Worst defense in the league...how is this possible?

[PATRIOTSFANINPA]

i agree but we all know this team is not going to man up and run the ball 30+ times a game they run no huddle with a 3 TD lead and with this defense they realy cant just run the ball because they cant win games 21 to 17

If the team ran the ball more and effectively that would mean longer drives and clock usage which in turn helps an aging front line that we have outside of Love stay fresh and relaxed.

It's great when Brady scores quickly but then the defense struts back out there and gets gassed late in the game... Especially on the road.

Longer offensive drives = Fresh Defense

Screw the 400 yards in the air....it's time to take some time off the clock and off Brady's shoulders before his shoulders fall off

 

[Observer]

Come on,you can't expect Brady to carry the team all year or the same fate will be dealt as it has been the past 2 years....one and done.

Brady will not continue to average 400 YPG...that average is unheard of and will drop when the winter arrives.....at least it should.

It's time to be better on offense by using the running game and less on Brady to try and win,quicken the game up and pound the ball...we have capable runners to do this.

This team is a near perfect replica of the mid decade Colts,with the exception that at least the Colts had a pass rush,but still those same Colts ended up watching the SB on TV...except the miracle 06 season.

The Colts were actually better. They actually had (have) two great pass rushers and talent at safety. They almost beat the steelers with Painter and Collins last night!

 

[DonBlackmon55]

If the team ran the ball more and effectively that would mean longer drives and clock usage which in turn helps an aging front line that we have outside of Love stay fresh and relaxed.

It's great when Brady scores quickly but then the defense struts back out there and gets gassed late in the game... Especially on the road.

Longer offensive drives = Fresh Defense

Screw the 400 yards in the air....it's time to take some time off the clock and off Brady's shoulders before his shoulders fall off

Strategy 2007-2010 has been
1. Moss
2. Welker
3. crickets..

Strategy 2011 is
1. Welker
2. Gronkowski
3. Hernandez
4. crickets..

So, we're 4 years into no running focus, no balance offense approach. No clock killin corey. Cannot coach up WR's. Garbage drafting with nothing to show on defensive side from all those draft picks

Anyway 2007 to 2010 results have been obvious - Mr. Brady eye popping stats with SB loss followed by one and done playoffs vs Ravens and Jets.

2008 ofcourse injury to Brady forced them to go with Cassel, and they averaged more than 140+ yards rushing per game rushing, and total rushed for almost 2300 yards and still won 11 games.

Fast forward to 2009, 2010 and reverted back to same pass-pass-pass every possession, no patience to establish time of possession, and now in 2011 and they've hit 200 yards total rushing after 3 games, and defense is being shredded like swiss cheese.

 

[Shed83]

May be a point that nobody agrees with but i honestly dont think our offense helps with the defense atall. Im not talking about the 5 interceptions brady has posted so far.

It seems like we score at will through Bradys pretty phenomenal accuracy (second half yesterday aside obviously) but all the drives are far too quick because of the no huddle pass heavy offense. Although its great to be putting the points up on the board - it might be a little more beneficial to use the run game more often to manage the clock better and keep the defense off the pitch!!

Perhaps BB and B O'B are using this style of rapid offense to test the young defense? (aswell as having the scoreboard clicking over obviously) Hoping that the more they are tested now the better they will be at the business end of the season

Either way it needs to shape up pretty quickly!

Edit - just realised Patsfaninpa has made the point!

 

[dhamz]

Strategy 2011 is
1. Welker
2. Gronkowski
3. Hernandez
4. crickets..

Deion Branch is on pace for 80 catches and just under 1200 yard so far - that is pretty productive so far for crickets.

 

[tasmlab]

Kyle Love

I don't understand why we saw so much Kyle Love on the field after we hired all of those vet DL. Anyone know? He has such a distinctive body or way of running that you don't need to see his number to know that he is out there.

Fred Jackson seems to always run over the Pats for the last 2-3 years. Even when Lynch was their #1 it seemed like Fred was the difficult one.

