The Patriots Defense ~ A Return To Dominance

[shirtsleeve]

This defense is a work in progress. For them to look this good, this early, really bodes well for what this defense will ultimately be after Thanksgiving.

Also, usually the players who turn out to be gr8 show signs early. Jones, Hightower, and Wilson couldn't have had a more promising start to their careers.

Are there STILL any Pats fans who feel Tavon Wilson was a bad pick?

And "No", he would not have been there 2-3 rounds later.

How ya been?

The front seven showed unbelievable promise today. Johnson. 4 yards? Kidding me? They made the Titans come out of their game plan. A+. and a holy shyte! for hope and growth. The secondary was..ok. B-. Not bad. I'd have loved to get that B- in my diffeecues course in college.

 

[VJCPatriot]

Tavon Wilson is a beast! He looked like he was all over the field today and he has been looking good ever since training camp opened.

Are there STILL any Pats fans who feel Tavon Wilson was a bad pick?

And "No", he would not have been there 2-3 rounds later.

The Pats D completely shut down the Titans run game. Limiting Chris "2K" Johnson to single digit production and a measly .36 yards per carry! They also limited the entire Titans team to grand total of 20 yards rushing. Of course a good deal of this came from the Pats offense playing ahead all day but still, whenever the Titans turned to the run, they got stuffed today. That is just a DOMINANT performance against the ground game. Weren't a lot of posters worried that the Titans have one of the top rushing attacks in the entire NFL? If so, this team was tested and passed with flying colors!

How ya been?

The front seven showed unbelievable promise today. Johnson. 4 yards? Kidding me? They made the Titans come out of their game plan. A+. and a holy shyte! for hope and growth. The secondary was..ok. B-. Not bad. I'd have loved to get that B- in my diffeecues course in college.

 

[The Gr8est]

How ya been?

The front seven showed unbelievable promise today. Johnson. 4 yards? Kidding me? They made the Titans come out of their game plan. A+. and a holy shyte! for hope and growth. The secondary was..ok. B-. Not bad. I'd have loved to get that B- in my diffeecues course in college.

Wassup' Shirt? Good talking to you again.

 

[shirtsleeve]

Tavon Wilson is a beast! He looked like he was all over the field today and he has been looking good ever since training camp opened.



The Pats D completely shut down the Titans run game. Limiting Chris "2K" Johnson to single digit production and a measly .36 yards per carry! They also limited the entire Titans team to grand total of 20 yards rushing. Of course a good deal of this came from the Pats offense playing ahead all day but still, whenever the Titans turned to the run, they got stuffed today. That is just a DOMINANT performance against the ground game. Weren't a lot of posters worried that the Titans have one of the top rushing attacks in the entire NFL? If so, this team was tested and passed with flying colors!

umm, yeah, thats what I said.

 

[DaBronxPats14]

Hightower earned the '54 today. He better keep it up. Those are gigantic shoes to fill.


The secondary was spotty. But overall they were in position to make the plays. I agree with the no call on McCourty in the first. He never touched the guy. He did it later too. There is no facemasking in the NFL as long as you don't touch the guy in an aggressive way. Its totally allowed to get all up in his face.

I just wish he would learn to turn.

Both were picks waiting to happen. He had the position.

shirtsleeve I'm with ya on '54 it was good to see that same kind of play/outcome today.

Agree on a spotty secondary and agree with them getting in position to make plays. Turning and looking at ball would negate flags and more break ups and more importantly more INTs.

 

[Henroc]

I saw that someone said hightower earned 54 today... he sure did.. Just like tedy said, hightower must've heard someone say go for the ball dont'a, go after the ball..

It was truly a treat to watch the game today. This was the first complete all around game that i've seen in a long time. We were good in all phases of the game.

 

[Mikkins]

It was clearly evident that the upgrade of speed has certainly benefited the defense. As someone pointed out earlier the new found speed allows for better tackling and less yards after catch. The secondary played far better then last year. McCourty return of confidence can be directly attributed the the fact he now has confidence in the safeties to do their job behind him. The cornerbacks played far more aggressively today then they could even dream about doing last year. They were not perfect,and one game is not a complete sample, but if you cannot see the vastly improved all around play of the defense you either haven't a clue as to what your watching develop or just looking for something to complain about.

The fact we all are not talking about the offense right now, a more balanced and potentially the best the Patriots have fielded in years, should be a happy slap of reality against the heads of us all.

 

[shirtsleeve]

Wassup' Shirt? Good talking to you again.

Yeah, its nice to see you and mg and a few others still here. I'll try to be back more often this season now that the owner of the little site I was an admin at dissolved the place. It wasn't much but it was home for the last couple years.

Good game today. TB still has problems with the deep bs throw. It goes high.

The secondary is a work in progress but shows potential. I saw a replay of the McCourty break up in the first quarter tonite. It was clean. Even the announcers when watching in slo mo called it the same way. It was a good no call.

Funny how we now have to second guess the officials even moreso than we did before?!?

 

[Ring 6]

Yeah, its nice to see you and mg and a few others still here. I'll try to be back more often this season now that the owner of the little site I was an admin at dissolved the place. It wasn't much but it was home for the last couple years.

Good game today. TB still has problems with the deep bs throw. It goes high.

The secondary is a work in progress but shows potential. I saw a replay of the McCourty break up in the first quarter tonite. It was clean. Even the announcers when watching in slo mo called it the same way. It was a good no call.

Funny how we now have to second guess the officials even moreso than we did before?!?

