PatsPropaganda

An Independent Patriots Blog

Mike Dussault

ESPN: Belichick re-defining the linebacker position

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ESPN: Belichick re-defining the linebacker position

This article is a definite must-read, but it’s back from September 2005 when the Patriots were coming off their 3rd Super Bowl in four years and everything was just rainbows and roses.

This is the best section…

Belichick’s 3-4 scheme is the next step in this evolution. The Steelers’ 3-4 zone blitz was defensive-line oriented and redefined what defensive linemen could do. The Patriots’ 3-4 scheme is linebacker-oriented and is similarly breaking the mold for linebackers.

Belichick recognized two problems with a defensive-line oriented zone blitz scheme. First, even though you can drop the nose tackle into the short zone, it’s not likely he’ll be agile enough at 300 or so pounds to be adept in coverage. Second, to run the scheme properly, a team must find very athletic defensive ends who not only can play the run and rush the passer but also can drop into coverage. Such players are rare.

The Patriots’ solution to the first problem was fairly simple. Instead of dropping oversized nose tackles into coverage, they opted to give that assignment to the 3-4 inside linebacker. Known as “pluggers,” these are bigger linebackers whose main purpose is to stuff the run, but they can defend the pass better than nose tackles. On passing downs, about the only time they’d need a nose tackle to drop into coverage, the Patriots replace the lineman with a plugger linebacker lined up as a nose tackle. If the opponent runs the ball, the plugger is big enough to help stop it. If the opponent passes, he’s much better equipped to drop back.

New England’s solution to the second problem was, in hindsight, fairly obvious, but it didn’t seem so at the time. In 1996, New England drafted defensive lineman Tedy Bruschi out of Arizona. At 250 pounds, Bruschi was a bit small to play defensive end and was struggling, so Belichick and his staff decided to teach Bruschi to play linebacker. His success as a rush linebacker in the 3-4 zone blitz scheme led to an epiphany of sorts. The Patriots realized they could draft undersized defensive linemen and convert them into linebackers. In doing so, they oriented their zone blitz scheme around linebackers rather than defensive linemen. This subtle and seemingly small change had several advantages.

Football University: The 3-4 Defense

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Football University: The 3-4 Defense

We’re finishing off our week of the 3-4 defense strong with this great article with pretty pictures!

“You build it from the inside out,” Collier said. “The nose tackle and the inside linebackers, those are three guys that are very important. But when you go through it, the nose tackle is probably the single-most important guy.”

What do you want from your nose tackle? 

“He has to hold it all together and make it so the guards can’t get out on the inside linebackers. Let me put it this way – the nose tackle can make the inside linebackers look pretty good, and if your inside linebackers look pretty good, you’re going to play pretty good defense.”

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Is this a sign of Saturday’s rapture? Because this is what I’ll be seeing when the world ends. I hope.

https://www.patspropaganda.com/is-this-a-sign-of-saturdays-rapture-because-this/

The Adventure of Nink: Rob Ninkovich a building block for the Patriots

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When the Patriots signed an unknown long snapper/reserve 4-3 defensive end who had spent time with the Dolphins and Saints named Rob Ninkovich a week into 2009’s training camp no one thought much of it. The Patriots are always signing guys like this, and usually they don’t last very long.

Some were probably surprised when Ninkovich made the 2009 squad, I know I was, and it appeared early on that he was little more than just a special teamer, ala Larry Izzo. Nothing against Izzo, teams need guys like that, but there was no indication that the undersized Ninkovich was ever going to make an impact in the base defense.

He played on all special teams right out of the gate, and began to see some spot duty at outside linebacker as Adalius Thomas fell out of favor with the Patriots.

As is often the case with players that Bill Belichick likes, Ninkovich slowly began to see more and more time on the field in defensive situations as the 2009 season progressed, even earning a two year contract extension in early December.

In the last four games of the season he averaged 31% of the snaps as an outside linebacker.

Still, Patriots fans weren’t sure what to make of Ninkovich. Was he just a stop gap? A core special teams guy who was getting a shot in the base and sub defenses by default? Or was he a real building block as Belichick re-built his defense?

Clearly the contract extension and gradual increases in playing time and role indicated that the Patriots liked Ninkovich, but it was still unclear at the end of 2009 just what his ceiling might be. Most probably hoped he’d get beaten out by a rookie pass rusher in 2010 and his career with the Patriots would be over.

In 2010 Ninkovich continued to build on his 2009 season, seeing significant snaps throughout the season in an outside linebacker rotation with Jermaine Cunningham, Tully Banta-Cain, and later in the season Eric Moore. Yet despite a 4 sack, 2 interception, and 62 tackle season many Patriots fans remains skeptical that Ninkovich is anything more than a seat filler until the team could draft or sign a big name OLB.

