Defense - old, slow, bad

[pazrul72]

Part of "keeping up" is not turning the ball over and punting over and over on offense. The Defense was bad, the offense did them no favors.

I would buy this if the defense had only given up 2 TDs on 20-30 yard drives due to bad turnovers but the first two drives were both over 80 yards and now being in a 14-0 hole, that is 100% on bad defense, the offense has to start taking risks they just aren’t built to take. This loss is on the whole team but the defense is responsible for 75% of it IMO. They looked like they shouldn’t even be on the same field last night and need a whole new crew of LBs plus a massive 0 Tech ASAP

 

[Mustangs84]

Wrong. Winovich did it all for multiple seasons as an every down DE.

Uche only played his last season principally as a third down pass rusher.

Maybe I worded that poorly, I realize he played every down at Michigan. He was an edge guy who excelled at getting to the QB. In the NFL, that's probably where he was going to be that edge rush type. Bit of OLB/DE tweener.

Uche was pretty raw, had hoped he could be coached up and play more linebacker at the next level.

 

[PatsfanTN]

I would buy this if the defense had only given up 2 TDs on 20-30 yard drives due to bad turnovers but the first two drives were both over 80 yards and now being in a 14-0 hole, that is 100% on bad defense, the offense has to start taking risks they just aren’t built to take. This loss is on the whole team but the defense is responsible for 75% of it IMO. They looked like they shouldn’t even be on the same field last night and need a whole new crew of LBs plus a massive 0 Tech ASAP

Totally agree. The defense didn't even look like they belonged, at least the Offense showed some heart.

 

[archstanton543]

Winovich is obviously in the Belichick doghouse. Does anyone know why?

Better hair than Steve.

 

[Brotherblues]

A comment from Mike Reiss that I thought was interesting:

View attachment 40010

Source:

I understand that Wino and Uche might be undisciplined and/or unreliable setting the edge. Then again same goes for the vets, so...

 

[aluminum seats]

I mean, come on. I sometimes believe that to be true, but come on. This was literally the worst defensive performance in nfl history. The only team to ever give up a touchdown on every drive. EVER.
I am usually pretty optimistic, but better field position for the defense would’ve just meant longer td drives and more stats for the bills.

Exactly. If anything you give the offense a little bit more of a break because they were never given good field position by the defense.

 

[aluminum seats]

I had hopes that Hightower would have played better. He is physically done it appears.

What an ignominious end to a great player.

The miracle ending of the Seahawks SB was all set up with his one-on-one tackle of Beastmode. And this with a torn labrum. Do he had only one arm.

One of the all time great individual Patriots plays and players.

A great career. Three Super Bowls, and you have to think if he played in the Eagles Super Bowl it would’ve been four

 

[Bill Lee]

Other than one or two things that Quick Hits tweet has a whole lot of nothing in it.

What can be said after a huge butt kicking that ends your season? He called it a crash landing, which I think is appropriate. A quick swift end with lots of carnage.

I’m wondering how possible it is for some of the holes to be filled internally. We HAVE invested some there in recent years. I think we see that some of those investments are already busts (joejuan is a bust).
But what happens if we try to develop uche, wino, Perkins, jennings, McGrone… I mean that’s five young guys that should hypothetically be able to help at LB. I really hope we have at least something there.

Yep, one thing that kept the dynasty going was our ability to draft and develop as well as incorporate other team's cast offs. We need a good run of form on these things to rebuild the defense as the older players clearly aren't getting it done and are taking up a lot of cap.

We just lived through year 1 of the rebuild and got a WC spot. We're clearly gonna need another year of sorting things out, probably two.

Judon is slow...Allen ran right around him.

Allen is fast. He's gonna beat most LB's one-on-one. The idea is to not let him get out into space 1-1 on a LB. We didn't get that done.

Allen was like a rich kid in a candy store, he could take whatever he wanted. Handoff worked. QB run worked. Pass worked. Can't put it all on a LB who whiffed on a fake.

Better hair than Steve.

That's a pretty low bar...

 

[Bill Lee]

Totally agree. The defense didn't even look like they belonged, at least the Offense showed some heart.

Mac started slow, had 2 INTs and a bad delay of game penalty. He gets a bit of a pass because he's a rookie, but he's gotta clean things up. Given he isn't as athletic as other QBs, he's gotta be near-perfect mentally for us to win. Josh Allen just signed a contract extension, our path to the SB is gonna be through Buffalo for the foreseeable future.

