Patriots Defense Since the Bye Week

Pats seemed to do a pretty solid job against melvin gordon who is a stud running back. 9 rush attempts for 15 yards. some of that was the large lead they got. but I seem to recall early in the game the pats shutting down the run and forcing the chargers into those long down situations.

I wonder how healthy Gurley is? I dont buy that he is "healthy" and McVay just decided not to play him against the saints for "Gameplan reasons"

KC lost Kareem Hunt NE lost Josh Gordon

robertweathers said:

You're a millennial. You know nothing.

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Lol. Eh, we need a boot in the ass by and large but I don’t think Boomers have any room to talk. The two generations that could probably talk some legitimate **** are Gen X (because they haven’t had enough time to **** things up yet although their kids look like they’re going to come out being overly sensitive messes) and the World War II/GD generation (because they’re awesome).

KontradictioN said:

Lol. Eh, we need a boot in the ass by and large but I don’t think Boomers have any room to talk. The two generations that could probably talk some legitimate **** are Gen X (because they haven’t had enough time to **** things up yet although their kids look like they’re going to come out being overly sensitive messes) and the World War II/GD generation (because they’re awesome).

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As a GenX -er and bearing witness to my grandparent's work ethic was a sight to behold.

robertweathers said:

His point was losing Hunt did not had an appreciable impact on the running game.

Without Hunt the Chiefs averaged 1 less yard per game on the ground but still averaged almost 4.8ypc w/o Hunt. Not bad.

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Which was my sole point, made in light of what I perceived to be a flaw in the OP's assessment. I was subsequently disagreed with based on PPG, which had nothing to do with my statement. I found it difficult to understand how a disagreement was being manufactured based on countering an argument I did not make, seemed more than a bit strawman/andy like to me. The Millennials throw in was purely playful, as in shades of Stevenson, the "You Millennials" twit who constantly argued points that were not being made. The return post once again not addressing my point I simply posted a pic of the first well know straw man that came to mind, from there it went puerile and I realized it was a waste of time.

As for the PPG drop off without Hunt (the point I did not make) it should be noted opponents have a little something to do with that, the 5 game stretch in question included 3 against playoff teams. Hunt is a talented scumbag but he isn't Superman, Williams scored 3 TD's in the AFCCG but there's a post here that implies Hunt would have scored 2 more.

RIpats88 said:

Pats seemed to do a pretty solid job against melvin gordon who is a stud running back. 9 rush attempts for 15 yards. some of that was the large lead they got. but I seem to recall early in the game the pats shutting down the run and forcing the chargers into those long down situations.

I wonder how healthy Gurley is? I dont buy that he is "healthy" and McVay just decided not to play him against the saints for "Gameplan reasons"

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He seems healthy. But he, and the Rams in general, seemed far more uptight than the Pats did on media night. I think it won't matter come game day but I feel like its a good sign that the Pats are loose and relaxed and ready for gameday. We will see I suppose

Since I responded to the Rams defense post I may as well respond to this one. First i'll say unlike the Rams you can really look at our defense throughout the context of the whole year pretty much. But if you want to talk since after the bye week that is fine. That best indicates how the Pats are likely to play right now. I will try to look at it the exact same way I looked at the Rams.

NJY - 20.8PPG 23rd overall. We held them to 13 points. Nothing about this game really sticks out. It was a solid performance vs a bad offensive team. Verdict: Pretty Good.

MIN - 22.5PPG 19th overall. We held them to 10 points. A middle of the pack offense which we held down well below their average. What I will note is we gave up on the run some but hurt their passing efficiency. Pretty much the same thing we did to the Jets. Only better. Verdict: Good

MIA - 19.9PPG 26th overall. Even taking out miracle play at the end we let this team score 28 points. Nothing else needs to be said. Really it comes down to a few big plays both runs and passes. A crap defensive game in which we allowed a total of 28 clearly earned points and 6 more on a bit of a weird play when Gronk shouldn't have been on the field. Still crappy. The question is does this mean something or not? Does it show a trend or some weakness or was it just one of those "Any Given Sunday" games? Verdict: Very Bad

