Can We Settle Down Regarding The Defense?

[Ring 6]

I won't be giving the defense a break until we see how they do against Atlanta.

So other games don't count?

 

[1960Pats]

Nope. Not until they show sustained improvement. One slightly not completely terrible defensive effort is not enough for me to settle down about it.

I didn't get worried when they lost early and I'm not going to be giddy now because of a win over a putrid QB. There's still room for improvement and plenty of time to go.

 

[Deus Irae]

So other games don't count?

Short week against an underprepared TB, followed by a long week and a game against the Jets. Why would you think either of those games would be particularly informative about the defense, unless the defense goes out and craps itself in NY?

 

[Ring 6]

Short week against an underprepared TB, followed by a long week and a game against the Jets. Why would you think either of those games would be particularly informative about the defense, unless the defense goes out and craps itself in NY?

Every game matters.

 

[Deus Irae]

Every game matters.

Not for purposes of analysis

 

[Ring 6]

Not for purposes of analysis

Of course they do.

 

[Deus Irae]

Of course they do.

TNF is essentially a completely different animal from regular weekly football, and almost nothing can be gleamed from it. Players and coaches, as well as fans, analysts, etc... have all pointed this out.

But you keep insisting otherwise, if that works for you.

 

[Ring 6]

TNF is essentially a completely different animal from regular weekly football, and that almost nothing can be gleamed from it. Players and coaches, as well as fans, analysts, etc... have all pointed this out.

But you keep insisting otherwise, if that works for you.

Every game matters. You can argue why in your view they should be subject to excuses but they still all matter.


And while there is no doubt that Thursday is different I think you exaggerate saying players and coaches have stated almost nothing can be gleaned from it.

 

[Deus Irae]

Every game matters. You can argue why in your view they should be subject to excuses but they still all matter.

You're making a ridiculous argument, for the sake of making a ridiculous argument, because AndyJohnson. Preseason game one "mattered", too, but you found out pretty much nothing about the team as a team.

 

[Ring 6]

You're making a ridiculous argument, for the sake of making a ridiculous argument, because AndyJohnson. Preseason game one "mattered", too, but you found out pretty much nothing about the team as a team.

Ok it's ridiculous to suggest each of 16 games matter. Gotcha. You wonder why you get into these.....

 

[VectorPrime]

So other games don't count?

Correct

 

[Ring 6]

Correct

So why play them

 

[skinnydog]

The defense has a long way to go. The season has a long way to go. As always, we will have players coming in and out because of health issues. However, it does seem that we should expect improvement in all units as the season progresses.

DL
There is an issue at DT. For now, we seem to have only Brown and Guy. Four is usually the "right" number. Perhaps Branch will improve. Perhaps, Valentine will be back. Perhaps, we'll add a backup player.
DE is fine with Flowers, Wise, Marsh, and occasionally Hightower, with Grissom as an emergency backup. Guy also plays some 3-4 DE.

LB
It is good to see Hightower back at LB for most downs. We usually have two linebackers: Hightower and Van Noy. We also have Roberts on running downs. We have Marquise Flowers as an emergency backup. Perhaps, McClellan will be back. In any case, I could see us adding a LB to replace Harris, or perhaps belichick sees something that we don't in Harris, and is keeping him out because he is simply at the end of the depth chart.

DB
It seems that Patricia is getting this worked out. We may not be able to identify all the formations, but we can see that the secondary is under better control. Gilmore indicated that he covered one player for most of the game. Some said that Butler did also. The rest played zone. We may see something new each week. However, we have seven defensive backs that we can count on (when Rowe is healthy), plus some STers (Ebner, King, Richards and Bademosi).

BOTTOM LINE
Branch and Harris are question marks. I would think that they will improve or be replaced. The defense should be average in a few weeks, and better than that for the end of the season and playoffs.

Well after 5 games I think it's fair to see this as a below average to poor defense. They've certainly under performed at all levels compared to expectations.
DL
Flowers is the only D Linemen who can even be considered above average. No D lineman including Flowers presents the kind of threat that other teams have to game plan around. I though Brown would have developed into that kind of player, but so far he looks good, not great. In fact they all seem to fall into that category. So far losing Ninkovich, Long and Shepard seem to have hurt.
LB
I expect Hightower to round into form, but again everyone else seems OK, but certainly not great. Maybe guys like Marsh just need to find their role but so far that hasn't happened. Again no one that really presents a real threat to opposing offenses.
DB
Well plenty of talen here and the poor play is a real surprise. However they showed a lot of improvement against Tampa. The finally let Gilmore basically take one guy (Evans) and shadow him all over the field. Butler did that a lot last year and Gilmore is better. As AJ says in another thread this unit has the talent to be a top man coverage backfield. I hope they go to this more for the rest of the season. Maybe it's the mobile QBs they've played, but Belichick seems to hate man coverage against mobile QBs. They seem to have started with complicated coverage schemes and are now simplifying them instead of starting simple and adding wrinkles as the players get used to each other. Here's hoping we see more of what they did against Tampa.

Overall I trust in this coaching staff to take what has been one of the worst defenses in the league so far to the middle of the pack. I'm just not sure I see this as a top 10 defense even with the improvement I expect to see.

 

[SammyBlueCat]

*IF* (I mean a HUGE IF) the defense is playing outstanding and lights out around Thanksgiving, will the members here will say "I knew it would go this way all along!" ?

 

[Uptown]

 

[Ring 6]

*IF* (I mean a HUGE IF) the defense is playing outstanding and lights out around Thanksgiving, will the members here will say "I knew it would go this way all along!" ?

Well no, there will still be negativity. It will either be the defense shouldn't get other credit because the opponent sucks or because there were open receivers who got missed or " I won't be convinced until I see them do it against ____"

 

[Huckleberry1]

Nope. Not until they show sustained improvement. One slightly not completely terrible defensive effort is not enough for me to settle down about it.

You already gave up on them so why the hell would you care?

 

[Tony2046]

The bunch formation and the man in motion was definitely a problem against the Panthers.

They did switch to more man vs TB but also played zone and handled it much better. Including Gilmore.

It wasn't perfect but definitely better.

 

[QuantumMechanic]

Sometimes I doubt their commitment to Sparkle Motion.

 

[Huckleberry1]

Another season same old story, people want to ***** and cry about early season performances while completely disregarding the fact that they almost always improve significantly over the course of the season. In 2014 the exact same crowd were begging for them to get rid of Brady and declared the season over after four games. They are quitter ***** crybabies who have exactly the same amount of credibility as Rin Borges and Rib Parker. They already quit on the season but want to cry and ***** even when they win.

The same people who claimed they had no chance against Tampa Bay are now crying about style points. What a bunch of quitters/losers.