Michael Smith isn't all that high on the Patriots

[Oswlek]

True. Not to mention the complete abandonment of the run in that game and in Super Bowl 42. Not to knock McD who was a offensive genius and will be missed, but I hope we see more patience in the running game this season.

Dillon got hurt, Maroney was hurt most of the 2nd half of the season and Faulk was injured in that game. They didn't abandon the run because they wanted to, but because they had to.

The same goes for SB. In the 2nd half NE only had Watson as a TE and no Neal or Faulk. They had no power set available and only Maroney as a viable running back. I no BB regrets only activating 2 TEs in that game and I strongly believe that NE keeping 5 RBs (and at least 4 viable HBs) the past two seasons is a relection of BB's regret over never really replacing Morris in 2007. Even look at the TE moves this offseason and the interior OL replacements. The run game is going to be more of a focus despite Brady returning.

 

[Ice_Ice_Brady]

The interesting thing about the defensive worries is that people don't realize the context.

In the first game, NE was running all sorts of lineman out there to get a feel for how each package worked together. They also played a lot of 1 gap 4 man lines that guys weren't accustomed to, and were pretty bad against the run. Despite this, Philly really didn't pass that well against NE's first team defense, it was only once the 2s got on the field that Feeley drove the team up and down.

Against Cincy we saw a return of the 3-4 (and Ty Warren) and they had no running room whatsoever. Wheatley had an ugly play on 4th and forever but that was 1:1 coverage that NE would never ask him to do in a regular season game. Other than that, I don't recall Cincy moving at will.

In the 3rd game Wash had a nice first drive, but their entire passing offense after in the first half was a blown coverage and a terrible QB contain, both by guys no longer on the team. The 4 man line returned and was just as dominant against the run as they were the week before in the 3-4.

Lastly, the Giants game started with 1s on 3s. Of course that is going to be a mismatch, yet NE still did OK against a very strong running team. Passing was a completely different situation, but the guys who gave up most of that yardage, Rogers and Love, were gone almost immediately. On top of that, Chung gave up 2 TDs on coverage responsibilities he won't likely be asked to make in the regular season. There are enormous differences between rolling coverages and taking over a receiver deep and sticking with a waterbug from the line on.

I, for one, expect this defense to not only not be the issue people seem think, but to be one of the best 5-7 defenses in the league by seasons end.

Good analysis. People always tend to forget that the Patriots put it together in December. There have been a few seasons (2005, 2008) where the defense looked horrid at first but gelled by the time it mattered.