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Patriots Defense Off-season Preview.
D-LINE – Vince Wilfork, Ron Brace, Myron Pryor, Brandon Deaderick, Alex Silvestro, Kyle Love (ERFA) – 3-4 or 4-3 or Hybrid? That seems to be the question on many people’s minds. Andre Carter put up 10 sacks in 12 games for the Pats playing DE for them. He’s a UFA though. As is Mark Anderson, who spent time as a pass rush specialist, but was forced into a starting role when Carter went down. Anderson actually played well as a 3-4 OLB and held up decently against the run. An area he’s not know for. Mike Wright’s career is probably over due to concussions. Myron Pryor missed a majority of a 2nd straight season. Kyle Love is an ERFA, so the Pats only need to make him a minimum tender to keep him. Love really stepped up last year after the failure of Albert Haynesworth. Deaderick played extremely well after he returned from the PUP. Ron Brace played sparingly, but had a major forced fumble. The Pats have still not found someone who can adequately play the RDE position and this resulted in Wilfork moving over there with Love taking snaps at NT.
I could see the Pats adding a 3-4 DE in the draft or, turning to free agency as there are quite a few talented players available, including Philip Merling, Calais Campbell, Red Bryant, Kendall Langford, and Adam Carricker.
ILB/OLB –Jerod Mayo, Rob Ninkovich, Jermaine Cunningham, Brandon Spikes, Dane Fletcher, Jeff Tarpinian, Markell Carter, Mike Rivera, Aaron Lavarias, Christian Cox– The LB corp had a lot of injuries last year with Mayo, Spikes, Fletcher, Cunningham and Tarpinian all missing time. Gary Guyton seems to have played himself out of the Patriots Line-up and off the Patriots roster. He had tons of promise, but has only regressed. Jermaine Cunningham spent most of the year injured. Christian Cox was a UDFA signed prior to the start of TC and was one of the first casualties to go onto the IR. Tarpinian was a fan favorite and many hope he’ll be the coverage linebacker the Pats have been missing since Roman Phifer. Dane Fletcher stepped up his game, but was missing in the SB. A surprise to many who felt he had the ability to cover the TE, a task that ended up falling to Tracy White.
For OLB, the jewel of Free Agency is Mario Williams. Others include Cliff Avril and Anthony Spencer. The Draft could be another possibility with Crick, Andre Branch, Vinny Curry, and Quentin Coples.
CB - Devin McCourty, Kyle Arrington, Ras-I Dowling, Sterling Moore- The Pats secondary was a turnstile. What was thought to be so promising, quickly turned into a MASH unit with Multiple injuries at CB and Safety. On top of everything, Devin McCourty suffered tremendously during his sophomore year, prompting many to call for him to be benched. McCourty ended up playing at FS in sub packages, though he still played outside much of the time. Arrington had a career year, tying for the league lead with 7 interceptions. The problem is that many of his interceptions came when he was playing in the slot. Leigh Bodden, whom many had hoped would help stabilize things, was cut early in the season and ended up having surgery. Ras-I Dowling missed all of TC, yet played well enough to earn the starting nod opposite McCourty to open the season. However, Dowling was injured in game 2 and was IRed, much to his disappointment.
Sterling Moore was one of several in-season acquisitions to the Patriots Secondary and he’s the one with the most promise. Moore came in and, after a hiccup where he was cut, he was re-signed and really improved as the season went on. Moore had several key plays down the stretch for the Patriots and in the play-offs, including 3 very good plays against the Ravens. However, Moore’s inexperience caught up with him in the SB.
Safety - Patrick Chung, Brett Lockett (RFA), Josh Barrett, Ross Ventrone, Sergio Brown: This unit was in disarray coming out of TC. They cut veteran leader James Sanders and Brandon Meriweather, leaving Josh Barrett to start opposite Patrick Chung. Not long afterwards, Lockett and Barrett were injured and ended up on the IR for the 3rd season in a row for both of them. Sergio Brown proved to everyone that he’s best as a special teamer and really shouldn’t be on the field during game situations. Ross Ventrone showed the same. This is an area where many people are calling for the Pats to drop a lot of money on Dashon Goldson, (someone whom the Pats looked at prior to the start of the 2011 season). The draft is the other option, though this year’s draft class is pretty thin at safety.
