Defensive Stuff

[Ring 6]

We seem to be evolving through defense and have seen games with major changes in snap counts by position group but it seems to have trended toward what they did yesterday. It will be interesting to see what they do next week because I have no doubt that change are aimed at defending the chief/eagle offense better. Yesterday was the same offense, run by last years philly OC.

Last nights snap counts:

Dbs played an average of 5.6 snaps per play (464/83). Interesting to note that dbs pkayed more snaps than LBs and DL combined. Are we moving toward a dime base?
Dts okayed 1.6 snaps per play. (134)
DEs pkayed 1.7 (140)
LB played 2.1 (175)

Total front 6(5?) 449 back 5(6?) 464

So it looks like about half the time we are using 6 dbs along with 2 lb and 3 dL (seems equallly split between 2 dt or 2 de out of the 3)
And the other half we play 5 dbs with 2 lb and 4 dL, but on a handful of plays, it’s 3 dL 3 lb.

Other interesting snap count items.
Harmon and Jones seem to play close to the same amount (70 v 65 snaps) so the nickel appears to be a mix of 3 corner and 3 safety nickel.

Claiborn got his biggest snap share this week with 44. Flowers had 50 and wise 41.

Hopefully Malcolm Brown is ok because I exoect to see a lot of 6 db with Hightower, Van noy and a dL rotation of flowers guy wise brown clayborn Shelton and Butler all playing a similar amount of snaps subject to down and distance.

 

[luuked]

They are also clearly playing around with coverage responsibilities. Harmon is essentially the defacto deep FS with DMac playing SS/CB which is why he looks less effective.

I would actually not be surprised about moving towards using more DBs (i.e. dime base). At least against the Andy Reid style offenses in the league.

 

[luuked]

It will be interesting to see what they do next week because I have no doubt that change are aimed at defending the chief/eagle offense better. Yesterday was the same offense, run by last years philly OC.

 

[Ring 6]

At one point late in the 3rd luck was 19-29 for 166. I know an stats get bastardized in garbage time, but look at that. 19 completions for only 166 yards is a clear indication that the defense was taking away intermediate and deep routes and making him dump off so they could tackle the short man. 8.7 yards per COMPLETION is a defense clamping down on a passing game.

 

[Soliel]

Belichick is figuring out how to use these guys now. I’ve been told they have zero talent so it’s even more impressive to me that bill can use a group who has “no talent” and stop Andrew Luck. Interesting isn’t it?

 

[Ring 6]

They are also clearly playing around with coverage responsibilities. Harmon is essentially the defacto deep FS with DMac playing SS/CB which is why he looks less effective.

I would actually not be surprised about moving towards using more DBs (i.e. dime base). At least against the Andy Reid style offenses in the league.

The problem is defending the run. We were very good last night but against a good OL that front 5/6 needs to hold up.
I’ve seen Hightower start looking like his old self and frankly along with Branch HT was always the key to us being a good run even from a nickel base.

 

[Ring 6]

Covering RBs. The colts tried hard to use the RBs in the passing game. They only gained 54 yards on 9 catches in 12 targets. Great job by the d. Hines has one late catch for 21 otherwise it was 33 total yards on 11 targets.

 

[mgteich]

Yes, we play lots of dime when we are leading by 2 touchdowns.

We seem to be evolving through defense and have seen games with major changes in snap counts by position group but it seems to have trended toward what they did yesterday. It will be interesting to see what they do next week because I have no doubt that change are aimed at defending the chief/eagle offense better. Yesterday was the same offense, run by last years philly OC.

Last nights snap counts:

Dbs played an average of 5.6 snaps per play (464/83). Interesting to note that dbs pkayed more snaps than LBs and DL combined. Are we moving toward a dime base?
Dts okayed 1.6 snaps per play. (134)
DEs pkayed 1.7 (140)
LB played 2.1 (175)

Total front 6(5?) 449 back 5(6?) 464

So it looks like about half the time we are using 6 dbs along with 2 lb and 3 dL (seems equallly split between 2 dt or 2 de out of the 3)
And the other half we play 5 dbs with 2 lb and 4 dL, but on a handful of plays, it’s 3 dL 3 lb.

Other interesting snap count items.
Harmon and Jones seem to play close to the same amount (70 v 65 snaps) so the nickel appears to be a mix of 3 corner and 3 safety nickel.

Claiborn got his biggest snap share this week with 44. Flowers had 50 and wise 41.

Hopefully Malcolm Brown is ok because I exoect to see a lot of 6 db with Hightower, Van noy and a dL rotation of flowers guy wise brown clayborn Shelton and Butler all playing a similar amount of snaps subject to down and distance.

 

[Ring 6]

Yes, we play lots of dime when we are leading by 2 touchdowns.

I think we play a lot of dime all the time.

 

[signbabybrady]

They are also clearly playing around with coverage responsibilities. Harmon is essentially the defacto deep FS with DMac playing SS/CB which is why he looks less effective.

