Encouraged by our DL so far

[patsfaninpa]

They played well against the Eagles OL that destroyed us in the Super Bowl. We've added; Shelton, CLayborn and Rivers since then. Players make their biggest leap from year 1 to 2. D. Wise and A. Butler.
Butler, looks significantly bigger. Looks like we'll have a nice rotation. Not Fearsome Foursome. But, not bad.

DE - Flowers, Clayborn, Wise and Rivers.

DT - Shelton, Guy, M. Brown and Butler.

We even have 3 decent players battling for a 9th spot. If, we carry another one.
K. Davis
V. Valentine
G. Grissom

Oh, might have to get me a Bentley too. A jersey. Not a car

 

[Wordsmyth]

Bentley is a beast.

 

[signbabybrady]

I think Guy is going to benefit alot from being in his second year and having Shelton next to him. And Flowers, Hightower, and Claiborne is a legit pass rushing trio. Butler and Wise going into year 2 gives great depth/versatilty. I think our DL should be head and shoulders better than last year.

 

[SHOWTIME15]

Bentley is a beast.

Yes, even though he's not on the DL

 

[BaconGrundleCandy]

Easily our most improved unit.

Along the line & 2nd level w Bentley.

I'm loving what we could do on 3rd & obvious passing downs. Butler, Flower, Wise all can do damage inside. Either lined up or through their power.

Rivers & AC are legit edge threats & we have HT/KVN as well that can line up there as well.

Collectively that's quite the rotation for a sweet "Nascar" package & we now can pressure w 4. Could be the difference for the secondary.

 

[BradyFTW!]

I think you need to be 4 deep at DE, partly to keep a fresh rotation and partly to deal with week-to-week injuries. Ideally you even have a fifth guy that you have some real confidence in, to hedge against the likelihood that you lose one of your four for the season at some point. There's some positional wiggle room there, for edge rushing LBs and stud pass rushing DTs and whatnot, but you want a stable of edge guys that can keep each other fresh. Whenever the Pats haven't had that, it's always seemed to kill them in the biggest moments.

So for this group of edge guys, I'm cautiously optimistic. I like Flowers / Clayborn / Wise / Rivers as a rotation. I'd venture a guess that I'm higher on Flowers and a little lower on Clayborn than most, but it all probably evens out. I'm worried that if we lose someone for the season again we're probably looking at Grissom as the next man up, but that's just life in a capped league. Grissom is probably a bit overqualified for the role he has now, but if injuries force him to 4 on the depth chart I don't have a ton of confidence in him as a regular rotation guy, and if they force him any higher I suspect he'll be in over his head. So we've gotta keep our fingers crossed for health, which to be fair is pretty standard for the NFL. I don't think we have an embarrassment of riches in DE depth or anything, but if they stay healthy I think they have the potential to anchor the defense.

 

[BradyFTW!]

Easily our most improved unit.

Along the line & 2nd level w Bentley.

I'm loving what we could do on 3rd & obvious passing downs. Butler, Flower, Wise all can do damage inside. Either lined up or through their power.

Rivers & AC are legit edge threats & we have HT/KVN as well that can line up there as well.

Collectively that's quite the rotation for a sweet "Nascar" package & we now can pressure w 4. Could be the difference for the secondary.

I'm fighting the urge to get too pumped about Bentley, but it is hard. On one hand, we've seen a lot of LBs that ultimately turned out to be basically JAGs who looked like world-beaters in the preseason. Elandon Roberts and Gary Guyton were preseason studs, but the second we relied on either of them to start in real games it quickly became apparent that they were liabilities who needed upgrading for the defense to get to where it needs to be. The chances that we end up looking back on Bentley in a similar light, IMO, are high.

But that said, Bentley jumped off the screen more last night than Roberts or Guyton ever did, IMO. He showed a little bit of everything, including athleticism and an ability to operate in space and out to the sidelines that the LB corps conspicuously lacks. So I'm keeping my expectations tempered, because this is kinda what preseason does, but it's hard not to be excited by what it would mean for the defense if he actually is the real deal.

