswlek]

This thread makes no sense whatsoever. So, if Marvin Harrison and Steve Smith became available we wouldn't want them on the team because the offense has yet to score less than 31 points?

If Harrison plays as well as he was in the preseason he will start. Period.

And I love Green, but a healthy Seymour is a significantly better player. Period.

How again would improving the talent - with two players that know the system through and through - be a bad thing?

 

[5 Rings for Brady!!]

Jarvis isn't deployed like a "backup." He is a VERY GOOD PLAYER. I like the guy.

Richard Seymour is a great player and is one of the best on this team but your saying he is a hall of famer at this point in his career is asinine to me.

Richard will need to have some more seasons where he is actually healthy enough to play in most of the games,The past few years have not been kind to Richard with injuries constatly hitting him and although its obviously not his fault he is injured it will still hurt HOF consideration down the line - probably a guaranteed Patriots HOFer but nothing is in stone for Canton just yet.

Look at how hard it has been for Andre Tippett and Houston Antwine to get into Canton - Richard is by far NO LOCK for there either right now.

I do agree with this. Seymour is not very likely to end up in the HOF as things stand today. If he finishes his career healthy and gets tons of sacks and so on, he will be noticed, but the HOF is a hard thing for a DL to achieve, expecially in a not-stat driven defense.

 

[jct]

Sorry but BAD idea...
We have alreadly been rotating players out due to dings,
that is the continuity that we will continue the most talented healthy players will play and if you feel that Sanders and Green have the talent to start super when they are substituted in they should have a big impact.(Green did last year that way).
I'd like to see Merriweather have a bigger role moving forward.

 

[onegameatatime]

I love this D too, but if I could add Champ Bailey, Ed Reed, Brian Urlacher, and Aaron Schobel, I'd go for that too.

Seymour will not just cut Green's playing time, although Green will still get plenty of snaps, but it allows you to replace Mike Wright with Sey.

 

[VJCPatriot]

Ok the logic is simple.
If player A is better than player B, you let him play.
Seymour > Green
Rodney > Sanders.
Ergo Seymour and Rodney will play if healthy.
Glad I could clear that up for you.

Either you are a BIG Harrison or Seymour fan or I don't understand the logic.

And BTW Pees has been the BEST defensive coordinator in the past 2 years that the Patriots ever have had before in 2 consecutive years in their history,You can add that to the success of this underated unit.

 

[RayClay]

My thought is that this is asinine. Sorry.

The Patriots D is playing well because they're relatively healthy, because Adalius Thomas has been added to the mix, and because the young guys in the secondary are a year older and more experienced. It's not because of some secret, delicate chemistry that occurs b/c Seymour's and Harrison's replacements are perfect fits.

This team's D is hitting on all cylinders right now because they're GOOD. Adding Seymour and Harrison will only serve to continue that trend. It's not going to make it WORSE. Good Lord.

First sentence.

 

[Kdo5]

O.K. Rodney is to be back this week and Seymour MAY BE coming back in a few weeks BUT....

I think it would be a BIG mistake if we changed things on defense right now even though the 2 guys returning soon are BIG names like Rodney Harrison and Richard Seymour

Lets face it,we have not missed ANY of these two defensive stars thus far - We have given up 14-14-7-13 points in the first four
games,Why would BB mess around and change things just because 2 popular and veteran guys are able to play?

The old saying goes,If it ain't broken don't fix it

We have not had a defensive performance like this in 4 consecutive games that I can remember in my 35 years as a Pats fan and as one announcer said last night 'This team is a well oiled Machine'

Unless the team starts to show signs of giving up big plays,points or yardage I see no reason to remove Green or Sanders from full time play or at least be in there 85% of the game

I know some fans here are big Rodney and Seymour fans and I am glad they will be around to come off the bench should an injury or bad defensive game arise and brings the depth up to unbelievable talent but there is absolutely no reason IMO why things should change to the current lineup if we continue to win decisively.

Your thoughts?

Are you stupid?

Yeah adding two of our best defensive players is such a bad idea. They are going to really hurt our defense. Bull **** it will only make us better.

 

[Silverquick]

I can understand the "if it ain't broke, dont fix it" argument here, and it is hard to debate with the fact that our defense has played very good football even without Seymour and Rodney. So I see where the idea is coming from.

However, it is always possible to improve something, even if it is already good. Sure, we have played great without Richard, but would it not be safe to say that, considering his talent, we would play even better with him in the mix? Seymour is explosive, he pushes back the O-line very well, and collapses the pocket faster than most DEs in the league. If he can help this already great defense push the opponent's O-linemen just a few inches further back, or collapse the pocket just a second earlier than we do now, that would make our D even more effective than it is now.

