fan
You are perfectly correct on Brady 2009. Still, it's vital to remember that ACL's are two year injuries (refer to recent post here on Phillip Rivers). That means 2009 was predictable AND a return on 2003-2007 Brady is NOT inevitable but it's highly plausible.
The Jet's defense was so disruptive they blew SIX 4th quarter leads that resulted in losses. It's funny how many posters refer back to the game in Miami.
Did anyone see how the Jets defense did in Miami?
I am not saying that we don't want to bring more explosive and creative pressure. The problem here is that everyone is deluded with "the pass rush" and "pressure" as if that's the objective.
I agree that Brady should be closer to his 03-07 form and that ACL injuries are two year injuries. That's why I've been a fan of looking into Shawne Merriman. His value is at an all time low, when healthy he is a dominant pass rusher, and I think he's primed for a big comeback year in his 2nd year back from ACL surgery. But that's neither here nor there.
The Jets blew some leads but they did get better as the season went on, showing improvement and playing big when they needed to. Also, look at what Rex had to work with. I live in NY and saw many of their games. Rhodes was a bum of a safety who was rightly benched at one point because he couldn't cover anyone and was afraid to get his jersey dirty. What did they have at corner besides Revis? Lito? Stickland? Lowery? I think he did a pretty good job considering what he had. I think our overall depth at corner was better than the Jets, and our safeties were definitely better. They basically had Revis and bunch of mediocre guys. It's scary to say, but I think that D will be even better this year with Revis and Cromartie.
Forget the Jets, I'm most concerned with the Patriots. And the fact is that they have struggled mightily to get pressure on the QB in the last couple of years. IMO, there are two ways you can go about trying to resolve this. Go out and get a stud OLB who requires double teams, or explore a change in scheme where you are more aggressive in general. I think the Patriots have the horses at corner now to be able to that.
The Patriots' defensive problems were personnel-based, not schematic in nature. The defense was able to hold teams to the 5th fewest points in the NFL last season, despite having a subpar defensive roster. That's actually a pretty good job being done by the defensive coaching staff.
I think it was a little bit of both. Obviously it's extremely hard to replace the Seymours, Vrabels, Burschis, Harrisons, etc., but I still felt the Patriots defense was way too passive at times. Just because they supposedly sent more than 4 rushers a lot doesn't necessarily mean they were an "aggressive" defense.
Those stats are padded by beating up on bad teams. It's like a baseball player that beats up on #4 and #5 pitchers but can't hit #1 and #2 pitchers well. Usually those players fizzle out in the playoffs and don't make much of an impact. Isn't it a similar case with the Pats? The Pats defense beat up on the teams with subpar/poor offenses like the Titans, Bucs, Bills, Jags, Jets, etc. Then when they had to play the big boys like the Colts, Saints, Ravens, etc., they were really nowhere to be found. The Saints absolutely blew their doors off, giving up 27 points to the Ravens at him is way too many, and BB went for it on 4th and 2 because, in all honesty, he didn't trust his defense to get the stop they needed. The blowout in the playoffs was the fault of the offense and the defense with the turnovers virtually putting the defense in a no-win situation, but you can't get gashed for 80 yards on the first play of the game. That set the tone.
Let's say we had beaten Baltimore. Did you honestly have that much confidence in this team to go into SD and be able to shut down that offense?
Personnel definitely played a role, but scheme did too.
This is a good point to bring up. However 2-gap has nothing to do with blitz schemes because those schemes are pre-determined, and called in the defensive huddle before the snap. You don't read and react on a stunt or scoop, for example, you just launch at the snap.
My mistake. It just seems that when the Patriots bring an extra rusher they do the same thing way too often. They have their 3 big lineman try to tie up a bunch of offensive lineman, which frees up two guys on the outside with one on one matchups. But these guys weren't even able to win those one on one matchups most of the time. That's where if you have a stud OLB like Ware or Merriman when he was healthy, you can win those one on one matchups a good chunk of the time and force them to double you, which, in turn, opens things up for the other guys.
Since the Pats don't have one of those types of guys, I think they need to rely on more penetration and stunting with the DL for when they aren't blitzing. I like the idea of trying to get into the backfield and blowing the play up before it even has time to develop. It's more effective, especially on a passing play, than having to first engage your blocker, read pass, and then try to get to the QB. And it obviously works pretty well against the run too with the way the Ravens had been so good against the run with Rex's scheme. No RB had a 100+ yard game on them for a few years. Pretty ridiculous.
