Post Game Thread - Panthers @ Pats

[Tony2046]

No pass rush means the DBs get exposed

Exactly. I'm not sure about this but it seems like the front seven have been getting better pressure on the QB late in the game. If so I wonder if that's a scheme difference or just a conditioning thing. Anyway it's a long season and it's only week 4.

I know I'm an optimist but I think it's realistic to think that this Defense can clean itself up.

 

[StockingAnarchyNumber12]

Exactly. I'm not sure about this but it seems like the front seven have been getting better pressure on the QB late in the game. If so I wonder if that's a scheme difference or just a conditioning thing. Anyway it's a long season and it's only week 4.

I know I'm an optimist but I think it's realistic to think that this Defense can clean itself up.

I still think we can do it, but it needs to happen soon. Starts Thursday!

 

[PatriotsNumero1Fan]

Exactly. I'm not sure about this but it seems like the front seven have been getting better pressure on the QB late in the game. If so I wonder if that's a scheme difference or just a conditioning thing. Anyway it's a long season and it's only week 4.

I know I'm an optimist but I think it's realistic to think that this Defense can clean itself up.

4 games in and this defense stinks! You wanna see some improvement from each game. Right now they're consistently bad. Funchess looks ordinary against other teams but has a career day against this team.

 

[Tony2046]

I still think we can do it, but it needs to happen soon. Starts Thursday!

Short week may be the best thing for them.

 

[supafly]

The Pats have the worst D in the league. That's worst than last year's, worse than the year before and the year before that. At no point were those three teams' D's this bad.

It's not just the most points given up by a Belichick coached NE team in the first 4 games, but it's also the most ever given up by a SB winner through 4 games.

There are some who like to hide their heads in the sand and hope for better times and that's an understandable enough way to handle it, but the concern is real--and has been since week one.

Things aren't just "rocky," like they were in '14. There really aren't many things to like about this defense on any level right now. Just about everything needs to be fixed. Stopping the run, setting the edge, covering backs and TEs, letting receivers get behind for wide open looks, pressuring the QB, containing mobile QBs, stopping the big plays, eliminating penalties, switching off coverage responsibilities, poor zone coverage, poor man coverage.

That all said, a gritty win on TNF and good utilization of the mini bye would go a long, long way towards improving things.

 

[RobertWeathers]

4 games in and this defense stinks! You wanna see some improvement from each game. Right now they're consistently bad. Funchess looks ordinary against other teams but has a career day against this team.

Funchness cramped up because his body isnt used to all the wide open running he was doing. Usually he's tackled and that's it

 

[SHOWTIME15]

Short week may be the best thing for them.

it doesn't give TB a whole a lot of time to prepare. They are playing a later game today and have Wednesday as a travel day.

 

[RobertWeathers]

A good defensive efforts will go a long way. They need some confidence badly

Bury this game

We are on to Tampa.

 

[FreeTedWilliams]

This defense is epically bad! They have no pass rush, awful LB play, and easily the WORST secondary in the NFL!

No other team is even close. Big plays left and right, they are barely even taking teams to third down. Guys are wide open, blown coverage on things as simple as screen plays. I have no idea where their heads are (actually I do know, but many of you are in denial about it).

BB needs to make some kind of move here to shake things up, he traded Jamie Collins for a bag of magic beans when they were 7-1, when he thought the defense wasn't doing there job. So I have no idea who he can get rid of now, because the biggest issues have untradable contracts. Which only leaves Butler, who is not the problem.

Wait until they play a team with a good defense, they are going to get killed!

 

[doesntmatter1]

Elandon Roberts, who I like by the way, goes down and our defense magically played better. Marquise Flowers looked decent and I can't imagine our defense playing worse with Harris on the field. Maybe his experience can calm things. I officially do not like Jonathan Guy. He is super inconsistent and doesn't hold his ground well enough.

Also our defense is far too simple. We must disrupt the qb's flow by any means necessary. How about some saftety blitz etc. Why keep the safeties deep if we are giving up big plays anyway?

 

[Tony2046]

4 games in and this defense stinks! You wanna see some improvement from each game. Right now they're consistently bad. Funchess looks ordinary against other teams but has a career day against this team.

But they're not consistently bad. That's why I'm optimistic about the team as a whole. The defense doesn't need to be elite and if they cleaned up some of their communication errors and the stupid stupid stupid penalties they (the team) will be fine. They do make plays. They get sacks. They can generate pressure. They are just not doing it consistently.

 

[PatriotsNumero1Fan]

A good defensive efforts will go a long way. They need some confidence badly

Bury this game

We are on to Tampa.

What would be a good defensive game for you? Holding Tampa under 30? BB can say we have to get better till the cows come home. You need to see it on the damn field! The saints game has been basically the only decent game they have played well.

 

[RobertWeathers]

Elandon Roberts, who I like by the way, goes down and our defense magically played better. Marquise Flowers looked decent and I can't imagine our defense playing worse with Harris on the field. Maybe his experience can calm things. I officially do not like Jonathan Guy. He is super inconsistent and doesn't hold his ground well enough.

Also our defense is far too simple. We must disrupt the qb's flow by any means necessary. How about some saftety blitz etc. Why keep the safeties deep if we are giving up big plays anyway?

I was high on Roberts but he just overcommits to the run and guesses too much. He might not be a long term fit for this D

 

[hodgey]

When you get handled facing the weakest offense in the league on your fourth game and being at home its time to try something different. Four straight games of wide open receivers, and seemingly every play going for 10+ yards. We didn't see their punter until the middle of the fourth quarter! Brady has hidden a lot of scabs over the years, but this D needs to remake themselves. Safeties nowhere to be found. Today the secondary had zero PD. While watching it seems they are paralyzed by the fear of giving up a big play. BTW I still have hope (TFB).

 

[RobertWeathers]

What would be a good defensive game for you? Holding Tampa under 30? BB can say we have to get better till the cows come home. You need to see it on the damn field! The saints game has been basically the only decent game they have played well.

At this point, priority one is a W but if we get to choose the style I'll take 34-24 and picking off Winston twice and holding them under 400 yds

 

[Keyser Söze]

It’s not like it’s week 1 and they are rookies. No excuse for the constant miscommunications in the defense.

 

[nabwong]

Your panties are sandy too? I'm not backing the D. They were god awful. But the problems I see are very fixable.

These “fans” are just angry that the team they choose to support this year isn’t #1 on the ESPN power ranking.

 

[PatsBoy12]

I was high on Roberts but he just overcommits to the run and guesses too much. He might not be a long term fit for this D

So was I, but it has become apparent that he is a one trick pony. Great downhill against the run and terrible at everything else.

 

[BradyFTW!]

Well, Jameis Winston, Mike Evans, and DeSean Jackson are on tap in the next several days, so I highly doubt that the issue against mobile QBs and physical receivers (or any receivers) will suddenly disappear any time soon.

They'll need to utilize that mini-bye to try and make some improvements, but this game on Thursday is no gimme, by any stretch.

I'm weirdly optimistic about the Tampa matchup. Evans doesn't do as well against size as a WR of his size should, and I like Butler with safety help over the top on Jackson.

Winston is less mobile, than 3 of the 4 QBs we've played so far, so hopefully the game plan won't be so frustratingly passive. It's Brate and Doug Martin that have me worried because I don't think we can defend TEs or RBs at all.

Don't get me wrong though, when I say I'm optimistic i mean I see us winning while giving up at least 24, likely more

 

[thecore762]

Brady can only do so much, the defense has been horrible against mobile qbs, but some members have been saying mobile qbs haven’t been a problem. The containment against newton has been terrible.