No sacks yesterday. Cause for concern? No.

[English Patriot]

Alot of people might be wondering hey how come this apparently much improved pass rush couldn't touch EJ yesterday? That's part of the reason, you don't have to worry about sacking a non threat like EJ 4 times in the game because he can't hurt you like some of the other QB's on our schedule.

The D had to oversell on stopping Spiller and quite evidently it worked yesterday as he was limited to say the least.

Now i wouldn't encourage this plan of action against every opponent and i believe they will get loose and light up Geno on Thursday. So there was a reason you didn't see sack numbers against Buffalo however the pressure was there all game long and looked much better than last season.

On the flip side was anyone concerned there were no sacks yesterday?

 

[hwc]

I chuckle every week at the hand wringing about the lack of sacks. Belichick has never been a blitz-happy coach. He plays soft bend-but-don't-break with the big play, especially between the 20s. Blitzing for sacs is diametrically opposed to our coach's philosophy.

 

[English Patriot]

I chuckle every week at the hand wringing about the lack of sacks. Belichick has never been a blitz-happy coach. He plays soft bend-but-don't-break with the big play, especially between the 20s. Blitzing for sacs is diametrically opposed to our coach's philosophy.

Very true, but when you draft a freak like Chandler Jones it shows you aren't going to settle for slow ass Eli throwing rainbows over your secondary in superbowl's anymore.

This front should be able to get after the passer with ease when they scheme for it against the right QB's. Watch BB blitz Ryan when we go to Atlanta because he knows he has the speed to do it now. He'll also be much more confident in our secondary to make plays so blitzing is a real possibility this season.

 

[edboc]

I wouldn't read into the lack of pressure much, I think they wanted to sit back and make sure they played it safe and be effective tackling. The Bills also ran the ball quite a bit, and Emanuel was effective in getting the ball out quickly on easy reads and dump offs.

 

[VrabelJr]

I imagine we'll see a similar game plan against the Jets on Thursday. Make the rookie beat you with his arm, not with his legs.

That said, I expect us to get more pressure against the Jets OL with just a four man rush than we did against the Bills OL. The Bills have a top 10 OL in my opinion.

 

[JackBauer]

I imagine we'll see a similar game plan against the Jets on Thursday. Make the rookie beat you with his arm, not with his legs.

That said, I expect us to get more pressure against the Jets OL with just a four man rush than we did against the Bills OL. The Bills have a top 10 OL in my opinion.

Cordy Glenn looks like a good one. Which is kinda why I laugh at people getting on Jone's case after one game.

 

[PatsFan2]

Defensive pressures are as effctive as literal sacks most times.

 

[Rob0729]

I think a lot of it was by design. They were facing a mobile QB and their #1 priority was to take CJ Spiller out of the game. Those two things probably made the gameplan for Ninkovich and Jones to set the edge and players trying to maintain gap responsibilities while applying pressure.

Sacks themselves are overrated. The Pats did get pressure at times. Other times, it looked like the linemen were purposely staying home to cut down on running lanes.

 

[cmasspatsfan]

I wouldn't read into the lack of pressure much, I think they wanted to sit back and make sure they played it safe and be effective tackling. The Bills also ran the ball quite a bit, and Emanuel was effective in getting the ball out quickly on easy reads and dump offs.

Yeah, looks like they stayed in their lanes to contain CJ and the QB, and guess what, it worked. It'll be interesting to see what they do against a different type of offense.

 

[Shockt327]

The Pats were only rushing THREE almost all game long. Go re-watch Ninkovich. He wasn't rushing the qb. He was simply playing contain and spying the QB in case he took off.

 

[fnordcircle]

Without having to worry about stopping the best RB tandem in the division I'm very hopeful we'll see a lot of pressure put on the rookie to see how he responds.

Ivory and Powell got like, 2 ypc against Tampa.

 

[Ozymandias]

Cordy Glenn looks like a good one. Which is kinda why I laugh at people getting on Jone's case after one game.

Exactly. Glenn gave him a lot of trouble last year too. I wasn't expecting that to change much. And for the record, Jones did break through a few times, but Manuel's athleticism showed up in his ability to scramble away from him. A lesser mobile QB would've been a sure-fire sack in those situations.

Without having to worry about stopping the best RB tandem in the division I'm very hopeful we'll see a lot of pressure put on the rookie to see how he responds.

Ivory and Powell got like, 2 ypc against Tampa.

Well let's remember that Tampa's run D is one of the best in the NFL. Fortunately so is the Patriots'. Just ask the Bills.

 

[Big-T]

A lot of contain was played yesterday, hopefully Thursday they blitz the crap out of Smith because, well he can't handle it:

Struggles versus pressure: QB Geno Smith was 19-for-28 for 201 yards and a touchdown when facing four or fewers rushers, but his production dripped significantly when the Bucs sent extra pass-rushers. When under pressure, his completion percentage dropped from 80.8 to 25.0, according to ProFootballFocus. The Patriots aren't a big blitzing team, but you have to figure they'll go to school on that.

Film review: Pressure bothered Geno Smith - New York Jets Blog - ESPN

Set the edge so he can't escape scrambling and send the pressure right up the middle at a gimpy Mangold.

 

[Shockt327]

The Pats were only rushing THREE almost all game long. Go re-watch Ninkovich. He wasn't rushing the qb. He was simply playing contain and spying the QB in case he took off.

A lot of contain was played yesterday, hopefully Thursday they blitz the crap out of Smith because, well he can't handle it:

Agreed.....

 

[BadMoFo]

My bigger concern about the defense is why we didn't rotate more players in. Did Fletcher or Collins even play, same with Buchanan or Bequette. Not saying they should play a lot, but just spell the starters every now and then.

 

[SVN]

Pats wont blitz vs the jets. Not their style. Always try to get pressure with 4. This is BB's defense like forever so no use blaming patricia either.

 

[BadMoFo]

Pats wont blitz vs the jets. Not their style. Always try to get pressure with 4. This is BB's defense like forever so no use blaming patricia either.

Seems like the Jets had some trouble blocking yesterday, I saw they gave up 5 sacks. Probably won't need to blitz.

 

[English Patriot]

Looks like most of you on here agree with my initial post which is good because i really think the D was brilliant yesterday. Most of you also agree that Geno is in a for a loooooong night on thursday

 

[Nunchucks]

Collins played 2 snaps, not sure about fletcher.

 

[Sciz]

My bigger concern about the defense is why we didn't rotate more players in. Did Fletcher or Collins even play, same with Buchanan or Bequette. Not saying they should play a lot, but just spell the starters every now and then.

There wasn't really much reason to rotate the #4 and 5 LBs in. They were in the 4-2-5 for all but three snaps, and Mayo is an every-snap player. That left one LB position for Spikes and Hightower to share. Outside of the two snaps Collins got in the base defense (because they came when Spikes was temporarily out), there were no snaps left for the backups.

Buchanan was the 3rd down rusher when Jones played DT. He did that on 11 snaps. Ninkovich played every snap, as did Jones (with some at DT).

It's also worth noting that despite the Bills' fast-paced offense, they only ran 64 plays. The Pats played as many or more snaps in 12 games last season, including games of 78 or more. It's easier to have guys go all the way when they're not playing a ton of snaps.