 

[italian pat patriot]

If it weren't for the 85 Super Bowl this would be our worst playoff loss.

I felt this one was the worst..in 1985 Super Bowl the beginning looked at least in our favour...this time never...

 

[italian pat patriot]

A comment from Mike Reiss that I thought was interesting:

View attachment 40010

Source:

Point nr 10 is simply a beauty to read

 

[50-yard-line]

Winovich, Uche, Jennings, Perkins...invisible. Why? We've seen the first two flash. What is it that BB doesn't like about them, or the other two, who seem to be "injured" a lot? These are not UFAs - the Pats spent a lot of draft capital getting them - and they were all considered pretty good draft picks. Now for some reason, they're all just invisible, and in positions of need on the team. I don't get it.

Regarding last night, add in Barmore and Collins playing hurt, Jon Jones gone, Mills out, Dugger playing hurt...Gilmore departed, and how much is left?

Maybe a little different D philosophy would get the first four in there a bit - Uche and Winovich are both athletic and fast. Both can provide more intensity up front that we've seen lately, I think.

Maybe McGrone and Raekwon McMillan will help at LB, but they need more than that.

I don't know; it just looks like they're dialing up the same schemes and (plodding) intensity week after week. What's that definition of insanity again?

What happened to the famed A-gap blitzes? Did they throw a blitz outside of (mugged) Judon by a CB or S at all?

If it ain't broke, don't fix it, but when it's obviously broke...

 

[Foxypats]

I still cannot fathom how the defense went from really good to really bad in the space of a month. We had the same players all year so did the LB's suddenly develop feet of lead and become so unbelievable slow , was it the coaching that regressed , a combination of both ? This is the first loss in a long time that I can remember that the player looked disinterested , had zero fight in them .
Out of all the people we have on staff, the one that needs to go is Matt P. He is a horrible coach, but I fear that BB will not see it that way. BB is very loyal to his people, one of the things I most admire about him but it can bite you in the arse !!

 

[RobertWeathers]

I felt this one was the worst..in 1985 Super Bowl the beginning looked at least in our favour...this time never...

That game was over after the 1st quarter just like this one.

 

[archstanton543]

I still cannot fathom how the defense went from really good to really bad in the space of a month. We had the same players all year so did the LB's suddenly develop feet of lead and become so unbelievable slow , was it the coaching that regressed , a combination of both ? This is the first loss in a long time that I can remember that the player looked disinterested , had zero fight in them .
Out of all the people we have on staff, the one that needs to go is Matt P. He is a horrible coach, but I fear that BB will not see it that way. BB is very loyal to his people, one of the things I most admire about him but it can bite you in the arse !!

Simple answer is they beat up on teams that weren't very good and then when they had to play actually good teams the last month (minus Jax, obviously) they got exposed and injuries caught up to them.

 

[FCB02062]

for the last 2 seasons Devin McCourty has specialized in making tackles well past the line to gain, dropping interceptions, and getting run over by ball carriers. it's been a good career, sayonara Devin....

 

[Kontradiction]

When Bill said we couldn't keep up with them hopefully he meant it literally and not just on the scoreboard. A bunch of slow old men out there.

Who do you like as guys who should start/play a lot next year?

I have a short list

DL - Barmore, Wise
LB - Judon
S - Phillips, Dugger, McCourtey (could retire)
CB - Jackson, Jones, Mills

Hope for Cameron McGrone, Ronnie Perkins, Shaun Wade. And can Bill please use Uche?
(assuming Jackson is franchised).

I think the offense will mostly improve internally with Mac improving and hopefully the addition of a "quick win" slot guy. But the defense needs an almost total rebuild.

I think he meant it both literally and on the scoreboard. The Bills’ offensive game plan clearly focused on getting their speedier guys out into space because they knew we couldn’t run with them. That’s why McKenzie has torn us up worse than Beasley the last two outings. The team speed on both sides of the ball is terrible.

 

[gitgronked82]

I know that’s not true just off the top of my head. In fact against these same bills. 2007 the key to stopping the pats was to slow the game down and limit possessions. Bills did just that giving the explosive offense just 8 turns to posses the ball. 8 TDs or 56 points. I don’t remember the bills score but I think it was 10. Now first time that happened in the post season? Maybe. That I am less sure of.

 

[archstanton543]

View attachment 40014

LOL! "Top 5 defense"

 

[Wordsmyth]

That game was over after the 1st quarter just like this one.

Correct. Went to bed early in the second quarter. I'd seen that movie before. Didn't care for its plot.