Where will the Patriots rank on Defense in 2014?

[ausbacker]

Outside of us, I would say the better defenses are:

- Seattle
- San Francisco
- St. Louis
- Carolina
- Arizona

Seattle - the current gold standard in the NFL. The Patriots starters may match Seattle's in terms of talent but they have a scheme, Strong Safety and continuity advantage.

Carolina - probably the second best Defense behind the Seahawks. They are strong at every level.

Arizona - a very strong unit. The loss of Darnell Dockett is huge however the Cardinals are reasonably deep and a platoon unit should help fill his position. They're an excellent D.

St. Louis - the best Defensive Line in the NFL. That's their only advantage. The Patriots are are arguably stronger and more talented at LB and in the Secondary.

San Francisco - injuries, suspensions, age and declining performance. I don't view them as an elite unit in 2014.

 

[1960Pats]

I'm a big believer in points allowed as the true measure of a defense. I also believe that the offense and special teams are part of the team's defense.

After spending a decade of studying the most important factors in winning NFL games, at least until they screwed with the numbers by changing the rules, the most useless stat was time of possession.

One quarter of the teams in the NFL allowed less points than the Pats last season, and a few more were close behind. They should pass quite a few of those teams this year.

 

[mgteich]

If I understand you correctly, the patriots are the VERY BEST defense in the AFC, and our biggest fault is that Patricia hasn't been consistent enough with regard to playing the 43 or the 34.

BELIEVE IT OR NOT, Patricia probably knows what defense we are playing and practiced what he thought we needed to in the preseason. He need make no apology to message board posters for not being consistent enough. He does not owe it to us to announce his starting formation before the season or to play it in the preseason. But then, that is simply my personal position.

I also don't feel slighted that team hasn't announced who will start at any of the interior offensive line positions. Curiously, I don't think the OL is weaker because we haven't had a consistent OL in the preseason. But again, that is simply my personal view.
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Outside of us, I would say the better defenses are:

- Seattle
- San Francisco
- St. Louis
- Carolina
- Arizona

 

[patsfan-1982]

if the offense is scoring a lot they will roll out the bend but don't brake and give up a lot of yards so I say top 20 in yards and top 10 in points, but what I am hoping for is key stops come playoff time when teams are stopping Brady can the defense match them 3 and out for 3 and out if so that's all I care about

 

[Joey007]

Outside of us, I would say the better defenses are:

- Seattle
- San Francisco
- St. Louis
- Carolina
- Arizona

I just don't know about Carolina or San Fran's secondaries, plus Arizona did lose Dockett and Washington.

I think the Saints defense will really surprise people this year, who are the only other team in the NFC that I think could challenge Seattle for the conference. It is a very well rounded defense aside from maybe being a little weak at inside linebacker.

 

[MrNathanDrake]

How much will Easley contribute as a rookie? Is he 100% healthy?

Will Jamie Collins be elite like we think he can?

 

[Archeryaddict12]

if the offense is scoring a lot they will roll out the bend but don't brake and give up a lot of yards so I say top 20 in yards and top 10 in points, but what I am hoping for is key stops come playoff time when teams are stopping Brady can the defense match them 3 and out for 3 and out if so that's all I care about

They aren't stopping Brady if the oline blocks and gronk is healthy.

 

[rookBoston]

If the offense can sustain drives, this D will pitch shutouts.

Yards: who cares?
Scoring: Top-5
Turnover Differential: #1 or #2

 

[stinkypete]

Seattle is the only defense that I think will be unquestionably better than the Patriots.

After that, we're in a cluster with Cincy, Baltimore, Denver, New Orleans, Arizona, Carolina, KC, maybe Tampa, Cleveland and St. Louis too.

Outside of that, I don't think any other defenses quality as good (this includes the Jets).

 

[mgteich]

injuries are going to be a big part of it too though. last year for the first part of the season, I thought our defense looked like it had turned a corner with a healthy Talib, wilfork mayo. once those guys started to go down and Talib went down we went back to our usual defense. BUT, when you lose your BEST LB, NT, CB your defense is bound to suffer.