D-LINE – Vince Wilfork, Ron Brace, Myron Pryor, Brandon Deaderick, Alex Silvestro, Kyle Love (ERFA) – 3-4 or 4-3 or Hybrid? That seems to be the question on many people’s minds. Andre Carter put up 10 sacks in 12 games for the Pats playing DE for them. He’s a UFA though. As is Mark Anderson, who spent time as a pass rush specialist, but was forced into a starting role when Carter went down. Anderson actually played well as a 3-4 OLB and held up decently against the run. An area he’s not know for. Mike Wright’s career is probably over due to concussions. Myron Pryor missed a majority of a 2nd straight season. Kyle Love is an ERFA, so the Pats only need to make him a minimum tender to keep him. Love really stepped up last year after the failure of Albert Haynesworth. Deaderick played extremely well after he returned from the PUP. Ron Brace played sparingly, but had a major forced fumble. The Pats have still not found someone who can adequately play the RDE position and this resulted in Wilfork moving over there with Love taking snaps at NT.
I could see the Pats adding a 3-4 DE in the draft or, turning to free agency as there are quite a few talented players available, including Philip Merling, Calais Campbell, Red Bryant, Kendall Langford, and Adam Carricker.
ILB/OLB –Jerod Mayo, Rob Ninkovich, Jermaine Cunningham, Brandon Spikes, Dane Fletcher, Jeff Tarpinian, Markell Carter, Mike Rivera, Aaron Lavarias, Christian Cox– The LB corp had a lot of injuries last year with Mayo, Spikes, Fletcher, Cunningham and Tarpinian all missing time. Gary Guyton seems to have played himself out of the Patriots Line-up and off the Patriots roster. He had tons of promise, but has only regressed. Jermaine Cunningham spent most of the year injured. Christian Cox was a UDFA signed prior to the start of TC and was one of the first casualties to go onto the IR. Tarpinian was a fan favorite and many hope he’ll be the coverage linebacker the Pats have been missing since Roman Phifer. Dane Fletcher stepped up his game, but was missing in the SB. A surprise to many who felt he had the ability to cover the TE, a task that ended up falling to Tracy White.
For OLB, the jewel of Free Agency is Mario Williams. Others include Cliff Avril and Anthony Spencer. The Draft could be another possibility with Crick, Andre Branch, Vinny Curry, and Quentin Coples.
CB - Devin McCourty, Kyle Arrington, Ras-I Dowling, Sterling Moore- The Pats secondary was a turnstile. What was thought to be so promising, quickly turned into a MASH unit with Multiple injuries at CB and Safety. On top of everything, Devin McCourty suffered tremendously during his sophomore year, prompting many to call for him to be benched. McCourty ended up playing at FS in sub packages, though he still played outside much of the time. Arrington had a career year, tying for the league lead with 7 interceptions. The problem is that many of his interceptions came when he was playing in the slot. Leigh Bodden, whom many had hoped would help stabilize things, was cut early in the season and ended up having surgery. Ras-I Dowling missed all of TC, yet played well enough to earn the starting nod opposite McCourty to open the season. However, Dowling was injured in game 2 and was IRed, much to his disappointment.
Sterling Moore was one of several in-season acquisitions to the Patriots Secondary and he’s the one with the most promise. Moore came in and, after a hiccup where he was cut, he was re-signed and really improved as the season went on. Moore had several key plays down the stretch for the Patriots and in the play-offs, including 3 very good plays against the Ravens. However, Moore’s inexperience caught up with him in the SB.
Safety - Patrick Chung, Brett Lockett (RFA), Josh Barrett, Ross Ventrone, Sergio Brown: This unit was in disarray coming out of TC. They cut veteran leader James Sanders and Brandon Meriweather, leaving Josh Barrett to start opposite Patrick Chung. Not long afterwards, Lockett and Barrett were injured and ended up on the IR for the 3rd season in a row for both of them. Sergio Brown proved to everyone that he’s best as a special teamer and really shouldn’t be on the field during game situations. Ross Ventrone showed the same. This is an area where many people are calling for the Pats to drop a lot of money on Dashon Goldson, (someone whom the Pats looked at prior to the start of the 2011 season). The draft is the other option, though this year’s draft class is pretty thin at safety.
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