Defensive Line Roles

[mgteich]

We now have added Carter as a DE, Sopoaga as a DT and are bringing back Kelly after the bye.

DT: Vellano, Chris Jones, Kelly, Sopoaga, Forston
DE: Ninkovich, Chandler Jones, Carter, Buchanan, Bequette

We have been thin at DL for the last couple of weeks. What roles do you see after the bye.
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SOME THOUGHTS

1) Going forward, I expect to see little of Buchanan, Bequette and Forston. Forston may go back to the Practice Squad after the bye.

2) it would seem that the Vellano's reps will be greatly reduced, especially after Kelly return.

3) I see the remaining six getting most of the reps. Jones/Kelly/Sopoaga and Ninkovich/Jones/Carter.

4) An alternative is for Ninkovich to get lots of reps at LB, in the 4-3 or even in a 3-4.

5) How much Carter has left is an open question. This is not a major problem; we hae Buchanan in the wings, with some experience under his belt.
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BOTTOM LINE

We've lost Wilfork and Mayo. Nothing can make up for that. Adding Carter and Sopoaga certainly helps. Given that Wilfork was hurting even when he played this year, the line after the bye may be better than the line before the bye, certainly better than the line that started the season. Chris Jones, Carter and Sopoaga are likely to be prodcutive additions.

I think that we now have the "answer" for Wilfork's loss. It remains to be seen how we replace Mayo's role. Clearly Collins and Fletcher will get more reps. As I said earlier, perhaps Ninkovich will play more linebacker.

Even without Wilfork and Mayo, this defense is better than that of last year. We have at least a top 10 defense.

 

[Ring 6]

We now have added Carter as a DE, Sopoaga as a DT and are bringing back Kelly after the bye.

DT: Vellano, Chris Jones, Kelly, Sopoaga, Forston
DE: Ninkovich, Chandler Jones, Carter, Buchanan, Bequette

We have been thin at DL for the last couple of weeks. What roles do you see after the bye.
=============

SOME THOUGHTS

1) Going forward, I expect to see little of Buchanan, Bequette and Forston. Forston may go back to the Practice Squad after the bye.

2) it would seem that the Vellano's reps will be greatly reduced, especially after Kelly return.

3) I see the remaining six getting most of the reps. Jones/Kelly/Sopoaga and Ninkovich/Jones/Carter.

4) An alternative is for Ninkovich to get lots of reps at LB, in the 4-3 or even in a 3-4.

5) How much Carter has left is an open question. This is not a major problem; we hae Buchanan in the wings, with some experience under his belt.
=====

BOTTOM LINE

We've lost Wilfork and Mayo. Nothing can make up for that. Adding Carter and Sopoaga certainly helps. Given that Wilfork was hurting even when he played this year, the line after the bye may be better than the line before the bye, certainly better than the line that started the season. Chris Jones, Carter and Sopoaga are likely to be prodcutive additions.

I think that we now have the "answer" for Wilfork's loss. It remains to be seen how we replace Mayo's role. Clearly Collins and Fletcher will get more reps. As I said earlier, perhaps Ninkovich will play more linebacker.

Even without Wilfork and Mayo, this defense is better than that of last year. We have at least a top 10 defense.

Inerestingly we now seem to be loaded at the DT position.
Here are the roles I see.

Sopoaga and Jones split one spot, depending on down and distance, and opponent.
Kelly has the other spot.
Vellano backs up.
In passing situations I think we go Kelly/Jones in situaitons where the run is viable, ie 2nd and long or 3rd and short. And we continue to move Chandler Jones inside on 3rd and long with Carter playing RDE.
This all assumes that Kelly will return to action, which is no certainty.

 

[Huckleberry1]

lmao-If they play a 3-4 with Sopoaga in the middle and Chris Jones and Tommy Kelly on the ends Spikes and Hightower in the middle, and Ninkovich and Chandler Jones at OLB then that is going to be one huge front 7.


Given all of the injuries you have to love the way this is coming together for them. That they have been able to add Chris Jones, Andre Carter, and Isaac Sopaga to a really depleted DL at this point in the season is great work by this front office. Jones has brought energy and some pass rush inside, Sopoaga the run stuffer they desperately needed, and I love what carter brings to the team even if his role on the field is a minor one. Carter is exactly the kind of veteran you want around your young up and coming DL. he knows the game inside out and knows how to prepare in every way and be a complete professional. Belichick used to bring in guys like Phifer, hamilton and Pleasant for the same reason and scored big dividends from it for years and years. I think all of their young front 7 players are going to benefit from having him around and will be better players as a result.


Belichick has completely rebuilt this defense and they are now turning themselves into one of the best defenses in football, and will likely remain there for the next 4 years or so.I love the mix of young players and the veterans they have and think that now they are reaching the point where they are going to be able to run more and more complex defenses in coming years.

