Is the D in championship form?

[xmarkd400x]

The Pats' defense is currently allowing 15.9PPG. In '01 they allowed 17 PPG; in '03 they allowed 14.9 PPG; in '04 they allowed 16.2 PPG. They have allowed scores of 24, 13, 10, 7 in their last four games (3 at home).

While the defense has been relatively under the radar because of the record-setting offense, I don't think anyone is walking into Foxboro and scoring enough points to win.

 

[SWelker]

I think they are, and one key to me is that Bill has been using basically a rotation for the D-Line for the last few weeks, and this week, he really seemed to sub in Meriweather and Wilson every other series for Rodney and Sanders to keep them fresh. I like the way the defense is playing, the DLine is moving the pile.

 

[Brarrell]

My only problem is with Hobbs first of all he plays ridiculously deep for a corner. If I was the opposing team I would throw 10 yard outs all day.

 

[PatsFanInVa]

Actually, the "points allowed" are very different from the points scored on the team, especially the last couple of weeks (blocked kicks, etc.) That said, the D is playing fine. It's not the 85 Bears D and its not the 2000 Ravens D. It's not going to shut many teams out.... but with the O scoring in the high 20s on a bad week, shutouts are not required. Yeah, it's the D of a championship team... it's one of the best Ds in the league... even if it's not a D you lean on by itself to make it happen.

 

[satz]

Everything we do is aimed at colts.Yesterday did any one notice that wilfork was out on 1st and 2nd and rashed was in most of the downs.

we never had a pure Nose tackle for rotation and also when moore came in the dolphins were able to run between tackles. I do not mind as this guy needs to get some more experience before the show down with the colts.

we need him and vince in rotation to keep vince fresh and did anyone notice seymour chase speed increase.when lemon rolled out seymour is putting some steam in his run i am sure his knee is much closer to 100%. Also , he was beating double team consistently yesterday .

bru is the leading tackler and making plays when he is in 35 snap per game schedule so we need woods and alxander to give him some break.yesterday we saw eric in goal line stands where speed is required and he is doing a good job.

for the first time in many years we have 3 good safeties in eugune,harrison and sanders. gay is holding the 3rd DB spot . merriweather is in the loop too so i think this is keeping the DB`s fresh for 4th quater when we need to hold the colts.

 

[RobertWeathers]

Even though it was a crappy Miami offense, I did like the secondary laying a lumber a bit more and ole #93 comming off the edge with a little more zeal.

I do believe that the Pats have a good enough defense to give any offense that they face in the playoffs problems. Statistically, here is how they rank.

In my opinion, there are 6 stats that indicate how good of a defense you have (Points Per Game, 3rd down defense, red zone, yards per play, sacks, forced turnovers, yards per game)

PPG- #1
YPP-#7
3rd down D-#1
forced turnovers-#3
sacks-#2
Yards Per Game-#4
Red Zone- kick butt lately. Awful prior to the last 4 weeks

The only stat that is somewhat worrisome is yards per rush. The Pats are #26th in the NFL.