An insight into why the Pats' D was so good at the end of the season

This I caught at the bottom of the social media section. Its a link to the CLNS site (I have no idea what that stands for), and an excellent article that will go a LONG way to explaining some of the success the Pats defense had stopping high powered offenses, with a combination of pressure and great coverage. It's a great exercise in how the Pats maximize their talent to beat supposedly more talented teams.

It also gives you a hint of what to expect in this coming season, given the cast of characters on the DL has changed a lot.

Sorry to interrupt all the gossip and NBA stuff that is highlighting the board lately with some actual football talk, but here it is anyway. Enjoy.

Patriots Defense All-In On 'Simulated Pressure' Renaissance | CLNS Media

patfanken said:

This I caught at the bottom of the social media section. Its a link to the CLNS site (I have no idea what that stands for), and an excellent article that will go a LONG way to explaining some of the success the Pats defense had stopping high powered offenses, with a combination of pressure and great coverage. It's a great exercise in how the Pats maximize their talent to beat supposedly more talented teams.

It also gives you a hint of what to expect in this coming season, given the cast of characters on the DL has changed a lot.

Sorry to interrupt all the gossip and NBA stuff that is highlighting the board lately with some actual football talk, but here it is anyway. Enjoy.

Patriots Defense All-In On 'Simulated Pressure' Renaissance | CLNS Media

Click to expand...

Lazar has turned into one of the best X and O reads on the Patriots beat. Some of his general analysis is less inspiring, but when it comes to pure schematics, he's doing a fine job of introducing actual football talk, as you say. Thanks for the link!

Edit: That's Flowers at 3-tech in the first video, not Guy, but the point remains the same.

patfanken said:

This I caught at the bottom of the social media section. Its a link to the CLNS site (I have no idea what that stands for), and an excellent article that will go a LONG way to explaining some of the success the Pats defense had stopping high powered offenses, with a combination of pressure and great coverage. It's a great exercise in how the Pats maximize their talent to beat supposedly more talented teams

Click to expand...

Nice try Ken. We all know the defence was better due to "sideline filming" and the offense was better due to deflated footballs. Please stop trying to make it about good coaching, good execution, and smart football. On Patsfans we are a group with a high IQ.

reamer said:

Lazar has turned into one of the best X and O reads on the Patriots beat. Some of his general analysis is less inspiring, but when it comes to pure schematics, he's doing a fine job of introducing actual football talk, as you say. Thanks for the link!

Click to expand...

He is doing a great job and you can certainly see why he was one of the few online armchair people who deserved a real gig.

He has been doing a better job at trying to explain concepts to the average viewer than most of the X/O Twitter crowd who at times look like they almost prefer to remain silo'd within their tribe instead of trying to make their jargon more understandable.

Which quite honestly sucks because if there is a time in the calendar everyone could use to fill with a few X/O lessons it is the deadzone that we are in right now. So, yeah, good on him..

Yes. Very grateful to Lazar, both for his analysis and for putting together the film segments so clearly. Thanks for finding this and sharing!

Here's an interesting tidbit.In last year's three playoff game, the Pats defense gave up less rushing yards than the 85 Bears did in their three playoff games, 125 to 122....

patfanken said:

This I caught at the bottom of the social media section. Its a link to the CLNS site (I have no idea what that stands for), and an excellent article that will go a LONG way to explaining some of the success the Pats defense had stopping high powered offenses, with a combination of pressure and great coverage. It's a great exercise in how the Pats maximize their talent to beat supposedly more talented teams.

It also gives you a hint of what to expect in this coming season, given the cast of characters on the DL has changed a lot.

Sorry to interrupt all the gossip and NBA stuff that is highlighting the board lately with some actual football talk, but here it is anyway. Enjoy.

Patriots Defense All-In On 'Simulated Pressure' Renaissance | CLNS Media

Click to expand...

Don't go screwing this football board up with real football stuff. What the hell is wrong with you???

luuked said:

He is doing a great job and you can certainly see why he was one of the few online armchair people who deserved a real gig.

He has been doing a better job at trying to explain concepts to the average viewer than most of the X/O Twitter crowd who at times look like they almost prefer to remain silo'd within their tribe instead of trying to make their jargon more understandable.

Which quite honestly sucks because if there is a time in the calendar everyone could use to fill with a few X/O lessons it is the deadzone that we are in right now. So, yeah, good on him..

Click to expand...

Yeah what I appreciated the most was that he took his time pointing out all the key elements and how they all meshed. Plus he gave us two viewpoints to see what's happening. That was a key factor making it so informative to the viewer.