 

[Huckleberry1]

Although I have always been willing to give Bequette the benefit of the doubt the fact that he is still unable to carve out any kind of meaningful role or contribution I think it's time to end the Jake Bequette experiment and keep Forston, who imo has shown much more when given the opportunity.

 

[Brady6]

We now have added Carter as a DE, Sopoaga as a DT and are bringing back Kelly after the bye.

DT: Vellano, Chris Jones, Kelly, Sopoaga, Forston
DE: Ninkovich, Chandler Jones, Carter, Buchanan, Bequette

We have been thin at DL for the last couple of weeks. What roles do you see after the bye.
=============

With the loss of Mayo and the addition of Sopoaga I am thinking they move more exclusively to the 3-4 as a base in this alignment:

LOLB: Rob Ninkovich
LDE: Tommy Kelly
NT: Isaac Sopoaga
RDE: Chris Jones
ROLB: Chandler Jones
SILB: Brandon Spikes
WILB: Donta Hightower

My reasoning for this is the 3 bigger DL’s will sure up the run defense, and taking Chandler Jones and moving him into the elephant ROLB role could free him up to focus more on getting after the passer.

I am curious about Andre Carter, I admittedly did not pay much attention to him when he was on the field this Sunday; does anyone have any feedback on his play?

 

[Ring 6]

With the loss of Mayo and the addition of Sopoaga I am thinking they move more exclusively to the 3-4 as a base in this alignment:

LOLB: Rob Ninkovich
LDE: Tommy Kelly
NT: Isaac Sopoaga
RDE: Chris Jones
ROLB: Chandler Jones
SILB: Brandon Spikes
WILB: Donta Hightower

My reasoning for this is the 3 bigger DL’s will sure up the run defense, and taking Chandler Jones and moving him into the elephant ROLB role could free him up to focus more on getting after the passer.

I am curious about Andre Carter, I admittedly did not pay much attention to him when he was on the field this Sunday; does anyone have any feedback on his play?

Given that the only significant difference in the way BB runs 43 vs 34 is alignment, your plan sacrifices moving Jones out of position in order to get a 3rd DT on the field.
Our pass defense would be horrendous with that lineup.

 

[Kontradiction]

With the loss of Mayo and the addition of Sopoaga I am thinking they move more exclusively to the 3-4 as a base in this alignment:

LOLB: Rob Ninkovich
LDE: Tommy Kelly
NT: Isaac Sopoaga
RDE: Chris Jones
ROLB: Chandler Jones
SILB: Brandon Spikes
WILB: Donta Hightower

My reasoning for this is the 3 bigger DL’s will sure up the run defense, and taking Chandler Jones and moving him into the elephant ROLB role could free him up to focus more on getting after the passer.

I am curious about Andre Carter, I admittedly did not pay much attention to him when he was on the field this Sunday; does anyone have any feedback on his play?

That alignment would get absolutely abused in the passing game by TE's and RB's. Quarterbacks wouldn't even have to throw it downfield anymore which would all but neutralize Talib and Dennard.

 

[Urgent]

New England had a glaring deficit at run defense with the losses of Wilfork, Kelly, and Mayo. Teams could plan a run-heavy attack and wear down the defense.

With the addition of Sopoaga, the Patriots force teams out of this strategy. Even if Sopoaga is only playing 15 snaps a game, his presence will help change game plans. If teams send in heavy formations, the Patriots now can counter. They can play a first-down defense, or place more emphasis on the run in the first quarter. If behind in the final 10 minutes, they can also field a more stout run defense to make late clock-killing drives more challenging.

I would assume the goalline defense will be improved as well.

And now they can field a fresher pass defense. Chris Jones has proven a fairly effective passing-defense interior rusher. He should be better at that if he's not playing as much run defense.

Carter can serve as the situational third-down rusher, keeping him fresh as well. The role we saw TBC & Mark Anderson thrive in.

Far greater depth.

 

[Brady6]

Given that the only significant difference in the way BB runs 43 vs 34 is alignment, your plan sacrifices moving Jones out of position in order to get a 3rd DT on the field.
Our pass defense would be horrendous with that lineup.

The team used the 3-4 formation against the Jets 2 weeks ago:

LOLB: Ninkovich
LDE: Vellano
NT: Jones
RDE: Fortson
ROLB: Jones

In that formation Chandler Jones had 1 sack and 3 QB hits in limited snaps; regarding are pass defense I don’t see the effect on that scheme vs. the 4-3 base of:

LDE: Ninkovich
DT: Vellano
DT: Jones
RDE: Jones
SAM: Collins
MIKE: Spikes
WILL: Hightower

Collins is at the line and Hightower and Spikes are still the players dropping into coverage most times? I don’t disagree that are pass defense will be terrible, but I think that is the case in either formation unless we move Collins into a coverage position and sub Fletcher in.