pencilneckgeek
Rotational Player and Threatening Starter's Job
- Joined
- Dec 20, 2006
- Messages
- 1,497
- Reaction score
- 570
So we have a fast, athletic, blitzing defense, that is off the charts.
This week will be especially interesting. BB chose to retain Bennett and other middleweight DLmen to build an athletic defense, rather than retain Pennell or acquire another big body to spell Shelton and Guy. (There may simply not have been anyone available to his liking.) Having interchangeable parts that can get after the quarterback from the inside or outside or even drop into a shallow zone gives him tons of options for disguise and general sowing of chaos against the passing game. However, the lack of beef on the inside has yet to be tested by a team committed to the running game, where the Pats two big bodies and undersized subs get pounded for four quarters. In other years, the Pats' offense might make that an unworkable strategy after 2 quarters most of the time, but this year, that is not the case yet.
Baltimore will test this defense with their commitment to the run. I'm excited to see how the Pats D holds up. That LB core is deep and physical and ready to challenge OLmen moving to the second level. They are also going to be stronger in other ways. Where mobile QBs have sometimes troubled NE defenses in prior years, the speed of the defense should be helpful against Lamar Jackson in the RPO and on broken plays, where his mobility is such a weapon.
I'm too caught-up in the Boogieman hype to anticipate the defense folding under the ground assault, but it's a possibility. This game will tell us a lot about the rest of the season, both because the fast, aggressive D matches-up much better with the KC and Philly offenses, and because it will tell us how things might go on some of the sloppy days in December and January.