Next time CLSN asks for my email, I'm giving it to them

patfanken said:

Yeah what I appreciated the most was that he took his time pointing out all the key elements and how they all meshed. Plus he gave us two viewpoints to see what's happening. That was a key factor making it so informative to the viewer.

Next time CLSN asks for my email, I'm giving it to them

Click to expand...

Baldinger does a nice job pointing out similar things from the Super Bowl (disguising the rush, twists). It's sweet to see Hightower and Van Noy wreaking havoc (the way that Van Noy destroys the first play by putting the Rams' number 83 on his backside!).


EDIT: The video is on Facebook and the site doesn't let me link to it. If the link "Watch on Facebook" doesn't work, Google Baldy Breakdowns How Patriots Shut Down Rams

Thought the Pats D was remarkably more innovative towards the end of last season, Lazar does a good job of pointing that out..

I really like the concept of "Playground Defense", which will be often try to be duplicated, but seldom replicated in the upcoming season.. that takes smart players who know their roles and great coaching to pull it off..

Williams and Winovich will be an interesting additions to this.. Do not want to anoint Winovich as the second coming of Trey Flowers, but can add an interesting dynamic..

Now back to thread about "What player jersey should I pick??" or the "Celtics Draft"... nice diversion PFK..

Mike the Brit said:

Baldinger does a nice job pointing out similar things from the Super Bowl (disguising the rush, twists). It's sweet to see Hightower and Van Noy wreaking havoc (the way that Van Noy destroys the first play by putting the Rams' number 83 on his backside!).

​

EDIT: The video is on Facebook and the site doesn't let me link to it. If the link "Watch on Facebook" doesn't work, Google Baldy Breakdowns How Patriots Shut Down Rams

Click to expand...

Those clips and explanations from Chatham, Baldinger, Lazar & co. have been a mainstay of the rewatch threads we have every week after the game. Hell, Chatham's video recaps late 2015 were the thing that kinda inspired us to make those rewatch threads in the first place.

Everyone who likes to stay away from "takes" but wants more grounded and nuanced discussion should join them this year.

DarrylS said:

Thought the Pats D was remarkably more innovative towards the end of last season, Lazar does a good job of pointing that out..

I really like the concept of "Playground Defense", which will be often try to be duplicated, but seldom replicated in the upcoming season.. that takes smart players who know their roles and great coaching to pull it off..

Williams and Winovich will be an interesting additions to this.. Do not want to anoint Winovich as the second coming of Trey Flowers, but can add an interesting dynamic..

Now back to thread about "What player jersey should I pick??" or the "Celtics Draft"... nice diversion PFK..

Click to expand...

This D is perfect for Jamie. He's got the speed to fake rush and/or fake back to the flat to cover the receiver (TE or RB)

Good article and post.

I'd simply add that having very talented and healthy players helps immensely. The year prior by season's end the D was decimated by injury.

"Luck" in football = health

luuked said:

Those clips and explanations from Chatham, Baldinger, Lazar & co. have been a mainstay of the rewatch threads we have every week after the game. Hell, Chatham's video recaps late 2015 were the thing that kinda inspired us to make those rewatch threads in the first place.

Everyone who likes to stay away from "takes" but wants more grounded and nuanced discussion should join them this year.

Click to expand...

Yes. I can't remember if there was a post-Super Bowl thread in which that particular discussion was posted, but I linked it here because it also makes the same point as Lazar: that the Pats D -- especially at the end of the season and in the post-season -- was about confusing the offense by disguising the rush. It's something I always thought Pittsburgh, with its multiple linebackers, was good at. Baldinger shows how valuable Hightower and Van Noy are for that.

Wozzy said:

Good article and post.

I'd simply add that having very talented and healthy players helps immensely. The year prior by season's end the D was decimated by injury.

"Luck" in football = health

Click to expand...

This was so key. Having good health is not only good for the games, but for practice and game prep. Instead of worrying about plugging people in who have not played as much, having all your starters at practice means you can be more expansive in game prep - have more wrinkles etc. The Pats good health last year was a huge factor.

robertweathers said:

This D is perfect for Jamie. He's got the speed to rush and fake back to the flat to cover the receiver (TE or RB)

Click to expand...

There was a thread last year that I'm too lazy to find about the defense of the future and several of us were predicting it would be around having more players with this hybrid skill set.

If you let the offenses dictate matchups best case scenario in today's NFL you get picked apart, lose time of possession and give up FGs. You look at Seattle, Atlanta, Philadelphia and LAR and to different degrees the reason why they were giving up plays and points in the second half was they were exhausted from being on the field all day long.

Getting some three and outs becomes crucial especially in big games to preserve your defense.