The deep throw was fine, and right on target, Lloyd stopped.

 

[Henroc]

The deep throw was fine, and right on target, Lloyd stopped.

the ball was perfect actually. dumb ass lloyd stopped. if he would've kept running he would've caught the ball in stride. you dont want to know how loud I was screaming at my TV when i saw that! LLoyd i think just isn't used to an elite qb and is used to being underthrown lol. but once they start syncing... omg:rocker::singing:

 

[PatsGirl2011]

Put me in the optimistic category. Despite their fallacy in the SB and last season, the D showed glimpse of hope at times despite the historic numbers to the contrary. Are they still a work in progress? Absolutely. They will be tested as the weeks go by and the teams get better. Let us be mindful that the other teams get paid, and we should not be quick to jump at the first time they give up a few points or so. I'm on the bandwagon that this can be a top 15 D. Looking at the league this week though, I didn't see 15 better teams on defense than the Pats.

 

[RelocatedPatFan]

This is probably a big take-away from the game.

We started 3 rookies and while "personal" stats may not have been huge, they played the game that the coaches put forth. This should be reinforced going forward as stats will come and game plans will feature different sets.

But, if I was BB and I was listening to the news, this would be focal point. Our offense just put up 34 points on a good defensive team and what are we hearing about in the news. We're hearing about of defense. If you buy in to what I'm saying, then you'll keep hearing about it and we'll win plenty more games than we lose.

In BB we trust.

On a side note, we put up 34 points and the offense hasn't completely come together and we didn't even feature welker.

 

[Off The Grid]

This is probably a big take-away from the game.

We started 3 rookies and while "personal" stats may not have been huge, they played the game that the coaches put forth. This should be reinforced going forward as stats will come and game plans will feature different sets.

Yes!! The fact that we started 3 Rookies on Opening Day against a QB on whom we had very little Book, and that they all executed at an high level ~ and, indeed, that the Defense as an whole kicked ass ~ is an extremely exciting Harbinger that the Defense could be about to have an huge year!! :rocker:

 

[PATSYLICIOUS]

So far so good OTG! The only issue you could have with the week 1 performance is that it came against a weak offense. But what more could you ask for? They gave up 3 good drives all day, 13 PA total. They scored a defensive TD. They forced a big 3 and out when TEN was pinned deep which led to us starting in Titans territory, which lead to another TD. They got the ball back to Brady consistently.

Honestly I would take this performance any week. Our offense could have sucked, had just one TD drive of under 50 yards as their only score of the game and we still would have won. That is not a bend but don't break defense, that is a defense that is capable of WINNING games. Something we haven't had in a long time, let's hope this continues and similar results against better competition.

 

[Off The Grid]

So far so good OTG! The only issue you could have with the week 1 performance is that it came against a weak offense. But what more could you ask for? They gave up 3 good drives all day, 13 PA total. They scored a defensive TD. They forced a big 3 and out when TEN was pinned deep which led to us starting in Titans territory, which lead to another TD. They got the ball back to Brady consistently.

Honestly I would take this performance any week. Our offense could have sucked, had just one TD drive of under 50 yards as their only score of the game and we still would have won. That is not a bend but don't break defense, that is a defense that is capable of WINNING games. Something we haven't had in a long time, let's hope this continues and similar results against better competition.

I am almost overwhelmed with excitement ~ not just about the win...but about the way we won.

When we were racking up Championships, oh so recently, we did so by boasting 3 extraordinary Elements:

1 ~ A balanced Offense. Run The Damned BALL!!
2 ~ A balanced but ferocious, attacking Defense.
3 ~ The Best QuarterBack in the Galaxy, generalling the Offense.

Anyone missing my point ~ repeated 8 million times since '07 ~ is advised to replay yesterday's Tape.

1 ~ A Balanced Offense means the D doesn't know what to expect on every single play: Huge advantage.

2 ~ A Balanced Offense means that the D can't tee off on Tom Brady and wear him out by January.

3 ~ A Tom Brady who isn't beat into pulp every Autumn just might play at an high level through his 40th year.

4 ~ Brady playing at an high level that long might mean the difference between 3 more Rings..and 5.

 

[captain stone]

I kinda wish that Bill had given Wilfork a few snaps off, by removing him during the 3rd/longs
esp in the 2nd half.

Now let's continue the good vibes v the Kolb/Skelton Cardinals, in front of the home crowd.
They'll go crazy if they see a similar performance v another inexperienced QB.

 

[Off The Grid]

Yes!! The fact that we started 3 Rookies on Opening Day against a QB on whom we had very little Book, and that they all executed at an high level ~ and, indeed, that the Defense as an whole kicked ass ~ is an extremely exciting Harbinger that the Defense could be about to have an huge year!! :rocker:

 

[Pats-Phan]

Also of note, only 2 teams allowed less than 13 points this week. Even if SD vs. OAK ends up 10-7 we'll still be top 5 in points allowed after week 1.

 

[Off The Grid]

Tennessee Titans Running Game ~ QB's Don't Count

14 Carries.

9 Yards.

It is very well.

 

[Dodie]

Let's get a grip, it's 1 game, wk 3 is a good test. But the way Chandler Jones brought his performance from preseason to reg season was a beauty.

And btw, running game was on a declined since last year but limiting Chris Johnson to 4yrds to 11 carries was huge!

Ridley's performance was a big surprised more than anything. And what about Brandon Lloyd? He seems to catch anything thrown his way (minus the go away TD, the sun might've played a factor there imo)