PIT - 26.8PPG 6th-t overall. We held them to 17 points. Overall a good defensive game. We held one of the best offenses in the NFL to 17. We could have stopped the run better but I think the emphasis was on stopping the pass. Verdict: Good

BUF - 16.8PPG 30th overall. We held them to 12. This was a pretty good defensive day. Usually I don't pat teams on the back for holding a bad offense down but they did it very well here. The Bills only scored 6 points until getting 6 more garbage ones at the end. They did this while the offense was fairly unsafe with the ball and gave the Bills a free 3 points. So really the Bills only truly earned 3 points in 55 meaningful minutes. When your defense does that against any NFL offense you need to tip your hat. Verdict: Good

NYJ - (we have the numbers already) We held them to 3 points. Again. Nothing else needs to be sold. If you hold a team to 3 meaningful points no matter how bad the offense is that is good. Also, the Jets aren't that bad. They are bad but not train wreck bad on offense. Verdict: Good/Very Good

Let's check the playoffs.

LAC - 26.8 PPG 6th-t overall - We let them score 28 points. Not good on the surface but a further examination shows something different. The Patriots jumped on them early and held them down to make a comeback impossible. They had only given up 7 points until nearly the last minute of the 3rd. The first TD drive was actually okay. They made them drive slightly over 5 minutes to get 7 late in the 3rd when up 31. It should be said though that they clearly should have done better on the few last drives in the 4th. It took them only 2 minutes to score 7 on each. I would have liked the D to show a bit more fight at the end and make them waste more time but it wasn't like the game was ever in danger. On the first TD drive in the 3rd for we made them march at least. Verdict: Very Good

KC - 35.3 PPG 1st overall - We held them to 31 points. It should be pointed out since Hunt went out they have not been as devastating on offense. Still the best but it became much closer. They averaged about 32PPG without Hunt. So holding them to 31 seems like par for the course. So was this good, bad or neither? It's hard to say. We shut down their offense for a half. They made a number of very good plays, were helped by a short field and a big non-call on a pick play for an easy goal line TD. Not to say we didn't have a few very bad defensive plays too. Overall I don't think I can give a good or bad grade. Verdict: Average/Wash

So we have 8 games in our sample. 1 Very Bad, 1 Wash/Average (against the best offense), 1 Pretty Good, 3 Good, 1 Good/Very Good, 1 Very Good. So overall this defense has been Good.

I don't see how anyone can say the Pats enter Sunday without the superior defense.

Summation.. D trending upward. Supported by eye test also.

robertweathers said:

No. They averaged 4ppg less w/o Hunt after the KC game.

His loss was huge.

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I agree. We beat them with hunt there but I’m glad he was not there this other time. A dangerous player

BobDigital said:

Since I responded to the Rams defense post I may as well respond to this one. First i'll say unlike the Rams you can really look at our defense throughout the context of the whole year pretty much. But if you want to talk since after the bye week that is fine. That best indicates how the Pats are likely to play right now. I will try to look at it the exact same way I looked at the Rams.

NJY - 20.8PPG 23rd overall. We held them to 13 points. Nothing about this game really sticks out. It was a solid performance vs a bad offensive team. Verdict: Pretty Good.

MIN - 22.5PPG 19th overall. We held them to 10 points. A middle of the pack offense which we held down well below their average. What I will note is we gave up on the run some but hurt their passing efficiency. Pretty much the same thing we did to the Jets. Only better. Verdict: Good

MIA - 19.9PPG 26th overall. Even taking out miracle play at the end we let this team score 28 points. Nothing else needs to be said. Really it comes down to a few big plays both runs and passes. A crap defensive game in which we allowed a total of 28 clearly earned points and 6 more on a bit of a weird play when Gronk shouldn't have been on the field. Still crappy. The question is does this mean something or not? Does it show a trend or some weakness or was it just one of those "Any Given Sunday" games? Verdict: Very Bad

