Matt Patricia has done a great job this year

[supafly]

"Patricia"? Does he have a middle name that he can use that's more "manly"?

He has no need for a manly middle name with a beard like that.

Rumor has it his beard can swallow up another team's QB should he walk within 35 feet of the sidelines. That's manly as all hell.

 

[supafly]

He can be smart and all, and perhaps he is not so bad as people make him out to be but the tackling...yikes.

I think there are a nice percentage of us who think that Gregory would be a fine rotational player, who can have the capacity to stand in a starter's role for a game or two should injuries occur, but would rather see the talent upgraded in the starting role on an every game basis.

Of course that 3m dollar cap hit will come into play next year too, so I'd expect either a smaller type of extension or some walking papers.

 

[Kontradiction]

Duron Harmon called Gregory the smartest player he's ever played with and McCourty called him the smartest player on the defense. Given how important football smarts are to BB, I wouldn't bank on BB thinking he needs to be upgraded.

I'm aware of this. But I'm sure there are other football smart safeties with more natural talent than Gregory out there. I'm not saying he's horrible, just that he's a guy that you'd like to have as a back-up at best. There's a reason why his play has peaked since Talib came aboard and McCourty lined up next to him and they're covering for a lot of the mistakes and bad plays that he makes back there.

The chiefs actually have the 25th ranked passing defense The patriots despite injuries are 18th

There's more that goes into passing defense than just the secondary. As a whole, I'd say the Chiefs secondary is more talented than the Pats is.

 

[jmt57]

Whether it is Belichick, Patricia, or Patrick Graham, somebody is doing something right. Most teams that have injuries to a few of their starters suffer dramatically (e.g., defense of the Dallas Cowboys or Chicago Bears; offense of the Tampa Bay Bucs).

We don't know who had the most input, but defensive line coach Graham in theory is working the closest with the free agents that were thrust into starting roles due to the injuries to Vince Wilfork and Tommy Kelly.

If we are going to give credit to Patricia and Belichick for making lemonade out of lemons on defense (and similarly to Dante Scarnecchia for dealing with injuries on the OL), then Graham deserves a bit of praise as well.

 

[PattieswinSB]

What he did with the patchwork defense is amazing. Look at the Broncos game. All 3 CB were questionable and he still shut down the Broncos passing attack.

 

[Brady'sButtBoy]

What he did with the patchwork defense is amazing. Look at the Broncos game. All 3 CB were questionable and he still shut down the Broncos passing attack.

Yes, but that's one game. If you're going to dole props that way then you have to also say Patricia was ripped by the uninspiring Tannehill just 3 weeks ago. Or How about Jason Campbell just the week before that dropping 389yds on the Pats? The team was up and down to say the least, but my point is there's little IMHO to say Patricia has done a "great job" as the OP stated. When you end near the very bottom of the league in 3rd conversions allowed then you have a problem, injuries or not.