- Joined
- Sep 13, 2004
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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.
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.