What needs to change?

[luuked]

It seems to me that the DL has done fairly well the last three games, especially considering that nearly all of the snaps have gone to ...
... Trey Flowers
... Malcom Brown
... Lawrence Guy (1st year with the team)
... Wise (rookie)
... Adam Butler (rookie UDFA)
... Cassius Marsh (1st year with the team, and no camp)

Brown and Guy, the tackles, at least nominally, appear to have been very active and pretty good, for the most part.

No Valentine, Nink, Sheard, Long and very little Branch since the KC game. They've had their lapses, but no where near to the degree that the secondary has. They haven't generated much pressure, except against NOL, but then they've primarily played contain against Watson and Newton.

The LB corps so far has consisted of Van Noy, nearly by himself (100% of the defensive snaps), aside from whatever Chung may have contributed lining up as an LB.

Roberts has pitched in on about 50% of the snaps, and HT around 20%. No other LB has been on for more than 5% of the snaps, so far.

Interestingly, Dussault doesn't agree with that (via Pats Posits: No Rest for the Wicked (Bad Defense) - PatsPropaganda)

Big number that stands out to me? One tackle-for-loss. As bad as the coverage was, that just shows how little disruption the Pats front is doing. The back end problems can be fixed and if they’re not heads are going to roll, but is this is a Super Bowl championship front seven? I have my doubts.

 

[TinhWoodhead]

Better to have problems now than later on.

 

[Ring 6]

I do realize I haven't seen the All 22, yes. But we've all seen this, the only difference is Gilmore used to be in a Bills uniform.

You still will not know the call and responsibilities. You remember it happening once in buffalo in 4 years.
It the KC game McCourty said Gilmore played it right and it was his fault.

 

[PatsDeb]

I can't take the time to read through the thread and I am no defensive guru, but these are the problems I witnessed over and over again at the game yesterday with the D:

We have zero pressure on the QB. Zero
When the other team does a spread offense, we have no one that can cover the middle to stop a QB or RB from running right through
Someone or the scheme isn't working behind the linebackers because there is a wide open man, usually (but not always) an RB or TE in the "Julian Edelman" range towards the sideline (usually the QB's left, but sometimes the right). ON EVERY SINGLE PLAY.

 

[Pats1989]

Win or not, Should BB take over the D full time if they struggle Thursday? For a few games at least? Not opining for MP to be gassed.

They can afford maybe two more losses all year to get HFA throughout.

 

[Jimke]

The Patriots have a 55 million dollar malignant growth on their team. Not
only does he play like crap, he makes excuses like poor communication and
only playing aggressively. He attracts penalty flags like Brandon Browner. BB
benched him during the game but had to reuse him when Rowe was injured.

 

[Love The Drake]

The Patriots have a 55 million dollar malignant growth on their team. Not
only does he play like crap, he makes excuses like poor communication and
only playing aggressively. He attracts penalty flags like Brandon Browner. BB
benched him during the game but had to reuse him when Rowe was injured.

Disagree he's not throwing anyone under the bus their are no reports of him being a malcontent or disliked.
I bet he has a huge bounce back game against Mike Evans.

 

[Nehalem]

You still will not know the call and responsibilities. You remember it happening once in buffalo in 4 years.
It the KC game McCourty said Gilmore played it right and it was his fault.

Buffalo Bills subtract Gilmore and go from averaging 23.6pts/game to 13.5

NE Patriots add Gilmore and go from #1 in scoring to #31

 

[Ras-IR Dowling]

Disagree he's not throwing anyone under the bus their are no reports of him being a malcontent or disliked.
I bet he has a huge bounce back game against Mike Evans.

I hope your right on your last sentence. That would go a long way towards a win.

 

[TheFlyingWedge]

At 40 million guaranteed?

B.B. knows all about not letting sunk costs affect business decisions with his economics background but that’s a crippling fortune if this doesn’t work out.

 

[TheFlyingWedge]

The Bills beat the Falcons.

Wow - they beat the Broncos too. This is a weird season

 

[mgteich]

I agree. The DL is doing fine. Hightower is needed much more at LB. He and Van Noy would be an improvement.

