PatsPropaganda

An Independent Patriots Blog

Mike Dussault

Patriots Mailbag: How will the defense be different? – ESPN Boston

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Patriots Mailbag: How will the defense be different? – ESPN Boston

Bill Belichick has seemingly altered his value system for defensive personnel. In the past, it is my opinion that Belichick viewed prospects through the lens of the 3-4 defense and the two-part question that would be asked of a potential first-round draft choice was “Where does he fit in the 3-4 and can he also help on third down?” These days, because the game is so spread out and the Patriots are in sub packages more than the base 3-4 (63 percent to 34 percent in 2011 regular season), a player who projects to a sub role has a greater value than he might have had five years ago when the statistics were probably flipped. The 3-4 isn’t as important and athletic players who can play in space have greater value. I think this is the first year Belichick’s draft approach reflects that he’s on board with that line of thinking. The third-down defense was 28th in the NFL last year and 32nd two years ago.

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https://www.patspropaganda.com/17353/

Source: Mankins among six to Active/PUP – ESPN Boston

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Source: Mankins among six to Active/PUP – ESPN Boston

From our article last week “Predicting the Pats PUP’ers” numbers 2, 3, and 4 of the top 5 have been PUP’d.

Still not ruling Mankins out for the opener, but maybe it’s best to go easy on him.

Pryor is big disappointment, just lost a little more faith in him being the interior pass rusher this team so badly needs.  Did the door just open for Justin Francis a bit more?

Vollmer’s inability to get healthy is really starting to concern me. Is Marcus Cannon capable of being the starting right tackle? Because right now heading into camp the O-line looks like this:

Solder-Connolly-Koppen-Waters (?)-Cannon

or even…

Solder-Gallery-Connolly-Wendell-Cannon?

Not exactly the veteran crew we’re used to. Dante Scarnecchia has yet another chance to prove his worth, which I’m sure he will. But yeah, a little bit nervous about all the turnover.

Finally with Spikes he must still be recovering from knee surgery, but this isn’t going to help him in his looming battle with Dont’a Hightower for playing time. At least we’ll get a lot of looks at Hightower. I wonder if he leaves the field in preseason.

But hey, no Gronk on the list is a huge plus. He was my number one guy needed healthy and it looks like the Gronkle has finally been put to rest.

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Already, word inside Gillette Stadium is that Hightower is showcasing a veteran’s know-how and a let’s-get-to-work attitude. That’s no surprise. He comes to New England from Alabama, where former Bill Belichick assistant Nick Saban is the coach, and has already said it has made the transition smoother than it might have been elsewhere. Hightower fits in any defensive scheme, and Belichick has already compared his football smarts to Mayo’s, and his versatility to Mike Vrabel’s. When Belichick talks like that, as he did on SiriusXM NFL Radio in April, you know he’s excited about the possibilities.

Bold predictions for training camp – New England Patriots Blog – ESPN Boston

https://www.patspropaganda.com/already-word-inside-gillette-stadium-is-that/