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As everyone is hearing about picking winners an losers this early, I am reminded of how dumb it is. I mean, I know it's a fun mental exercise to pass the time, but to put any substance into it is.....folly. You only have to look at the Pats defense at this point of last season. Would ANYONE have suspected that THAT defense would be lights out one we saw in the playoffs? Of course not, but it happened.
Declaring teams' seasons over who are 3-3 or worse, reminds me of our own early season failings over the years. First and foremost WAS our first and foremost. Back in 2001, we were 5-5 coming off a home loss to the Rams. Well it's easy to forget that from that point the Pats won their next 9 games and a championship.
So perhaps the lesson here is NOT to me blanket judgments on KC, Philly, and the Minnesota's of the league and just watch how things progress. In my mind, it's not until a team has 6 losses and there is more than 3 games left that their season comes into question. We are a long way from that. Just sayin'
I saw something in the media yesterday that made me go hmmmm. Someone noted that 9 of the 11 starters on the Pats defense are 28 or older.
So when you think about some of the reasons WHY this defense has been historically good you have to conclude that experience is one of them. And its that EXPERIENCE that allows the team to have the great versatility and the ability to communicate within all 3 levels of the defense, AND the ability to recognize what the offense is showing them by their personnel groupings, formations, calls, and motions. And finally the ability to absorb the coaching the different week to week game plans, so that they CAN recognize the things that will give them an edge on any play. Lets break this down further,
Position Flexibility - We see along the DL with Shelton, Guy, Bennett, Butler, Wise, etc, ALL playing 2 or 3 position within the DL. Its even more obvious along with the LB's and DB. But not so much in a guy like Winovich. He plays OLB/edge rusher and that's about it....and rightly so. Perhaps 3 or 4 years down the road he'll be able to do what Hightower and Van Noy do now, but not now. If the defense was made up with 4-6 players with just 1-3 years of experience, "position flexibility" would be a lot less of a factor.
Communication - Even in the Pats recent history "communication" was limited to one guy or perhaps 2. But given the experience of THIS team, that responsibility goes FAR beyond the guy who has the green dot. Just as the definition of "communication" goes well beyond the call that's signaled in from the sideline. In fact that part of it might be the LEAST important factor.
What the defense lines up in is far more predicated on the personnel package, formations and motions rather than a call from the sideline. When the offense lines up it take more than one guy to get all the information out to everyone so that everyone is on the same page when the ball is snapped. The speed of that recognition is often a function of experience as well as coaching and preparation.
Recognition - THIS is one of the reasons the Patriots ARE the Patriots and other teams aren't. Remember when there was a question whether the defense would suffer because of all the defections from that side of the staff this off season. I mean literally we were left with a guy who was a consultant the year before, a guy who had never coached before and the coach's son. Who wouldn't wonder about how it would work?
I'm guessing that beyond the fact that so much of what is done has been "institutionalized" through the mult-transitions over the past 20 years; So in the end we find that Bilema is a fine DL coach, Mayo really knows his stuff, and Steve Bellichick is a lot more than just a product of nepotism. So in the end, almost EVERY week our players enter the game with a great understanding of what to expect when they get on the field, as WELL as how to adjust when what they expect isn't what's happening.
That's a given a. nd it's been a huge advantage But the fact is that it is a lot easier to make adjustments and absorb game plans when you've done for 4 years or more at the NFL level. So this edge the Pats usually have has been expanded by their team wide experience.
Smarts - Just going down the line of the 20 odd players who are getting regular snaps on the defensive side of the ball, one constant you seem to hear about all of them is that they are SMAR T. They have high football IQ's. They are coachable. These and other cliches that describe players who are more than their physical components are what is making all we are seeing possible.
Unfortunately the same experience we love is the reason these runs of excellence are so short. A lot of these guys will soon retire. Others will become too expensive. Offenses will eventually catch up. All good things are finite. So is this So enjoy while we can. If you can appreciate good defense, it certainly is a beautiful thing to watch
Declaring teams' seasons over who are 3-3 or worse, reminds me of our own early season failings over the years. First and foremost WAS our first and foremost. Back in 2001, we were 5-5 coming off a home loss to the Rams. Well it's easy to forget that from that point the Pats won their next 9 games and a championship.
So perhaps the lesson here is NOT to me blanket judgments on KC, Philly, and the Minnesota's of the league and just watch how things progress. In my mind, it's not until a team has 6 losses and there is more than 3 games left that their season comes into question. We are a long way from that. Just sayin'
I saw something in the media yesterday that made me go hmmmm. Someone noted that 9 of the 11 starters on the Pats defense are 28 or older.
So when you think about some of the reasons WHY this defense has been historically good you have to conclude that experience is one of them. And its that EXPERIENCE that allows the team to have the great versatility and the ability to communicate within all 3 levels of the defense, AND the ability to recognize what the offense is showing them by their personnel groupings, formations, calls, and motions. And finally the ability to absorb the coaching the different week to week game plans, so that they CAN recognize the things that will give them an edge on any play. Lets break this down further,Position Flexibility - We see along the DL with Shelton, Guy, Bennett, Butler, Wise, etc, ALL playing 2 or 3 position within the DL. Its even more obvious along with the LB's and DB. But not so much in a guy like Winovich. He plays OLB/edge rusher and that's about it....and rightly so. Perhaps 3 or 4 years down the road he'll be able to do what Hightower and Van Noy do now, but not now. If the defense was made up with 4-6 players with just 1-3 years of experience, "position flexibility" would be a lot less of a factor.
Communication - Even in the Pats recent history "communication" was limited to one guy or perhaps 2. But given the experience of THIS team, that responsibility goes FAR beyond the guy who has the green dot. Just as the definition of "communication" goes well beyond the call that's signaled in from the sideline. In fact that part of it might be the LEAST important factor.
What the defense lines up in is far more predicated on the personnel package, formations and motions rather than a call from the sideline. When the offense lines up it take more than one guy to get all the information out to everyone so that everyone is on the same page when the ball is snapped. The speed of that recognition is often a function of experience as well as coaching and preparation.
Recognition - THIS is one of the reasons the Patriots ARE the Patriots and other teams aren't. Remember when there was a question whether the defense would suffer because of all the defections from that side of the staff this off season. I mean literally we were left with a guy who was a consultant the year before, a guy who had never coached before and the coach's son. Who wouldn't wonder about how it would work?
I'm guessing that beyond the fact that so much of what is done has been "institutionalized" through the mult-transitions over the past 20 years; So in the end we find that Bilema is a fine DL coach, Mayo really knows his stuff, and Steve Bellichick is a lot more than just a product of nepotism. So in the end, almost EVERY week our players enter the game with a great understanding of what to expect when they get on the field, as WELL as how to adjust when what they expect isn't what's happening.
That's a given a. nd it's been a huge advantage But the fact is that it is a lot easier to make adjustments and absorb game plans when you've done for 4 years or more at the NFL level. So this edge the Pats usually have has been expanded by their team wide experience.
Smarts - Just going down the line of the 20 odd players who are getting regular snaps on the defensive side of the ball, one constant you seem to hear about all of them is that they are SMAR T. They have high football IQ's. They are coachable. These and other cliches that describe players who are more than their physical components are what is making all we are seeing possible.
Unfortunately the same experience we love is the reason these runs of excellence are so short. A lot of these guys will soon retire. Others will become too expensive. Offenses will eventually catch up. All good things are finite. So is this So enjoy while we can. If you can appreciate good defense, it certainly is a beautiful thing to watch
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