 

[patsfan-1982]

Re: Kyle Love

I don't understand why we saw so much Kyle Love on the field after we hired all of those vet DL. Anyone know? He has such a distinctive body or way of running that you don't need to see his number to know that he is out there.

Fred Jackson seems to always run over the Pats for the last 2-3 years. Even when Lynch was their #1 it seemed like Fred was the difficult one.

the pats were playing a lot of 3-4 and him and Ellis are pretty much the only 3-4 DE's on the roster with Hayneswoth and Mike Wright out

 

[FreeTedWilliams]

CLEARLY the choice of Barrett over either Merriweather or Sanders was a giant mistake. It is time that we stop giving BB a pass on these things. The Pats have not be able to rush the passer for five years now, and it gets worse every year. Fitzpatrick threw 50 times yesterday and was only kncokced to the ground once (and on that play he threw a very rushed and bad throw to nobody), of course that rush ended up in the phantom roughing the passer call.

Barrett was terrible and should be cut by the end of today, he has no place on a NFL field. Take a peek at the winning non-TD for the Bills and you will see tha last of many just absolute missed tackles by Barrett (actually he did not attempt to tackle him, he just kinda curled up in the fetal position in the middle of the field).

Brady made some terrible mistakes yesterday, mostly in game managment.

2nd Quarter up 21-7 on the Bills 20, altough I can't fault him on the int. clearly a place to run the ball, run out the clock, kick a field goal and go into the locker room up 24-7.

4th Quarter, up by 7, inside the Buffalo 30 11 minutes left, again run the ball, or high percentage passes, kick the field goal go up by ten points with 8 minutes left.

Both of those picks killed the Pats, the one that won it for them was inexcusable, hit hit a guy in the head, and he did not jump up or anything he just threw it straight into his head!

The defense is god awful and this team will not win anything again this year, one and done in the playoffs (if they even make it), wait until we play a team with an actual defense, the pats are going to get crushed!

I'm sorry by years of terrible drafting, have left this team without a single playmaker on defense. Mayo is good, but he is handcuffed making up for the lack of any other decent LBs. The Defensive line is old and slow and apparently can not get the QB but only once in fifty trys. McCourtey was BRUTAL yesterday, he got burnt so bad on that first TD it was not funny.

Ras-I-made of glass: hurt, gee nobody could see that coming.
Spikes looked lost (I was hoping for big things from him this year, but he has not been the same since he got that suspension).
Cunningham, they said he was starting, but I didn't see him at all, did he even play? (maybe, just maybe he should have drafted his teamate, you know the one with a dozen or so sacks).


Sorry but their is no hope or help on the horizon for this defense. Years of very bad drafting (i.e. in 2009, he wasted the 40 (Butler)and 41 (Brace) picks in the draft) BTW Jarius Byrd pick #42, and now they are toast.

 

[Garbanza]

Clearly a lot were. Having Sanders and Meriweather on the field would have provided both secondary help and run support.

And on this day, Lawyer Milloy is laughing. If not for his spite, he might have been playing today.

Lawyer Milloy is 37 years old - enough with the Milloy stuff.

Letting go of Sanders is BB's biggest blunder on defense.

 

[goheels22002]

Go out and get some real damn talent at a higher cost. I'd much rather spend a high first round pick and get a guy like Peterson who I know can be a shutdown corner in the coming years than continually piss away assets on bums like Butler and Wheatley, only to find out 2-3 years later that they have no future with this team.

Great post, but I have to disagree with the premise.

The salary cap is what drives the roster and it is hard to argue with ten years of unmatched success with none of the roller coaster ride you see with so many teams who sink their teeth into high priced rookies and free agents - especially the rookies. Quality depth extending all the way to the practice squad is a major component of what has made the Patriots successful. The new CBA rookie wage scale makes it possible to edge up the draft board for players at certain positions. The risk/reward will be better in 2012.

On free agents, the Pats have consistently gone after elite players at a value price that does not cost them depth and talent on special teams. Do these guys pan out? That's a different question. Do they keep or cut the right guys? I believe we do not know enough to say since they keep their dirty laundry internal.