PIT - 26.8PPG 6th-t overall. We held them to 17 points. Overall a good defensive game. We held one of the best offenses in the NFL to 17. We could have stopped the run better but I think the emphasis was on stopping the pass. Verdict: Good

BUF - 16.8PPG 30th overall. We held them to 12. This was a pretty good defensive day. Usually I don't pat teams on the back for holding a bad offense down but they did it very well here. The Bills only scored 6 points until getting 6 more garbage ones at the end. They did this while the offense was fairly unsafe with the ball and gave the Bills a free 3 points. So really the Bills only truly earned 3 points in 55 meaningful minutes. When your defense does that against any NFL offense you need to tip your hat. Verdict: Good

NYJ - (we have the numbers already) We held them to 3 points. Again. Nothing else needs to be sold. If you hold a team to 3 meaningful points no matter how bad the offense is that is good. Also, the Jets aren't that bad. They are bad but not train wreck bad on offense. Verdict: Good

Let's check the playoffs.

LAC - 26.8 PPG 6th-t overall - We let them score 28 points. Not good on the surface but a further examination shows something different. The Patriots jumped on them early and held them down to make a comeback impossible. They had only given up 7 points until nearly the last minute of the 3rd. The first TD drive was actually okay. They made them drive slightly over 5 minutes to get 7 late in the 3rd when up 31. It should be said though that they clearly should have done better on the few last drives in the 4th. It took them only 2 minutes to score 7 on each. I would have liked the D to show a bit more fight at the end and make them waste more time but it wasn't like the game was ever in danger. On the first TD drive in the 3rd for we made them march at least. Verdict: Very Good

KC - 35.3 PPG 1st overall - We held them to 31 points. It should be pointed out since Hunt went out they have not been as devastating on offense. Still the best but it became much closer. They averaged about 32PPG without Hunt. So holding them to 31 seems like par for the course. So was this good, bad or neither? It's hard to say. We shut down their offense for a half. They made a number of very good plays, were helped by a short field and a big non-call on a pick play for an easy goal line TD. Not to say we didn't have a few very bad defensive plays too. Overall I don't think I can give a good or bad grade. Verdict: Average/Wash

So we have 8 games in our sample. 1 Very Bad, 1 Wash/Average (against the best offense), 1 Pretty Good, 4 Good and 1 Very Good. So overall this defense has been Pretty Good to Good.

I don't see how anyone can say the Pats enter Sunday.

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I can explain why the Miami game shouldn’t count in this sample. At the end of WW2 there was a German escape mission to Antarctica. Sound insane but they actually built an underwater sub base as well as odd things. Hitler stayed there until Admiral Byrd was driven back and defeated. After that he started feeling old and moved to Miami so he could play shuffle board.

The hillarious part of all this is you will think I’m joking.
So, the official story was Byrd on a research expedition. Now, who sends 10 battle ships, an aircraft carrier, 60 planes and three subs to watch penguins?
Hitler escaped and moved to Miami because he knew that if we can’t round up 700 million Cubans, we’d never find him. This is the only thing that makes any sense. Oh yeah, he summers in Ohio

Patriots defense proved that they improved and have been battle tested going into the final stretch. It was a rough start to the season, but this was probably the biggest defensive turnaround in a single season that I've ever seen!

Against the Rams' #2 ranked offense the Pats D allowed:

3 pts
229 Pass yds
62 Rush yds
14 1st downs
LA was 3/13 on 3rd down
Intercepted Goff (late in the 4th)
Forced a fumble and while they didn't recover it saved them a 1st down conversion
Turnover differential was even between the teams

Solid in all areas. Got pressure on the QB, stopped the run, and did pretty decent against the pass. That last drive by LA was in desperation also. Didn't win the turnover battle but evened it up at the right time. I honestly wouldn't have it any other way. Late INT is way better than getting an early one and then no more.

This championship will only strengthen the defense in the future. Pats are sitting on 12 draft picks and will have some extra cap space to play with assuming Gronk retires (anyone hear anything about that?) I have a good feeling this will be the last time we will have a questionable defense, for any stretch of a given season, for quite a few years. Here's to a bright future!