I would actually not be surprised about moving towards using more DBs (i.e. dime base). At least against the Andy Reid style offenses in the league.

I think DMac and JMac have been playing around too. DMac/JMac's jersey swap.

 

[SEA_Pat]

I've been thinking about this too - was quite surprised initially by the disproportionate number of DBs we had after Camp. I think Bill's recognized for a few years now that the D had to evolve to better face the faster and more open game the NFL is becoming. The "Big Nickle" disaster we've been observing for the last two years was attempt numbers 1 and 2 to deal with this and it never worked, maybe because we tried to draft the personnel for it but weren't ready to fully commit. I think Grugier-Hill was an example of a hybrid LB-S guy they were hoping to plug into this D but they gave up on him too early.

I'm expecting to see more of this than our base D especially against KC and similar offenses who air it out. When they can't hold up against the run, wouldn't be surprised if they start inserting Grigsby for one of the DBs.

 

[jah]

I've been thinking about this too - was quite surprised initially by the disproportionate number of DBs we had after Camp. I think Bill's recognized for a few years now that the D had to evolve to better face the faster and more open game the NFL is becoming. The "Big Nickle" disaster we've been observing for the last two years was attempt numbers 1 and 2 to deal with this and it never worked, maybe because we tried to draft the personnel for it but weren't ready to fully commit. I think Grugier-Hill was an example of a hybrid LB-S guy they were hoping to plug into this D but they gave up on him too early.

I'm expecting to see more of this than our base D especially against KC and similar offenses who air it out. When they can't hold up against the run, wouldn't be surprised if they start inserting Grigsby for one of the DBs.

Not only did we keep a ton of DBs, all but 3 of them are corners (although JMac and Cyrus have both ostensibly been chosen as potential safety depth). Especially strange considering we still seem to be using 3 safety packages a lot.

 

[luuked]

The "Big Nickle" disaster we've been observing for the last two years was attempt numbers 1 and 2 to deal with this and it never worked, maybe because we tried to draft the personnel for it but weren't ready to fully commit.

Disaster is a bit strong. But I agree with your overall point.

 

[BradyFTW!]

I think it's less about being a dime base and more about opponent (the Colts can't run the ball) and situation (Pats were up for 2+ TDs for most of the game).

 

[luuked]

I think it's less about being a dime base and more about opponent (the Colts can't run the ball) and situation (Pats were up for 2+ TDs for most of the game).

I definitely agree with this. We won't see much of this against more traditional offenses. But I can see it being used more against the RPO/Andy Reid style of teams which are spreading around.

 

[SEA_Pat]

Disaster is a bit strong. But I agree with your overall point.

Can you think of a game where the Big Nickle worked? I can't. That was the defense where the beloved Jordan Richards would be on the field a lot...

 

[luuked]

Can you think of a game where the Big Nickle worked? I can't. That was the defense where the beloved Jordan Richards would be on the field a lot...

How can you evolve if you don't try things in games ? I think it was a necessary thing for the coaching staff to try out to learn from it and move on to whatever we are doing now.

Practices won't cut it for stuff like that.

 

[SEA_Pat]

How can you evolve if you don't try things in games ? I think it was a necessary thing for the coaching staff to try out to learn from it and move on to whatever we are doing now.

Practices won't cut it for stuff like that.

Sure...but it was more than a few games. Usually when BB sees something that doesn't work, he ditches it. His persistence tells me he saw it as a critical issue that needed to be addressed so he kept tinkering despite no success. Fortunately for us, he eventually always figures it out. I'm going to enjoy watching Big Ben carve up the Atlanta secondary with Richards forced into playing there.

 

[Ring 6]

I've been thinking about this too - was quite surprised initially by the disproportionate number of DBs we had after Camp. I think Bill's recognized for a few years now that the D had to evolve to better face the faster and more open game the NFL is becoming. The "Big Nickle" disaster we've been observing for the last two years was attempt numbers 1 and 2 to deal with this and it never worked, maybe because we tried to draft the personnel for it but weren't ready to fully commit. I think Grugier-Hill was an example of a hybrid LB-S guy they were hoping to plug into this D but they gave up on him too early.

I'm expecting to see more of this than our base D especially against KC and similar offenses who air it out. When they can't hold up against the run, wouldn't be surprised if they start inserting Grigsby for one of the DBs.

How as the big nickel a disaster the last 2 years when we went to 2 Sbs, won 1, and were 1st and 5th in points allowed (and #1 for the 2 seasons combined) using it as our base defense?

 

[Ring 6]

Can you think of a game where the Big Nickle worked? I can't. That was the defense where the beloved Jordan Richards would be on the field a lot...

The big nickel was our base defense in 2016 and 2017 with McCourty Chung and Harmon as the safeties.
It worked to the point where we were #1 in the nfl in points allowed for that period while going to the Sb both years and winning 1.