Wonder how much BillB will let Flores run the Defense.

[Ring 6]

I like how you play both sides when it suits. Nicely failed to mention this factoid in the Butler thread where Butler was the starting CB when the D only gave up 14ppg per game, tried to say he was not a good corner


.

Nice story if it were true. Please find the post where I said butler was not a good corner
In any event saying the defense played well is not mutually exclusive to a player played poorly.
So I really don’t understand what your point is here.

 

[scott99]

I hope Flores does a good job if given the opportunity in 2018. I'd like to see more of an aggressive D (not the bend-don't-break-philosophy). Though I am not sure Patriots has the skilled players to be aggressive. No?

Agree 100%. The bend but don’t break, broke in half in the SB. A year earlier the Pats get the strip sack that changed the game, 4 sacks in SB 51, and several pressures that caused holding penalties.

SB 52, not a single sack, and the defense gives up 41 points. Where was the blitz? They let the QB sit back there all day and tear us apart. Send 8 guys after that back up QB. Nothing against Foles, he proved a lot to me in the Minnesota and Patriot’s game. But he was never touched.

P.S. You don’t need LT on one side and Andre Tippett on the other side, you don’t need the Bears front 7, to get effective pressure. Pats got 4 sacks in SB 51, including a strip sack. You just need pressure, you need to attack. You need to punch the QB in the mouth and make him think. Foles had ALL DAY. The Pats had good enough defensive backs to cover, IF they got pressure. They got ZERO pressure. Some plays, it seemed like Foles had 5 seconds to pass, that’s an eternity. The RPO also seemed to fool them, though they had 2 weeks to prepare for that.

 

[Sciz]

Agree 100%. The bend but don’t break, broke in half in the SB. A year earlier the Pats get the strip sack that changed the game, 4 sacks in SB 51, and several pressures that caused holding penalties.

SB 52, not a single sack, and the defense gives up 41 points. Where was the blitz? They let the QB sit back there all day and tear us apart. Send 8 guys after that back up QB. Nothing against Foles, he proved a lot to me in the Minnesota and Patriot’s game. But he was never touched.

They blitzed 20 times in the most recent Super Bowl, almost half of Foles’ passing attempts. They blitzed on the first three passes of the game, including a slot blitz from Chung on the very first snap.

 

[scott99]

They blitzed 20 times in the most recent Super Bowl, almost half of Foles’ passing attempts. They blitzed on the first three passes of the game, including a slot blitz from Chung on the very first snap.

So maybe I need the rephrase what I said. They didn’t do a good job at getting after the QB. 20 blitzes and no sacks ? It’s obvious what they have to work on, blitzing. Just in a whole, I was amazed at how bad the defense played. 2 weeks to prepare.

This is a team that has a record 8 sacks in their 1st playoff game. Just horrible coaching, horrible game plan, and horrible execution. No excuses, just bad defense.

 

[Ring 6]

Agree 100%. The bend but don’t break, broke in half in the SB. A year earlier the Pats get the strip sack that changed the game, 4 sacks in SB 51, and several pressures that caused holding penalties.

SB 52, not a single sack, and the defense gives up 41 points. Where was the blitz? They let the QB sit back there all day and tear us apart. Send 8 guys after that back up QB. Nothing against Foles, he proved a lot to me in the Minnesota and Patriot’s game. But he was never touched.

P.S. You don’t need LT on one side and Andre Tippett on the other side, you don’t need the Bears front 7, to get effective pressure. Pats got 4 sacks in SB 51, including a strip sack. You just need pressure, you need to attack. You need to punch the QB in the mouth and make him think. Foles had ALL DAY. The Pats had good enough defensive backs to cover, IF they got pressure. They got ZERO pressure. Some plays, it seemed like Foles had 5 seconds to pass, that’s an eternity. The RPO also seemed to fool them, though they had 2 weeks to prepare for that.

You realized that we blitzed in the SB and they blocked it so the QB had time to throw and less guys covering his receivers don’t you?

The difference in Sb 51 and 52 wasn’t scheme it was players making plays.

 

[maineman209]

Agree 100%. The bend but don’t break, broke in half in the SB. A year earlier the Pats get the strip sack that changed the game, 4 sacks in SB 51, and several pressures that caused holding penalties.

SB 52, not a single sack, and the defense gives up 41 points. Where was the blitz? They let the QB sit back there all day and tear us apart. Send 8 guys after that back up QB. Nothing against Foles, he proved a lot to me in the Minnesota and Patriot’s game. But he was never touched.