Good thing is that 1. Revis is more durable than Talib, and is MUCH better than talib.

We cannot assume health. We will likely have some injuries, as most teams will.

BTW, for Game One, we have FOUR defensive linemen with mild injuries. Reiss has only Easley playing, with the other three inactive: Siliga, Chris Jones and Buchanan. This could be an issue going forward, especially considering that we decided carry only 9 DL's, instead of the 10 many of thought we'd carry because of the injury situations. And yes, I understand that 9 in the "normal" number of defensive linemen. So, we have Vellano as our only healthy backup.

In the linebacker corps, we are healthy. However, we only have four position linebacker. If Hightower is a starter, our only backup is Fleming.

BOTTOM LINE
We always choose where to go a bit thin with regard to roster positions. After all, there is no choice. This year we are a bit thin at DE and LB, not a particularly good combination.

 

[DarrylS]

What does not seem to be mentioned is that the Pats are not on the road to "Cap Hell"... it seems that many of these teams mentioned are "young" and many of their stars have not cashed in, which some of these teams will face soon..

We also have a pretty good offense...

 

[PatsWickedPissah]

Top 10 yards
Top 5 in points
Top 3 in takeaways

Only care about the points. The rest is for the fan boys and pundits.
Biggest concern aside from health is 2nd guy at safety, followed by ability to cover by LBs.

 

[Brady6]

How much will Easley contribute as a rookie? Is he 100% healthy?

Will Jamie Collins be elite like we think he can?

I get the impression that Belichick has intentions to start Easley and have him play a solid 60-70% of the defensive snaps, as he did with Jones and Hightower in 2012.

 

[Pessimistic Pete]

I said it all offseason, I won't believe the Patriots actually have a great defense again until I SEE it on the field.

Today just confirmed my fears, not only did they not look any better, they looked WORSE than last year. In fact, today they give up 33 points, more than ANY individual game last season. Revis was extremely underwhelming as well, nowhere near a "shutdown" corner today.

The scary thing is, I have no idea how you fix this run defense. There's no injury excuses anymore...

 

[moejr]

Total D I would say 18th

 

[moejr]

After today, I am VERY worried about this defense. They look absolutely no better than last year and Revis was hardly impressive.

Give Revis a break. This is his first regular season game in a long time. He has to shake off the rust

 

[BradyToAmendola]

Give Revis a break. This is his first regular season game in a long time. He has to shake off the rust

Hasn't it been about the same amount of time as everyone else...?

Not saying I think Revis was bad, I actually think he was pretty good. I just don't get your logic here..

 

[patsfan-1982]

I said it all offseason, I won't believe the Patriots actually have a great defense again until I see it on the field.

Today just confirmed my fears, not only did they not look any better, they looked as bad as they were at their worst last year. Revis was extremely underwhelming as well, nowhere near a "shutdown" corner today.

The scary thing is, I have no idea how you fix this run defense. There's no injury excuses anymore...

I said this today already Aqib Talib played about as good as you can in todays NFL at CB so just adding revis who is not a big INT guy was not going to make the defense any better then it was last year

 

[A man named Brady]

It doesn't matter how good your secondary is if you can't stop the run or put pressure on the opposing QB

 

[TBR]

If I understand you correctly, the patriots are the VERY BEST defense in the AFC, and our biggest fault is that Patricia hasn't been consistent enough with regard to playing the 43 or the 34.

BELIEVE IT OR NOT, Patricia probably knows what defense we are playing and practiced what he thought we needed to in the preseason. He need make no apology to message board posters for not being consistent enough. He does not owe it to us to announce his starting formation before the season or to play it in the preseason. But then, that is simply my personal position.

I also don't feel slighted that team hasn't announced who will start at any of the interior offensive line positions. Curiously, I don't think the OL is weaker because we haven't had a consistent OL in the preseason. But again, that is simply my personal view.
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Any idea how much control Patricia has with the defense's play during games in comparison to Bill? (example: 60% Patricia, 40% Bill)