 

[thomas144]

Not to pile on to this thread, but I'm actually surprised that anyone would think the Patriots defense is actually playing all that well. Lots of room for improvement, I think.

I think one of the reasons they ran the ball so much against the Bengals was to keep the Patriots defense off the field.

 

[patsox23]

I don't understand the argument you are making,Sorry but if the defense has given up less than 14 points a game I don't know how you can argue that the team is doing just fine,Changing things on defense can't be much different and you can't really argue this until an opponent puts up at least 20 on the Pats,How could you possibly contest this? - The secondary has not been lit up nor has the defensive line taken a hit.

There have been may who say even though a certain area on the team does not look to be so talented its a fact that if those guys begin to gel together fine because they have played together so much and almost know where each guy is doing or where they are going to be they should be a strong unit,especially on a well coached team which is what is happening here.

Either you are a BIG Harrison or Seymour fan or I don't understand the logic.

I'm not sure what to say. I don't understand your point. I'm not criticizing the defense. I'm criticizing the absurd notion that adding Seymour and Harrison to it is going to make it WORSE. There is no delicate balance here. It's a very good defense that will get BETTER.

What's to not understand?

 

[patsox23]

Ok the logic is simple.
If player A is better than player B, you let him play.
Seymour > Green
Rodney > Sanders.
Ergo Seymour and Rodney will play if healthy.
Glad I could clear that up for you.

LOL, thank you! Good LORD, I really did try to be a better "listener" to this thread, more respectful, less snarky, but this has been a real test. It's an empirically RIDICULOUS idea that our defensive chemistry is so successful and such a delicate balance that we could risk somehow, I don't know, "throwing it off" or whatever by adding EXCELLENT players to the mix.

I don't think any of us disagrees with the idea of working 37 and 93 back in slowly - nor do we dismiss the suggestion that the quality of our depth allows us to do so. But when push comes to shove, and Harrison and Seymour are ready to go, THEY START. BECAUSE THEY'RE BETTER PLAYERS.

Goodness.

 

[FlyingElvis75]

There were definitely some downs last night where Seymour would have made a difference. A couple of weak side runs, a few passes where an extra split-second or so gave Palmer enough time for a big play (wasn't there a 4th-and-20+ that he completed?). Can't give up plays like that to Indy and expect them not to burn us.

Green has been phenomenal, but Seymour is better.

I thought the secondary played well, obviously, but there were also a couple of high-YAC receptions by both Chad and TJ due to bad or missed tackles that resulted in first downs. Rodney is our best open-field tackler IMO, and even stopping half of those can make a big difference against a top offense. Not to mention the fact that he's the veteran presence in the secondary, and tends to elevate the younger guys.

Looking forward to getting both of them back!

 

[Kdo5]

O.K. Rodney is to be back this week and Seymour MAY BE coming back in a few weeks BUT....

I think it would be a BIG mistake if we changed things on defense right now even though the 2 guys returning soon are BIG names like Rodney Harrison and Richard Seymour

Lets face it,we have not missed ANY of these two defensive stars thus far - We have given up 14-14-7-13 points in the first four
games,Why would BB mess around and change things just because 2 popular and veteran guys are able to play?

The old saying goes,If it ain't broken don't fix it

We have not had a defensive performance like this in 4 consecutive games that I can remember in my 35 years as a Pats fan and as one announcer said last night 'This team is a well oiled Machine'

Unless the team starts to show signs of giving up big plays,points or yardage I see no reason to remove Green or Sanders from full time play or at least be in there 85% of the game

I know some fans here are big Rodney and Seymour fans and I am glad they will be around to come off the bench should an injury or bad defensive game arise and brings the depth up to unbelievable talent but there is absolutely no reason IMO why things should change to the current lineup if we continue to win decisively.

Your thoughts?

Probably the stupidest and most ridiculous thing I pulled out from this.

Popular and veterans. WOW. Did you just start watching the Patriots this year or something?

 

[carolinatony]

Lets wait till Seymour is back and in playing shape before we make changes. The defense needs to get a bit stronger. We have been scoring a lot and playing some bad teams. Its not up to par with the offense yet.

 

[biffman]

The defense could play better. We are giving up twelve points a game. The defense would be playing better if, for example, they gave up seven a game. There are also other numbers between twelve and zero. I realize that might be surprising.

You also seem to be arguing that if we are playing defense better than every other team, we are playing the best we possibly can. That's obviously not true by almost any criteria.

I, for one, am confident that Belichick will use the personnel he has available in a way that will yield great results...

LMFAO. . . . .