Hmmmmmmmm

[chevss454]

The defense let up 2 bad drives all day. And of those drives, the one in the 2nd half came with Baltimore starting at midfield. I'm not saying they were great, but they weren't as bad as you're saying. The offense did them no favors with 4 turnovers that let Baltimore start in our territory. How can you pin those points on the defense. And after Brady's 3rd quarter pick was returned to our 20, who made the red zone stop to keep it a 2 posession game?? The defense wasn't good today but they gave our offense more than enough chances to get back into it, and the offense didn't do anything. Not even off a great pick by TBC that gave us great field position, and the Edelman return that gave us the ball in Bmore territory. They did NOTHING... they hung the defense out to dry today.

The defense didnt lose this game. The Offense most certainly did. And it all starts and ends with the O line getting completely manhandled by the Ravens' D. I thought Koppen was going to get Brady killed and it made me sick to watch Ray Lewis pound on Brady at will.

 

[Deus Irae]

The defense didnt lose this game. The Offense most certainly did. And it all starts and ends with the O line getting completely manhandled by the Ravens' D. I thought Koppen was going to get Brady killed and it made me sick to watch Ray Lewis pound on Brady at will.

The first play from scrimmage was the longest run allowed by the defense all season long, set everything off, and opened the door to an offense being out of sync as they entered the game. Subsequent drives were able to clearly demonstrate that the defense was unable to stop the Ravens on a consistent basis, regardless of where the initial field position was. Excusing the defense is really just ignoring a large part of the reality of the game.

 

[The Dynasty]

The first play from scrimmage was the longest run allowed by the defense all season long, set everything off, and opened the door to an offense being out of sync as they entered the game. Subsequent drives were able to clearly demonstrate that the defense was unable to stop the Ravens on a consistent basis, regardless of where the initial field position was. Excusing the defense is really just ignoring a large part of the reality of the game.

Yes it was a very bad start to the game, but the old Patriot teams would have answered the call right away and marched right down the field and scored. Instead we have a 3rd down strip sack of Brady and before you know its 14-0. You really cannot blame the defense, look at the field position they were working with in the first quarter. After the first quarter they held the Ravens to only a FG and a TD, that isnt bad at all.

I will say that the defense could not come up with a key 3rd down stop. The Ravens were 10-16 on 3rd downs. Whether it was in the 1st quarter where a 3rd down stop would have held them to 3, or right before the half when the Pats were trying to get the ball back or in the 3rd quarter on a big 3rd and 7 and Mason caught a pass for 17 yards, the defense just didnt make a big stop all game.

The offense is definitely to blame for the loss, but the defense shouldnt be let off the hook either because they failed to make plays as well.

 

[chevss454]

Posted on another thread but fits better here

I do not share the optimism articulated by many here

Offensive coaching staff is an utter disaster and clearly would not adjust to predictable defensive counters to their"schemes" Keep Dante-Fire the rest

Defensively I would agree Pees was hampered by a lack of onfield talent and experience. I do fault him for some repeated passive 10 yard off the wide receiver CB play when holding a lead. No pressure on the opposing QB was a killer in almost all the games. I would prefer a change here too

And now the players.....

Oline
Light- Not playing at a high enough level to justify a starting LT slot
Mankins- A suprising dissapointment considering his contract status
Koppens- Pathetic ( Draft a quality center NOW)
Neals- A true warrior who's chronic injuries may end his carreer
Kaczur- Pathetic (maybe the worst contract extention decision BB ever made)

Light is solid enough. There are worse problems
Mankins is a keeper
Koppens almost got Brady killed today. Agree 100%
Kaczur will backup Vollmer

TE's
Watson- Inconsistant and a pending UFA (Bye Bye Ben)
Baker- Decent blocker but can't get open for key receptions

Watson will be tendered and he is solid enough
Baker is a good blocker but would rather have another tackle

Slot
Welker- We all pray for him
Edelman- Good potential and shows a lot of guts

ditto

WR
Moss- Aging and a head case but still a dangerous deep threat. No bargain at his salary but who would replace him?
Aiken- Worthless (send him back to special teams and keep him there)
Tate- 2 serious knee injuries. Big question mark

ditto. We cant go into 2010 w/out a solid WR3

RB
Maroney- Had his chance a blew it by commiting key fumbles and missing blocking asignments. I believe BB has finally lost faith. Bye Bye Larry
Faulk- An aging warrior worth keeping for 1 more year
Morris- Brittle and aging (may be gone next year)
Taylor- Gone

Maroney- not sure on this one but if he is gone I hope we get a smashmouth RB in his place
Faulk-for sure

QB
Brady was gutsy but showed an alarming tendency to force the ball and picks resulted. In my mind this was a function of a number of factors.
Injuries
Bad OLine play
Horrible and predictable offensive scheme
No 3rd reciever coupled with weak TE play
No consistent running game

Nevertheless his poor decisions cost us big when simple throw aways would have limited the damage

Hoyer- Decent 2nd line QB

Your QB criticisms should all be placed on 1)lack of pass protection; 2) no WR3, and 3) offensive game plan/play calling.