P.S. You don’t need LT on one side and Andre Tippett on the other side, you don’t need the Bears front 7, to get effective pressure. Pats got 4 sacks in SB 51, including a strip sack. You just need pressure, you need to attack. You need to punch the QB in the mouth and make him think. Foles had ALL DAY. The Pats had good enough defensive backs to cover, IF they got pressure. They got ZERO pressure. Some plays, it seemed like Foles had 5 seconds to pass, that’s an eternity. The RPO also seemed to fool them, though they had 2 weeks to prepare for that.

The refs didn't call offensive holding once all game on either team, IIRC.

The 2017 Pats OL was good, but still allowed Brady to get sacked 35 times over the course of the regular season. The Eagles much-hyped pass-rushing DL got to him just once in the SB.

The RPO worked very well against the Pats, not because they didn't have a pass-rush, but because they didn't have a run-defense. Those guys that everybody wanted to see blitzing and selling out to get pressure on Foles were also responsible for containing the run.

The RPO is merely another form of play-action, and the purpose of play-action is to make pass-rushers hesitate. It works even better if the DL guys have a hard time stopping the run even when they're focused on doing so.

If the Pats had blitzed more, the Eagles would've just run more. As it was, the Eagles got 164 on the ground at 6.1 yards per carry.

 

[mgteich]

The key for Brady's health is not how many times he was sacked; it is how many times he was hit. In 2017, Brady was hit a lot.

And to be clear (and also to blaspheme), we need better pass protection on the left side of the line that we had last year. IMHO, this is NOT supposed to be an issue for the patriots, at least not since Armstrong became our LT.

The refs didn't call offensive holding once all game on either team, IIRC.

The 2017 Pats OL was good, but still allowed Brady to get sacked 35 times over the course of the regular season. The Eagles much-hyped pass-rushing DL got to him just once in the SB.

The RPO worked very well against the Pats, not because they didn't have a pass-rush, but because they didn't have a run-defense. Those guys that everybody wanted to see blitzing and selling out to get pressure on Foles were also responsible for containing the run.

The RPO is merely another form of play-action, and the purpose of play-action is to make pass-rushers hesitate. It works even better if the DL guys have a hard time stopping the run even when they're focused on doing so.

If the Pats had blitzed more, the Eagles would've just run more. As it was, the Eagles got 164 on the ground at 6.1 yards per carry.

 

[maineman209]

The key for Brady's health is not how many times he was sacked; it is how many times he was hit. In 2017, Brady was hit a lot.

And to be clear (and also to blaspheme), we need better pass protection on the left side of the line that we had last year. IMHO, this is NOT supposed to be an issue for the patriots, at least not since Armstrong became our LT.

To be fair, the left side protection tightened up after the first four games. During that time, Solder was distract by his son's diagnosis that his cancer had returned. He even had at least two excused absences from practice during that time so that he could attend his son's treatment sessions. Solder himself volunteered that admission.

Then, when Cannon began missing consecutive games (ankle), the right side became more vulnerable in the second half of the season.

 

[goheels22002]

I can’t see him doing worse than last year

I think what drove people crazy in 2017 was the Patriots were poor on 3rd down. They were 22nd in the NFL in stopping opponents on 3rd down at 40.55%. That was worst among teams that made the playoffs. Frustrating for sure, but not fatal. Until the Super Bowl.

They give up yards, but so what? When you're second in overall points scored (by 0.1 point per game behind the Eagles), 1st in offensive points/game, 2nd in scoring margin, and 3rd in TDs/game, who cares about yards? (Most interesting to me was how good the Eagles were last year - they're in the top 5 in virtually every offensive category right there with the Patriots, the Rams and the Saints in 2017.)

The opponents threw the ball more and ran less against the Patriots because they were almost always behind in the 1st quarter.

2017 Patriots defense wound up 5th in points allowed, 1 point more than the Philadelphia Eagles. The Patriots were 2nd in rushing TDs allowed with a total of 6. The Patriots defense was +6 in turnovers - not tremendous but better than most teams in the NFL.

Is there room for improvement? Definitely. Could it worse? Most definitely.

 

[goheels22002]

Interesting to me looking at the stats for 2017, the Patriots scored 28.4 offensive ppg in 2017 and 28.2 offensive ppg in 2016. The consistency is amazing. If you're an opposing coach, you have to go into a game against the Patriots trying to figure out how to outscore them, not stop them.

The Jaguars playoff game was a case in point. That team played about as well defensively as you can against the Patriots and found themselves up 10 in the 4th quarter. Bortles played the game of his life - 23/36 293 passing yards, 0 interceptions. Brady was 26/38 for 290 yards. 20-10 in the 4th quarter and Brady puts two TDs on the board in the last 9 minutes while the defense stonewalls the Jags offense. 24-20. Over and Out.

Brady and McDaniels and Scarnecchia figured it out. The defense stepped up.