What do you guys think about the Patriots defense now?

[Deus Irae]

No, they'll be playing offenses ranked in the top 10, like New Orleans or Atlanta (who you picked to go to the SB) who they've already shut down.

Stop posting stupid ****.

I don't know why they haven't banned you yet, but I don't need to subject myself to your brand of idiocy, so


Bye

 

[FourierSeries]

I don't know why they haven't banned you yet, but I don't need to subject myself to your brand of idiocy, so


Bye

Take care, Jets fan.

 

[archstanton543]

I think the defense has gotten better but the teams they're playing now aren't as good as the teams they were playing at the beginning of the season. I know KC is falling off the map now but they had an extremely good offense at the beginning of the year.

 

[FourierSeries]

I think the defense has gotten better but the teams they're playing now aren't as good as the teams they were playing at the beginning of the season. I know KC is falling off the map now but they had an extremely good offense at the beginning of the year.

They shut down both New Orleans and Atlanta.

 

[RobertWeathers]

I think the defense has gotten better but the teams they're playing now aren't as good as the teams they were playing at the beginning of the season. I know KC is falling off the map now but they had an extremely good offense at the beginning of the year.

All you can do is play who is on your schedule when they are on your schedule.

I suspect if the Pats from the last 7 games played the Week 1 KC offense it would be a little bit different.

Maybe 35-28 NEP?

 

[archstanton543]

They shut down both New Orleans and Atlanta.

New Orleans is like the exact opposite as KC this year. They started slow but have come on strong. When they played the Pats they weren't that good and are much better now.

Atlanta isn't the same team as last year.

 

[FourierSeries]

New Orleans is like the exact opposite as KC this year. They started slow but have come on strong. When they played the Pats they weren't that good and are much better now.

Atlanta isn't the same team as last year.

Atlanta is still a top 10 offense. They were thoroughly dominated.

The Patriots weren't at their best either when they played New Orleans. They still held them to 20 (with 7 coming in garbage time) in their own house.

The Chargers are ranked in the top 10 as well.

And you're right about KC. They're continuing to decline, and by the time January comes, they'll be a non-factor as always.

 

[mosi]

Van noy has really stepped up. Hopefully o line gets healthy

Is Van Noy OK and back at practice? Loosing him would be bad (shocked I am saying this).

 

[AvocadoIceCream]

You can make the argument that maybe the pats defense isn’t as good as they’ve looked lately due to the competition

BUT

if you watched the games, you can clearly see the team is playing better on defense. I mean, I don’t know how you can say it’s only the competition. They are head and shoulders better.

 

[Pats1989]

They need to be at their best for Pittsburgh and/ or Eagles. I'd say Philly would be trouble because they get to the QB, have an elite QB, and great receivers.

 

[PatsFan2]

Hold Pitts to 17 then I will believeeeeee!

 

[PatsFan2]

They need to be at their best for Pittsburgh and/ or Eagles.

And mind you most likely Pittsburgh twice.

 

[FourierSeries]

And mind you most likely Pittsburgh twice.

That would be great. Pittsburgh's offense isn't very good, and certainly nowhere near the best the Patriots will have played.

 

[TommyD4207]

And mind you most likely Pittsburgh twice.

Pittsburgh won't make the AFCCG.

They'll lose to Jacksonville again in the divisional round.

 

[Kdo5]

It's not surprising that communication issues have been fixed and that is largely why we struggled the first few weeks.

But also a number of players have stepped up. Gilmore is playing at an elite #1 CB level the past few weeks, as we had expected of him. Give credit to JJones as well for stepping it up as well.

The biggest surprise to me is the progression of Kyle Van Noy. I didn't think he was very impressive last season or the beginning of this one. But damn he has been a revelation after HT's injury. He is playing really well. It was concerning to see him get injured but sounds relatively minor. We need him.

Run defense is still a concern, but that'd mainly concern me if we are talking about a team with a great defense getting up on us and running it down our throat. I don't see that happening but it is a possibility.

 

[brdmaverick]

Going into the year I thought this was going to be an absolutely stacked defense.

Their secondary looked like it could possibly be the best in the league, but then the season started and it all went out the window. They played below expectations and surprisingly it looked like it was the secondary that couldn't get their act together.

Throw in some key injuries and surprisingly weeks later I'd say they look much much better. They don't FEEL like a stalwart defense, but they are getting the results of one so who am I to argue.

Simply put, the defense is getting the job done.

Can they win a Super Bowl with this defense? Absolutely

 

[TheBostonStraggler]

Nice write up, TBS. Did Miguel recently state that he believes it will be Vincent Valentine who is the player to return from IR? Any hints at why he believes this or a look into his reasoning? Personally, I’m still split as to whom I’d prefer, as there are arguments made for both, but if that is the case the coaches must really be losing faith in Branch, especially with Brown having returned last Sunday.

Sup, yes I read in a Miguel tweet answering a very recent(4 days ago) question about Malcolm Mitchell. Miguel stated he thought it would be VV who is activated. Whether his statement was based on inside knowledge or just how he is reading the tea leaves, Miguel is kind of like Reiss in that if he says it then it should be given some weight (though certainly not implicitly true).