This is a bit of a departure from the threads intent but it will also be really interesting to see what happens to the Rams offense this year. It's a copycat league and people are going to do variants of what the Pats did to the Rams all year long. Will McVay, Goff and their running game have answers? Even with all that talent I'm not so sure they will. Getting Cupp back will certainly help Goff having a hot read but if teams start pressuring the backside of their run game to take away the cutback and their facing a lot more 2nd and 3rd and longs it could be a bad year for them. The Rams averaged 32.9 PPG last year. I'm going to predict that goes down 5 PPG. 27.9 still isn't bad, more than NE last year, but it's not 13 wins. People also forget the Rams gave up almost 4 PPG more than the Pats. I think they're going to struggle to get a WC spot especially with all the divisional opponents improving from one degree to another.

everlong said:

There was a thread last year that I'm too lazy to find about the defense of the future and several of us were predicting it would be around having more players with this hybrid skill set.

If you let the offenses dictate matchups best case scenario in today's NFL you get picked apart, lose time of possession and give up FGs. You look at Seattle, Atlanta, Philadelphia and LAR and to different degrees the reason why they were giving up plays and points in the second half was they were exhausted from being on the field all day long.

Getting some three and outs becomes crucial especially in big games to preserve your defense.

This is a bit of a departure from the threads intent but it will also be really interesting to see what happens to the Rams offense this year. It's a copycat league and people are going to do variants of what the Pats did to the Rams all year long. Will McVay, Goff and their running game have answers? Even with all that talent I'm not so sure they will. Getting Cupp back will certainly help Goff having a hot read but if teams start pressuring the backside of their run game to take away the cutback and their facing a lot more 2nd and 3rd and longs it could be a bad year for them. The Rams averaged 32.9 PPG last year. I'm going to predict that goes down 5 PPG. 27.9 still isn't bad, more than NE last year, but it's not 13 wins. People also forget the Rams gave up almost 4 PPG more than the Pats. I think they're going to struggle to get a WC spot especially with all the divisional opponents improving from one degree to another.

Click to expand...

Supposedly McVay is empowering Goff to do more at the LoS this year. Good luck with that.

Their offense took a major hit when Cupp went down. His return is huge for Goff

If Gurleys knee is as sketchy as they are reporting that'll be detrimental to their PA game.

I can’t help myself.

Vs San Diego.... Pats played a wildcard team that showed their offensive game plan the week before. Pats traditionally beat up their first opponent.

Vs KC......Pats gave up 31 points. Does allowing 11 more points than the defense’s season average truly qualify as “outstanding”?
“Contained” might be a better description.
Labeling the Pats 1st half defense “outstanding” works for me but then I would have to describe their 2nd half as “awful”.
Half outstanding half awful doesn’t equal outstanding.
Just saying
Colts only gave up 31 vs Chiefs in playoffs, were they outstanding too? Or just the Pats?


Vs LAR....relinquishing only 3 points was outstanding. Knowing Gurley was simply a decoy allowed NE to concentrate on other weapons and they did an outstanding job as one would expect when facing a RB-centric team without their star. Still 3 points allowed was crazy good

borg said:

Vs KC......Pats gave up 31 points. Does allowing 11 more points than the defense’s season average truly qualify as “outstanding”?
“Contained” might be a better description.

Click to expand...

Yes but you can't forget the outstanding performance in the first 3 quarters only allowing 7 points which allowed the team to play how they wanted to play rather than playing from behind or in a shootout. I won't dwell too much on that God-awful non-call pick play too much but know that it did result in a TD. Can't blame them too much for that. Still any way you paint it 24 points in a quarter isn't good but compared to the other 3 quarters and considering the quality offense they were playing I'd call it a wash

borg said:

I can’t help myself.

Vs San Diego.... Pats played a wildcard team that showed their offensive game plan the week before. Pats traditionally beat up their first opponent.

Vs KC......Pats gave up 31 points. Does allowing 11 more points than the defense’s season average truly qualify as “outstanding”?
“Contained” might be a better description.
Labeling the Pats 1st half defense “outstanding” works for me but then I would have to describe their 2nd half as “awful”.
Half outstanding half awful doesn’t equal outstanding.
Just saying
Colts only gave up 31 vs Chiefs in playoffs, were they outstanding too? Or just the Pats?


Vs LAR....relinquishing only 3 points was outstanding. Knowing Gurley was simply a decoy allowed NE to concentrate on other weapons and they did an outstanding job as one would expect when facing a RB-centric team without their star. Still 3 points allowed was crazy good

Click to expand...

Mahomes dominated us in the 2nd half. Still KC was a top 5 offense all-time so that might have been expected for a portion of that game.