Going forward on defense will the Pats continue Flores’ aggressiveness?

please god I can’t imagine Belichick will go back to a safe bend but don’t break (and then break anyway) scheme like it was under Patricia. It is so obvious that the defense played with so much more energy and swagger under this aggressive scheme, we saw it as early as the preseason.

That’s going to depend less on the coordinator and more on the personnel. If they have the personnel to execute C0 without having to worry about their corners losing in man, then they will continue it. If not, they’ll play it safer.

KontradictioN said:

That’s going to depend less on the coordinator and more on the personnel. If they have the personnel to execute C0 without having to worry about their corners losing in man, then they will continue it. If not, they’ll play it safer.

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Yep. We got away with this in the Superbowl because we actually have a very experienced Secondary with Chung, Harmon, the McCourty brothers, etc. If personnel shift, the plan needs to shift with them.

Pretty genious call on the cover 4. I wonder who called it as the defense to be played? BB had to approve it but I wonder who put it out there?

Couldn’t tell if they were playing zone or man to man. Either could Goff evidently

I hope so. It’s much more fun to watch a more aggressive defense and, I think as these playoffs have demonstrated, more effective too. I agree with Kontra though, it’ll depend on the personnel.

Depends on if the DB’s continue to be outstanding

Can’t run that type of D without smart, experienced and talented DB’s

When the pre-season was happening, people were already trying to give Flores 100% of the credit for the more aggressive style, and ignored the different personnel that was on the field. Then that fell out of favor for a bulk of the season as the defense underperformed, and now seems to be in vogue again.

The bottom line is: Though the brand new additions to the front seven (Shelton and Clayborn) didn't have nearly the impact we'd hoped they could, the defense still added value in:

Hightower returning
Van Noy taking a massive next step
Roberts improving
Guy improving
Wise improving
Gilmore going from solid starter to All-Pro
Chung, McCourty, and Harmon staying healthy all year
Jonathan Jones returning
JC Jackson emerging
Jason McCourty upgrading over Rowe

It doesn't guarantee that all these guys can recreate what they did this year, or continue to grow (and Flowers might be gone). But Belichick defenses are aggressive when he has the horses up front and trusts his secondary. Flores helped to coordinate and facilitate BB's overall philosophy.

KontradictioN said:

That’s going to depend less on the coordinator and more on the personnel. If they have the personnel to execute C0 without having to worry about their corners losing in man, then they will continue it. If not, they’ll play it safer.

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As well as the opponent and game plan. They were so aggressive yesterday because the plan was to rattle the sh.t out of Goff and force him into bad throws.

mcmurtry86 said:

Depends on if the DB’s continue to be outstanding

Can’t run that type of D without smart, experienced and talented DB’s

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I think this dead on. I think you can run an aggressive defense even with average talent in the secondary, but BB never does. The Pats best, most aggressive defenses have had pro bowl caliber players in the secondary. Ty Law and Malloy or Harrison, the Revis year and now Gilmore and McCourty. The more talented the secondary, the more creative BB is with the front seven. The current secondary seems loaded with talent. So yes, whoever the coordinator is, I think it likely we'll see more of the current playoff version of this defense next year.

KontradictioN said:

That’s going to depend less on the coordinator and more on the personnel. If they have the personnel to execute C0 without having to worry about their corners losing in man, then they will continue it. If not, they’ll play it safer.

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I agree. And I loved the performance of the secondary this year

But yesterday they weren’t playing man anyways for most of it, and they were still able to play what most people would call an aggressive style. Someone of that may be because it looks aggressive when you generate pressure, but what do you think?

The Patriots started adding big fast more athletic DTs like Lawrence Guy and also started drafting guys like Flowers, Wise, and even Grissom and Rivers should be counted among these. In other words, the Patriots have invested some stock in guys who would generate more of a pass rush after lacking one for several years.

GTFB is the BB way.

After that, the general level off aggressive play is about personnel, opponent, and game situation.


T'was ever thus.

gitgronked82 said:

I agree. And I loved the performance of the secondary this year

But yesterday they weren’t playing man anyways for most of it, and they were still able to play what most people would call an aggressive style. Someone of that may be because it looks aggressive when you generate pressure, but what do you think?

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The INT was C0. Straight man to man across the board. Whoever wasn’t covering someone was blitzing. But yes, they played a lot more zone than usual yesterday. My comments were based on the season in general.

KontradictioN said:

The INT was C0. Straight man to man across the board. Whoever wasn’t covering someone was blitzing. But yes, they played a lot more zone than usual yesterday. My comments were based on the season in general.

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Yeah obviously the Gilmore pick was simply cover 0. Even with keeping the rb in we had a free rusher, so 7 blitzed.

Was just saying that with yesterday’s zone performance, it still felt really aggressive. So even if we don’t always have the talent/personnel to man up and go 2 man or cover 1, I’d hope they can keep an approach like yesterday. Things change based on matchups, but this felt like an aggressive defense

Ivan said:

As well as the opponent and game plan. They were so aggressive yesterday because the plan was to rattle the sh.t out of Goff and force him into bad throws.

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Overall, that doesn't sound like a bad game plan to me.

ausbacker said:

Overall, that doesn't sound like a bad game plan to me.

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I agree, but I don’t think they would have been as aggressive had it been New Orleans. Overall I felt like they were more aggressive this season, and I want them to continue that, but I still think they will temper it depending upon the opponent.

No.

No. If the game calls for them to be aggressive, they've be aggressive. If it doesn't, it doesn't.

Last year's defense put forward one of the worst performances in SB history. This year's defense had one of the best performances in SB history.

What was the difference. Personnel? Flores over Patricia?

Patstastic said:

Last year's defense put forward one of the worst performances in SB history. This year's defense had one of the best performances in SB history.

What was the difference. Personnel? Flores over Patricia?

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Letting all your CB's that got you to that point play in the game.