However I believe that he’s a far bigger piece of the puzzle than most.

First, let’s begin with the below chart as an overview of Ninkovich’s playing time over the past two season. As you can see he has steadily improved and gotten more and more time as his Patriots career has progressed.

Patriots Rob Ninkovich

Now it’s clear that Ninkovich has strengths and weaknesses, as evidenced by the continued spikes in playing time over 2010. When you analyze which games he played more and less in, it’s apparent that the Patriots view his biggest strength as a 3-4 base defense run stopper.

If you compare his playing time spikes to Brandon Spikes’ you’ll notice a correlation. Both played their highest snap totals against the ground and pounders. The top three games Ninkovich played the highest percentage of the snaps (not counting the season ender vs. Miami) were:

  1. Ravens (75.3%)
  2. Browns (62.9%)
  3. Jets game one (60.8%)

The games he played least? Pass happy San Diego and Indianapolis.

Taking another look at the Ravens game and the Jets playoff game showed me a lot on Ninkovich. In the playoff game especially Ninkovich came to play, setting the edge with authority and demonstrating a relentless pass rush that forced pressure on Mark Sanchez a few times.

He had 2 passes defended and four tackles in that game, and it’s worth mentioning that the Pats D fell apart in the fourth quarter after Ninkovich had been lost with a knee injury. Not to say that was the reason why, but he brought an “A” effort against the Jets, and losing him with an already depleted OLB crew certainly hurt.

Some will remain unconvinced, despite 2010 being the first season that Ninkovich played consistently in a defense for an NFL team. They’ll look at his mere four sacks and conclude that he’s not the answer for the pass rush problems, especially since two of them came in the meaningless game seventeen.

Well let’s take a look at Mike Vrabel’s sack numbers over his career with the Pats: 3, 4.5, 9.5, 5.5, 4.5, 4.5, 12.5, 4. Doesn’t seem like Ninkovich is that far off does it? Vrabel took a similar path to the Patriots, and it wasn’t until his third season under BB’s tutelage that he really blossomed.

One thing that is continually marginalized is the effect of a player getting experience in the Belichick 3-4 defense. In a read and react defense the more experience you have, the quicker and better your reads are, and the more decisive your reactions will be.

With two full years in the system, and one playing extensively, I don’t think it’s a stretch to expect Ninkovich to become an even bigger impact outside linebacker for the Patriots.

When I watch him play against the physical Ravens and Jets teams I see a player who is tough and ready to take on blockers. It’s not always perfect with him for sure, he lost contain more than a couple times this past season, but his playing time would not continue to rise if Belichick did not see something in him.

I believe Ninkovich has demonstrated enough in all aspects of the game that he is definitely a player who will be a solid piece of an outside linebacker rotation for the Patriots, and not just an out-of-place special teamer who should be nothing more than a back up.

Patriots Rob Ninkovich

For a look at Ninkovich’s football journey, check out this piece from Mike Reiss.

Frenz: Where does Fletcher fit into Patriots defense

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Frenz: Where does Fletcher fit into Patriots defense

By now everyone is well aware of my man crush on Dane Fletcher and our buddy Frenz put together a nice overview of where we stand with Fletch, or as I might like to call him from here on out “Mr Poon”.

The thing with Mr. Poon is that it’s pretty rare for a rookie linebacker to even see the field, much less play… in order of frequency… nickel linebacker, inside linebacker, and outside linebacker. Clearly BB thinks he’s got the tools, and if he adds some weight who knows what his ceiling is.

But he’s definitely one guy who could be looked to to help the pass rush sitch.

60MaxPowerO.com: The beginning of the Patriots hybrid defense

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60MaxPowerO.com: The beginning of the Patriots hybrid defense

Good stuff from the guys over at 60MaxPowerO.com. There’s also a part one to this article but it was more about BB’s Giants defenses and I really don’t care much about his philosophy back then because you know, he had Lawrence Taylor and that makes things a lot easier.

The focus of this article is really Willie McGinest…. 

Using McGinest in a joker type role allowed him to roam and exploit gaps he was going to rush. The key here is that McGinest could position himself down or up on the line, thus creating a link from 4-3 to 3-4. So one of a QB’s reads are: who’s on the edges? If McGinest is standing up he’s probably in pass coverage (one may think ) and if he’s down, he’s rushing (again, one might think). Now, use the inverse and there’s the QB’s conundrum – is he coming or dropping?