It seems to me that the DL has done fairly well the last three games, especially considering that nearly all of the snaps have gone to ...
... Trey Flowers
... Malcom Brown
... Lawrence Guy (1st year with the team)
... Wise (rookie)
... Adam Butler (rookie UDFA)
... Cassius Marsh (1st year with the team, and no camp)

Brown and Guy, the tackles, at least nominally, appear to have been very active and pretty good, for the most part.

No Valentine, Nink, Sheard, Long and very little Branch since the KC game. They've had their lapses, but no where near to the degree that the secondary has. They haven't generated much pressure, except against NOL, but then they've primarily played contain against Watson and Newton.

The LB corps so far has consisted of Van Noy, nearly by himself (100% of the defensive snaps), aside from whatever Chung may have contributed lining up as an LB.

Roberts has pitched in on about 50% of the snaps, and HT around 20%. No other LB has been on for more than 5% of the snaps, so far.

 

[mgteich]

We can’t bench him due to lack of healthy corners

It is time for a couple of the best defensive minds in the NFL to work this out. We have 6 solid defensive backs: Gilmore, Butler, (Rowe)/Jones, McCourty, Chung and Harmon. I believe Rowe is injured; otherwise we have 7.

We don't need the safeties to play LB.

IMHO, there is enough talent for our coaches to work with. Even if Gilmore isn't as good as the player he replaced, there is still enough talent to have an average defense. I am one that praises our coaches when they get it right. I think that Belichick, Josh and Patricia get the best out of their players.

HOWEVER, this is NOT happening with our secondary. They need help from their coaches. Other teams have 2-3 injuries in their secondary, and still can function. We have a lot of healthy defensive backs.

 

[NG Pats Fan]

Bb has made some questionable gm moves recently...maybe he doesn't have enough time on his hands trying to perform both gm and coaching duties at the same time.


I wonder if he should bring in someone he likes and trusts to help him out with the gm duties, just a suggestion

 

[patsinthesnow]

How did we hold Brees in his building to 20 points & under 60% completion. How?!

 

[SVN]

they need some time to figure it out. hopefully the 10 days after TB they will settle in . We have seen a lot of situations over 17 yrs which this team and coaching staff has overcome so I am not really panicking until this holds up going into thanksgiving .

 

[RobertWeathers]

Boy this is a lot like 2014.

Hammered vs MIA and KC
Played not-their-best vs crap MN and OAK teams.

2-2 after 4 games.

I dunna know, I can roll out examples of how the DTs are getting moved around and how the DEs and LBs are not getting pressure or blowing it in setting the edge. I can blame the secondary for bad angles, communication and dumb penalties.

What concerns me the most was after the 2nd Gilmore penalty the D folded. The wind came right out of their sails.

That right there tells me they are mentally fragile. The toughness BB defenses have is absent.

They folded vs KC

They did ok vs NO but they stink. The O dictated the game

They got ran over by HOU and TB bailed them out.

They caved vs CAR

This D has talent but they are playing without any confidence or mental toughness.

They have enough playmakers. Now they need to know when they need to make plays. Thats the hard part.

 

[ctpatsfan77]

Bb has made some questionable gm moves recently...maybe he doesn't have enough time on his hands trying to perform both gm and coaching duties at the same time.


I wonder if he should bring in someone he likes and trusts to help him out with the gm duties, just a suggestion

He already has that in Caserio.

 

[NG Pats Fan]

He already has that in Caserio.

How much power does caserio actually have

 

[rochrist]

Talib is simply much better. To think we let this guy walk for only 10 million per year.

1. AQIB TALIB, DENVER BRONCOS, 90.8 OVERALL GRADE
Aqib Talib has long possessed one of the most impressive skill-sets in the league among cornerbacks, flashing the ability to shut down any receiver, but 2016 has been a career year for him, as it’s the first season he has done it consistently week-to-week, with no real lapses to date. Talib has allowed just 9.3 yards per reception, 53.7 percent of the passes thrown his way to be caught, and opposing QBs have a passer rating of just 37.0 when throwing into his coverage. That’s 2.6 points lower than if those quarterbacks just threw the ball out of bounds every snap, thanks to three interceptions and no touchdowns surrendered this year. Aqib Talib has been the league’s best corner this season.

At the time they let him walk he was consistently not showing up for the playoffs. You can't really blame them for thinking it might be a trend.