Bend but don't break defense. Seriously it needs to stop. Last year and this year Super Bowl showed the exact problem with that kind of defense. Allowing a ton of yards but playing good red zone defense just isn't good enough against championship caliber teams. Allowing so many yards simply mean your window of error is marginal and if the opponent has some tricks up their sleeves, your D will most likely break.
Let's be honest. Without Tom Brady playing great and Atlantas coaches dumb play calling they lose last years SB too.
This defense just seriously needs talent. Jordan Richards, Elandon Roberts, Bademosi shouldn't be playing for a championship team. BB had another dynasty in the making with the core of Hightower, Collins, Chandler Jones and Malcolm Butler and it was that core that helped to bring down a great Seahawks team. That's the kind of players we lacked yesterday.
But there is no such thing as a bend but dint break defense.
No coach says let’s trick them by letting them into the red zone then stop them.
The patriots are trying to stop every play.
The difference is that the patriots will not overcommit to stop a play and weaken themselves against a big play.
This means they don’t all our blitz to stop a 3rd and 3 as a philosophy then allow a 50 yard play.
The system wasn’t the problem yesterday, the pkayers playing it were. The front 7 got man handheld in the running gane. No scheme stops that. Many pass plays were completed where the coverage called was the right call against the play but the player just didn’t get the job done.
Look at what we put out there
Flowers is a good player as is brown. Van Noy is a capable lb. They were playing alongside Harrison (for 68 f-Ing snaps) who wasnt good enough to see the field in Pitt, a journeyman who was obliterated last night (guy) an Undrafted rookie ( butler), an unwanted castoff (rjf) and a practice squad player (lee) and a 2nd year lb with awful Instincts and no speed (Roberts) and a special teamer (flowers) From last year branch, nink, sheard, long, valentine, Hightower, mclelliin were all better pkayers than anyone beyond flowers, Brown and Van Noy.
The scheme produced the fewest points allowed in the nfl from week 5-17 and got this group to a SB. Unfortunately they faced a group that could expose them.
Given any kind of front 7 individual play, stopping the run, getting any sort of pressure, the secondary would have been fine.