As far as the Bills loss is concerned, if Brady does not throw four (egad!) interceptions and those four drives consume some clock and/or produce points, the Patriots win. This was a case of the offense putting the defense in a terrible situation.

If anything, the play calling was suspect when it became clear in the second half that Brady did not have it and the running game was working. The swing from +2 to -2 in turnovers mirrored the score.

 

[Garbanza]

CLEARLY the choice of Barrett over either Merriweather or Sanders was a giant mistake. It is time that we stop giving BB a pass on these things. The Pats have not be able to rush the passer for five years now, and it gets worse every year. Fitzpatrick threw 50 times yesterday and was only kncokced to the ground once (and on that play he threw a very rushed and bad throw to nobody), of course that rush ended up in the phantom roughing the passer call.

Barrett was terrible and should be cut by the end of today, he has no place on a NFL field. Take a peek at the winning non-TD for the Bills and you will see tha last of many just absolute missed tackles by Barrett (actually he did not attempt to tackle him, he just kinda curled up in the fetal position in the middle of the field).

Brady made some terrible mistakes yesterday, mostly in game managment.

2nd Quarter up 21-7 on the Bills 20, altough I can't fault him on the int. clearly a place to run the ball, run out the clock, kick a field goal and go into the locker room up 24-7.

4th Quarter, up by 7, inside the Buffalo 30 11 minutes left, again run the ball, or high percentage passes, kick the field goal go up by ten points with 8 minutes left.

Both of those picks killed the Pats, the one that won it for them was inexcusable, hit hit a guy in the head, and he did not jump up or anything he just threw it straight into his head!

The defense is god awful and this team will not win anything again this year, one and done in the playoffs (if they even make it), wait until we play a team with an actual defense, the pats are going to get crushed!

I'm sorry by years of terrible drafting, have left this team without a single playmaker on defense. Mayo is good, but he is handcuffed making up for the lack of any other decent LBs. The Defensive line is old and slow and apparently can not get the QB but only once in fifty trys. McCourtey was BRUTAL yesterday, he got burnt so bad on that first TD it was not funny.

Ras-I-made of glass: hurt, gee nobody could see that coming.
Spikes looked lost (I was hoping for big things from him this year, but he has not been the same since he got that suspension).
Cunningham, they said he was starting, but I didn't see him at all, did he even play? (maybe, just maybe he should have drafted his teamate, you know the one with a dozen or so sacks).


Sorry but their is no hope or help on the horizon for this defense. Years of very bad drafting (i.e. in 2009, he wasted the 40 (Butler)and 41 (Brace) picks in the draft) BTW Jarius Byrd pick #42, and now they are toast.

The defense is slow and stupid. There, I said it.

Spikes - horrible. I have no idea why anyone would be high on him unless they actually got high with him.

With the expection of Mayo - the lb's are jags at best. Only homers would pronounce Fletcher the second coming of Bruschi.

D-line - shoot, it was better last year in the 3-4! How do you change in a season without any off season?

Secondary - completely lost with out any brains back there. Of course they let go of the brains (Sanders) and now they just have slow and stupid.

 

[sbpatfan]

The thing I don't understand about the safeties is why would you let Meri go if you're going to play man? He was all over the GB WRs yesterday making plays in the passing and running game. Plus the dude plays with swagger, something both Torchio Brown and Barnett lack. Maybe Meri blew plays freelancing at times, but he also set the tone in games. Now we just have trash that can't cover or tackle.

 

[condon84]

The thing I don't understand about the safeties is why would you let Meri go if you're going to play man? He was all over the GB WRs yesterday making plays in the passing and running game. Plus the dude plays with swagger, something both Torchio Brown and Barnett lack. Maybe Meri blew plays freelancing at times, but he also set the tone in games. Now we just have trash that can't cover or tackle.

Watching Merriweather yesterday play well was frustrating because he played well when he was here too. Yeah he blew assignments here and there, but he made more good plays than bad. The guys we have now may know their assignments, but they're just not good enough to stop the offensive guys they are covering.

What good is it knowing your assignment if you just plain suck?