 

[farn]

Easy to get excited about Bentley, but I think Rivers might actually end up having more impact throughout the season. If he can pull a T Flowers (missing first year, contributing from there) it’d be fantastic.

 

[captain stone]

Well, they certainly could not have been any worse than last season.

But yes, I too am cautiously encouraged by the play thus far at least of the DL.

Keionta Davis had his moments, but there was one play where he took a bad angle at a RB, then componded his screw-up by whiffing on the tackle...weak.

 

[Wordsmyth]

Yes, even though he's not on the DL

Lighten up, Francis. The poster before me was discussing LBs, among others.

 

[Ras-IR Dowling]

Very happy with our DE situation.

 

[luuked]

So for this group of edge guys, I'm cautiously optimistic. I like Flowers / Clayborn / Wise / Rivers as a rotation. I'd venture a guess that I'm higher on Flowers and a little lower on Clayborn than most, but it all probably evens out. I'm worried that if we lose someone for the season again we're probably looking at Grissom as the next man up, but that's just life in a capped league. Grissom is probably a bit overqualified for the role he has now, but if injuries force him to 4 on the depth chart I don't have a ton of confidence in him as a regular rotation guy, and if they force him any higher I suspect he'll be in over his head. So we've gotta keep our fingers crossed for health, which to be fair is pretty standard for the NFL. I don't think we have an embarrassment of riches in DE depth or anything, but if they stay healthy I think they have the potential to anchor the defense.

Keionta Davis would most probably be your #5 in the rotation. He apparently had a good game yesterday. Whenever I get to do a rewatch will focus on that but he got some media praise and also some nice words from BB.

 

[luuked]

So I'm keeping my expectations tempered, because this is kinda what preseason does, but it's hard not to be excited by what it would mean for the defense if he actually is the real deal.

I think I wrote it last week but the key with Bentley will be to be patient. He is still a rookie afterall and he will have a learning curve and make some mistakes. The telling thing will be whether he will show a pattern of repeating those mistakes across games. Just don't expect him to be the coverage savior. We will still get beat because LBs in space are generally a mismatch. But if we can reduce the number of successful attempts by a reasonable percentage then it is still something that tremendously increases our chances to win games.

 

[NG Pats Fan]

I think I wrote it last week but the key with Bentley will be to be patient. He is still a rookie afterall and he will have a learning curve and make some mistakes. The telling thing will be whether he will show a pattern of repeating those mistakes across games. Just don't expect him to be the coverage savior. We will still get beat because LBs in space are generally a mismatch. But if we can reduce the number of successful attempts by a reasonable percentage then it is still something that tremendously increases our chances to win games.

I think he is going to be a good player in this league. He has good instincts. He can’t be any worse in coverage than Elandon Roberts

 

[luuked]

I think he is going to be a good player in this league. He has good instincts. He can’t be any worse in coverage than Elandon Roberts

Fingers crossed.

 

[Hyped]

Specifically watched Shelton for a bit last night.....the man just puts OL-men on roller skates or is double teamed. He doesn't look like he is strong...but he sure as hell is solid in the middle. He's gonna open up the interior pass rush more this year...like Branch did in '16...only better, IMO.

 

[PATSYLICIOUS]

Our secret weapon. It seems the general consensus outside of ne is the pats are a weaker team this year, mainly due to the losses at wr, solder, and butler (fair point, considerable losses). But if our new front 7 is as inproved as it appears that trumps the downgrades at the other spots imo. Not too much talk out there about the improvements up front and ht returning. Offense is fine as long as brady and one of gronk/je are there.

 

[fnordcircle]

I'm surprised to see Rivers looking strong, normally a first year injury does not exactly bode well for development.

 

[Ring 6]

I'm surprised to see Rivers looking strong, normally a first year injury does not exactly bode well for development.

The fact that he seems to blow right past that problem bodes even better for his future.

 

[Soliel]

I’ve been pleasantly surprised by the improvement in the defense. I’d like to say again maybe three games into the season but as of now, I can’t find a reason to complain