Some things to think about during the bye week

[Brownfan80]

No, I'm totally serious. Some teams have great rushers like Taylor etc. who try to beat their man every play. McGinest could do that. Now we have to rely on shifting and confusion so the other team doesn't know where the rush is coming from.

We start seasons preventing the big play like against Cincinatti. Once everyone's on the same page we add more layers and leave it to guys like Bruschi and Harrison, (didn't play together last year), Seau, (hasn't fully absorbed defense), etc.

If we get too complex too soon, there is miscommunication, a hole and we give up a big play.

See part 1 "don't give up big play".

Also, if we can win early, why give other teams all our defenses to study?

I'm dead serious, although I'm not a defensive expert. There is much more "rehearsed improvising" in our defense than in other teams who rely on execution and less on deception.

Also we are playing conservative for the pass, relying on our big 3 DLine to hold the line and help stop the rush, which we are doing well. IMO.

Thank you for the added explaination. I think it's a plausible scenario, though I'm not sure exactly what factors might be involved as to the real situation. That's a pretty good hypothetical, though, and it wouldn't surprise me if there were some truth to it.

 

[5 Rings for Brady!!]

We will NEVER have a dominating pass rush running a two gap 3-4 system until we 'blitz' a fourth and fifth man from somewhere. You would need three Reggie Whites up front to really pass rush and two gap with a 3 man front. We have one guy approaching that level of play, but not three. It's a trade off, do we want to rush more or cover more? The system Belichick runs works best with an excellent secondary, because a 3 man pass rush is always sub-standard compared to a 1 gap 4 man pass rush or a Steelers style blitzing defense.

I think the solution to a better pass rush is to be more aggressive up front by sending more people after the QB, because we have three guys at the D-line who are built for holding their ground, and not for pure pass rushing (with Seymour being the only 'tweener'). But the problem is that our secondary is a little banged up and Belichick might not be willing to expose his secondary at this point, thus we have to live with a 3 man two gap rush, and not much blitzing.

I don't believe that the pass rush is the main reason for our loose secondary (which tends to give up a few big plays from time to time). I think a great pass rush can only help things, but at the end of the day, in order to achieve a better pass rush we are going to need to send more guys after the QB, and I am not convinced that the current configuration of our secondary, with some injuries, can be totally effective without the extra help. It is going to be a gamble, which Belichick might not do unless he really has to.

The reason we were vanilla against Miami is that Belichick thought we could do that and still win, whereas against the Bengals, Belichick probably felt that we simply had no other choice but to throw caution to the wind and go all out to stop their fierce offensive attack. If we sat back in the Bengals game with a vanilla defense, we would have been killed, and Belichick probably knew that going into the game. So he gambled with an all out defense.

 

[Brownfan80]

We will NEVER have a dominating pass rush running a two gap 3-4 system until we 'blitz' a fourth and fifth man from somewhere. You would need three Reggie Whites up front to really pass rush and two gap with a 3 man front. We have one guy approaching that level of play, but not three. It's a trade off, do we want to rush more or cover more? The system Belichick runs works best with an excellent secondary, because a 3 man pass rush is always sub-standard compared to a 1 gap 4 man pass rush or a Steelers style blitzing defense.

I think the solution to a better pass rush is to be more aggressive up front by sending more people after the QB, because we have three guys at the D-line who are built for holding their ground, and not for pure pass rushing (with Seymour being the only 'tweener'). But the problem is that our secondary is a little banged up and Belichick might not be willing to expose his secondary at this point, thus we have to live with a 3 man two gap rush, and not much blitzing.

I don't believe that the pass rush is the main reason for our loose secondary (which tends to give up a few big plays from time to time). I think a great pass rush can only help things, but at the end of the day, in order to achieve a better pass rush we are going to need to send more guys after the QB, and I am not convinced that the current configuration of our secondary, with some injuries, can be totally effective without the extra help. It is going to be a gamble, which Belichick might not do unless he really has to.

The reason we were vanilla against Miami is that Belichick thought we could do that and still win, whereas against the Bengals, Belichick probably felt that we simply had no other choice but to throw caution to the wind and go all out to stop their fierce offensive attack. If we sat back in the Bengals game with a vanilla defense, we would have been killed, and Belichick probably knew that going into the game. So he gambled with an all out defense.

A good post and some good points. A bit of speculation, but I think it makes sense.