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- Sep 9, 2008
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First off, I think that you make a great point in reminding everyone about the lack of sufficient pass defense in today's NFL. That is true, minus several very good pass defenses--and even they have problems sometimes too. It's the consistency of a poor pass defense that I, and many others, have a problem with.
As Tom Curran correctly said--the whole gameplan of the Patriots is to try and score 30 or so, then hope and pray that the other team simply runs out of time and the game ends...
Unfortunately, it seems to be true on some level. How many times have we been witness to the heart pounding games where the other team has the ball with a chance to win it at the end recently? I can count at least 7-8 just off the top of my head, and all but one (the first NYG SB loss) have occured in the past calendar year. That amounts to about 1/3 of the overall games.
It's a very precious gift to have competitive football to root for, and many fanbases would give a lot to equal that...but in the quest for another title when you have (arguably) the greatest QB and HC ever to play the game and an offense that regularly scores 30+ every week, people are becoming frustrated with the Achilles heel which is the terrible pass defense. It's only natural.
FWIW---we aren't really running the no-huddle nearly as much either. The last time I saw the numbers it was about 1 of every 5 plays, so I can't really buy into that theory. Look at the great leap that has been made in the time of possession category between last year and this year for proof that the defense is not on the field nearly as much....
The rookies playing key roles hasn't exactly been great to this point either, and that is not a glimpse of an impatient fan or a knock on the potential for their futures. I am grateful that we have some more youth etc and that BB spent some high picks addressing the situation. That said, Wilson has looked out of place, lost, and green at times--many in the past month. His turnovers may be a little on the side of "Kyle Arrington 2011" syndrome where they were a bit on the lucky side. I know that he cost us the SEA game by doing the one and only thing he could not allow to happen, as he stood on the 5 yd line in a deep cover scheme and promptly allowed his man to run right past him.
That I can live with, after all he is a rookie right? But after viewing the film for an entire week straight and hearing about in non-stop, what does he do on the very first series of the next game out? That's right....he goes out and repeats the exact same mistake. To top things off, he was a complete non-factor in the most current game too, so while Wilson may indeed be one of our starting safeties of the future, he certainly hasn't looked too hot in the past few/several games either.
Hightower---I'm just not seeing much of anything, and I seriously do not mean to be negative. He was supposed to be a good cover LB, who had the potential to be shifted around in 1,000 different schemes and looks, but to this point in 2012 we haven't seen much of anything. Again---that does not mean that he cannot be a very successful LB of the future, it's just a reminder that the "rookies playing key roles" (which is a direct factor of poor drafting in recent drafts, or we wouldn't be forced to use all of them at once in so many reps) are not necessarily an excuse for the pathetic defensive play of the 2012 season.
Is the sky falling? No, absolutely not. But the offense will have to continue to put up a 33.2 ppg average for us to have a chance, and that is a tall task to ask of them in my opinion.
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