 

[Bostonian1962]

Patriots have two first round picks next year. They need to use BOTH on developing the pass rush

We've said something similar for years. We don't do pass rushers. I'm expecting two CBs or two TEs.

 

[DaBruinz]

Which plays did the safeties have over the top coverage? Please let me know how you get the defensive calls transmitted to you.
If you think there was anything resembling a pass rush, you simply don't know what a pass rush is.
Are you honestly telling me you think the DL played better than awful today?
Please name a handful of plays where they even showed up.

Andy - I clearly know what a pass rush is.. You, on the other hand, are oblivious. Just do everyone a favor and stop responding because you have gone from decent poster to utterly ignorant in a matter of weeks.

BOTH interceptions that Fitzpatrick threw were because he had to move. The two holding calls on passing plays were because the Pass rush would have sacked Fitzpatrick otherwise.

Now, do everyone a favor and put me on your ignore list so that yiou don't have to be pollute yourself with the truth and can live in your delusions of grandeur all by yourself.

 

[Bostonian1962]

The entire defense is terrible. Corners, safeties, linebackers, and the defensive line. They lack leadership too. Mayo needs to step up and get these guys together. Where the eff is the passion on defense?

Man, you just hit something here. Where is the freakn' passion? Passion, and overall getting fired up can cover for alot of short comings. McGinist, Bruschi, Vrabel, and Harrison must be turning over in their graves............I mean, must be irked.

 

[THELAWFIRM226]

Andy - I clearly know what a pass rush is.. You, on the other hand, are oblivious. Just do everyone a favor and stop responding because you have gone from decent poster to utterly ignorant in a matter of weeks.

BOTH interceptions that Fitzpatrick threw were because he had to move. The two holding calls on passing plays were because the Pass rush would have sacked Fitzpatrick otherwise.

Now, do everyone a favor and put me on your ignore list so that yiou don't have to be pollute yourself with the truth and can live in your delusions of grandeur all by yourself.

Why is that all you do is call people out and act like you're superior to everyone on this forum?

 

[DaBruinz]

It's stupid that the offense has to put up 34+ points to win every week. Ryan Fitzpatrick shouldn't be leading a team to 14 points in less than 3 minutes. I don't care how pass-friendly the rules are.

Fitzpatrick didn't lead them to 14 points in under 3 minutes. People like AndyJohnson ignore the fact that the call on Love was absolute BS. As was the call on Brown since the WR was the one who initiated contact..

 

[DaBruinz]

last i checked all stats count. There is no garbage time, Game is 60 minutes. we saw up 21-0 what kind of garbage time stats Buffalo put up today

Right now Pats are

Total Defense #31
Passing Defense #31
Rushing Defense #11 (why run when you can pass on this D)
3rd down conversion allowed #25

There are only 2 stats that count. Points Scored and Points Allowed. The rest is just fluff for the fans and bettors..

 

[DaBruinz]

Strategy 2007-2010 has been
1. Moss
2. Welker
3. crickets..

Amazing how you forget Kevin Faulk and Jabar Gaffney.

Strategy 2011 is
1. Welker
2. Gronkowski
3. Hernandez
4. crickets..

You forgot Danny Woodhead and Deion Branch.

So, we're 4 years into no running focus, no balance offense approach. No clock killin corey. Cannot coach up WR's. Garbage drafting with nothing to show on defensive side from all those draft picks

Anyway 2007 to 2010 results have been obvious - Mr. Brady eye popping stats with SB loss followed by one and done playoffs vs Ravens and Jets.

2008 ofcourse injury to Brady forced them to go with Cassel, and they averaged more than 140+ yards rushing per game rushing, and total rushed for almost 2300 yards and still won 11 games.

Fast forward to 2009, 2010 and reverted back to same pass-pass-pass every possession, no patience to establish time of possession, and now in 2011 and they've hit 200 yards total rushing after 3 games, and defense is being shredded like swiss cheese.

The Pats have 4 RBs this year. They had 2 RBs last year. Why you think they have no RBs is a mystery. What is troublesome is that the Pats don't use their RBs enough.