D'Line

Wilfolk-A great player that may price himself out of Foxboro
Warren- A good lineman but suffered in Seymore's absence due to added doubleteams
Wright- OK not great Ok
Prior- Good potential
Brace- A 2nd round steaming turd
Burgess- And expensive Jeckyl and Hyde type. Not much to build on there
Green- Expensive version of the Invisible Man (Bye Bye)

ditto but I hope we keep Wilfork and I think Wright showed passion and ability

LB

Thomas- Bye Bye
Mayo- I hope the dropoff was injury related. If not we got serious problems
TBC- A pleasent surprise
Guyton- Weak on the run and pass. Dump him

Agree and I hope someone teaches Mayo how to shed a blocker and make a tackle Also hope we draft Rolando McClain from Alabama

CB
Springs- Aging and injury prone. Moments of magic surrounded by mediocrity
Bodden- A keeper if BB wants to pay his price
Butler- Raw but has talent. Needs to work on technique
Wheatly- No progress this year. Give him one more shot
Wilhite- I would not let him land at Logan

Agree on Bodden but Wheatley is expendable. Wilhite played over Wheatley.

Safety
Sanders- Overpaid with poor tackling skills. At best a backup
Merriwether- Overhyped route jumper with poor tackling skills
Chung- Showed me nothing.
McGowen-Strong start-faded in the stretch. I don't know what to think

Meriweather's failure to stay over the top is why you dont like Wilhite. Wilhite was blamed by many for the wideopen TD vs NOrleans, but it was Meriweather's responsibility. (he bit on the play action)


If this was a transition year then next will be a housecleaning one
Coaches and players should and I beleive will pay the price for this ugly season

IMHO

my thoughts in bold

 

[BillBelichickFan79]

I agree with the OP saying he'd love to see a transition to the 1-gap 3-4. I've been saying this almost all season long and definitely would love to see that. In the pass happy NFL, you have to attack on defense.

Seeing Brees pass for a PERFECT QB RATING vs our read and react, vanilla, 2-gapping D was an embarrassment.

I hate this bend but don't break approach on defense. Come out and come after the other team. Force a 3 and out, force bad throws, make the QB panic and feel some heat. We can't get off the field on 3rd downs and we let QB's like Chad Henne chop us up. It almost seems that our philosophy is sit back and play coverage and see if they will make a mistake. If they don't, give them what they want underneath and guard against he big play. Let them kill clock and drive all the way down the field but hold them to a FG.

That type of philosophy works in 2007 when your offense is basically unstoppable and opponents need to score TD's on almost every drive just to stay in the game. It doesn't work when your offense has struggled to find its groove all season long and isn't consistently putting up points.

You would think Belichick is smart enough to realize that the Steelers and Ravens have been the most successful defenses of the past decade, and the Jets' D has looked great this year with the switch to Rex Ryan's defense, wouldn't you? Then again, our defense, statistically wasn't THAT bad, and why would Belichick want to change the defensive scheme that got him to 4 SB's in the past decade?

The NFL has changed to a pass-happy league, and the best way to defend the pass IMO is a one-gap 3-4 defense that attacks like the Ravens and Jets.

 

[Kontradiction]

I agree with the OP saying he'd love to see a transition to the 1-gap 3-4. I've been saying this almost all season long and definitely would love to see that. In the pass happy NFL, you have to attack on defense.

Seeing Brees pass for a PERFECT QB RATING vs our read and react, vanilla, 2-gapping D was an embarrassment.

I hate this bend but don't break approach on defense. Come out and come after the other team. Force a 3 and out, force bad throws, make the QB panic and feel some heat. We can't get off the field on 3rd downs and we let QB's like Chad Henne chop us up. It almost seems that our philosophy is sit back and play coverage and see if they will make a mistake. If they don't, give them what they want underneath and guard against he big play. Let them kill clock and drive all the way down the field but hold them to a FG.

That type of philosophy works in 2007 when your offense is basically unstoppable and opponents need to score TD's on almost every drive just to stay in the game. It doesn't work when your offense has struggled to find its groove all season long and isn't consistently putting up points.

You would think Belichick is smart enough to realize that the Steelers and Ravens have been the most successful defenses of the past decade, and the Jets' D has looked great this year with the switch to Rex Ryan's defense, wouldn't you? Then again, our defense, statistically wasn't THAT bad, and why would Belichick want to change the defensive scheme that got him to 4 SB's in the past decade?

The NFL has changed to a pass-happy league, and the best way to defend the pass IMO is a one-gap 3-4 defense that attacks like the Ravens and Jets.

The thing is, we don't have the thumper "hardhat" type of linebackers that we used to have when guys like Bruschi, Vrabel, and Ted Johnson were in their primes. They were built to run the 2-Gap successfully. The linebackers that we have now are not. One less gap assignment would probably do the second level of the defense a WORLD of good.