At this point, given that BB can wait until week 17 before using the last IR activation (and assuming both VV and MM are or will be healthy enough to be reactivated), maybe BB is using VV and MM as a quasi-shadow roster? Injury is the cold hard reality of football. So if things are going relatively well then why not wait to see of there is an injury caused need at WR or DT? Unfortunately chances are always fair there will be an opening due to injury.

But hypothesizing that the football gods favor us and there isn't an injury caused need, IMHO VV is an easy swap for Francois' spot (Francois goes onto the speed dial shadow roster).
Bringing back MM outright (not an injury caused need) seems the obvious move as we have only 4 WRs and 3 that are healthy (Hogan). Yet I don't see MM as a one to one swap (say cutting Dorsett as a one to one swap -- it seems completely unlikely to me). So MM means a player from a different position will need to be be cut to make room.
-don't see anyone from the D backfield being cut
-don't see how we can afford to cut from LBs (Reilly?? Grigsby after his 4 game minimum??).
-don't see how we can afford a cut from the OL unless everyone is back to good health.
-he may be deactivated every game right now but Gill being cut would be a shock!
-can't cut our 3rd TE, Hollister, as I believe he is integral on STs and depth.
Maybe Francois is the odd man out no matter what the circumstance (though that would leave us thin on the interior DL).

 

[maineman209]

Sup, yes I read in a Miguel tweet answering a very recent(4 days ago) question about Malcolm Mitchell. Miguel stated he thought it would be VV who is activated. Whether his statement was based on inside knowledge or just how he is reading the tea leaves, Miguel is kind of like Reiss in that if he says it then it should be given some weight (though certainly not implicitly true).

At this point, given that BB can wait until week 17 before using the last IR activation (and assuming both VV and MM are or will be healthy enough to be reactivated), maybe BB is using VV and MM as a quasi-shadow roster? Injury is the cold hard reality of football. So if things are going relatively well then why not wait to see of there is an injury caused need at WR or DT? Unfortunately chances are always fair there will be an opening due to injury.

But hypothesizing that the football gods favor us and there isn't an injury caused need, IMHO VV is an easy swap for Francois' spot (Francois goes onto the speed dial shadow roster).
Bringing back MM outright (not an injury caused need) seems the obvious move as we have only 4 WRs and 3 that are healthy (Hogan). Yet I don't see MM as a one to one swap (say cutting Dorsett as a one to one swap -- it seems completely unlikely to me). So MM means a player from a different position will need to be be cut to make room.
-don't see anyone from the D backfield being cut
-don't see how we can afford to cut from LBs (Reilly?? Grigsby after his 4 game minimum??).
-don't see how we can afford a cut from the OL unless everyone is back to good health.
-he may be deactivated every game right now but Gill being cut would be a shock!
-can't cut our 3rd TE, Hollister, as I believe he is integral on STs and depth.
Maybe Francois is the odd man out no matter what the circumstance (though that would leave us thin on the interior DL).

In addition to RJF, ... Branch, Brown, Guy and A. Butler are all used regularly on the interior DL. Wise contributes on the interior at times. That's 5 "DT" plus Wise and Flowers - seven total DL.

In 2016, the Pats had only Branch, Brown and Valentine at DT (with minor contributions from Hamilton and Anthony Johnson). OTOH, they also had Nink, Sheard, Long and Flowers at DE - seven total DL - with occasional line-end contributions from HT and McClellin at OLB.
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During his first four games (after sitting wk-1) Hollister saw 25 snaps on ST and 34 snaps on offense (and had 2 catches on 5 tgts). In the last six games, Hollister has seen 19 snaps on offense (and only 1 tgt), with 75 snaps on ST - about 12/game - so he's participating on two of the four coverage or return units.

 

[Uptown]

Pats Pulpit on Twitter

"In the last two weeks, the Patriots blitzed Dolphins quarterback Matt Moore and the Raiders’ Derek Carr a combined 36 times," observed @ezlazar in his breakdown of the #Patriots' pass rush.”

 

[Kontradiction]

Pats Pulpit on Twitter

"In the last two weeks, the Patriots blitzed Dolphins quarterback Matt Moore and the Raiders’ Derek Carr a combined 36 times," observed @ezlazar in his breakdown of the #Patriots' pass rush.”

That shows extreme faith in the secondary to hold up in coverage. The team played it safe at the beginning of the season because Gilmore was still very much learning on the fly and there were blown coverages literally left and right. Gilmore seems to have the playbook down now, Butler is rebounding, and McCourty is still McCourty. The play in the secondary, which is quite clearly the strength of the defense, gave Belichick and Patricia the comfort to dial up more blitzes. That's what we're seeing.

And yes, the defense has improved. I knew it would improve. That's why I went out of my way to mock those that dropped a hot load in their pants at the beginning of the season. The talent was there. They need to stay healthy now and continue to work on stopping the run. Both are going to be keys if this unit is going to be Super Bowl-caliber in a month.