What kind of defense? TIGHT, of course....
But seriously, from the little we've gotten to see in the preseason, it's already looking a lot more "flexi-Bill" than 2005. I'm looking for the return of Rodney adding "more things you can do" as regards walking up to play the run or dropping back from the safety position. We'll presumeably not be playing second stringers at DB positions, and the guys thrust into the fire last year and the year before (at least the remaining ones) are a year older and wiser, and therefore a little more capable of being in position in the defensive backfield. I trust our middle again, whether it's Vrabel/Seau or Bruschi/Seau or Vrabel/Bruschi, and the front 7, in general, is a great starting unit (ASSUMING health -- we all know we have more of a thin spot at LB now.)
Assuming health, you can do a lot with this unit. You look to the three or four guys who you can (in good conscience) give freedom to beyond their immediate responsibility, to be the playmakers, and add in the fact that scheme itself can go from 2 defensive linemen to 9 in the box, from blitzhappy to cover 3, all day, plus wrinkles my poor amateur brain can't even think about. Mangini didn't want any part of that, and maybe he was right. You can't set up the fancy stuff when people can't even hold down their own responsibilities. It may have been even worse if he was asking for big pressure packages -- after all, throw a LB or a safety into the blitz, and you're thinner in the defensive BF, no matter how you slice it. Each of those guys by the end of the year struggled just to handle their piece of the action. Imagine that with one less safety, or imagine LBs assigned blitz roles instead of coverage roles.
But let's get back to this year - we have our read/react/playmaker guys back, and I mean especially Tedy and Rodney. They're smart enough to know that if they're "abandoning" or have discharged their initial responsibility based on the read, they can take calculated gambles. Seymour too, obviously; turn him loose and you could see 8 sacks just from DE. I'd also put Vrabel in that category, but more so paying on the outside.
But you'll see big sack games where BB has determined that pressure on the QB is the key - that's the thing. He'll dial up a D du jour each Sunday. Pittsburgh can't do that. They're all blitz all the time. Last year NE couldn't do that - they were basically trying NOT to "play outside themselves," and themselves were pretty damn limited by year's end.
Long story short, we can now "just do more stuff" again, but you'll know about what exactly the Pats are up to on game day and no sooner. If our injury luck holds, you would see a defense you can't predict week to week, unless you and BB see exactly the same things on game tape. That's what made the 03/04 squads some of the best Ds in the league - the flexi-Billity.
PFnV
Ahhh, stating the obvious. But the point is, I want to see a defense that can give trouble to many different offenses that we'll face this year. So rather than debating about the merits of the 4-3 or the 3-4, I'd like to see a defnse that is flexible enough to switch so that opponents are never complacent about the looks they'll see.
