An Independent Patriots Blog
TBT: Take a stop by the Pats Propaganda Hall of Fame
What a long, strange trip it’s been since I started blogging about the Pats in December of 2007.
And yes, that’s a real Ernie Adams autograph. Possibly the only one in existence and easily the coolest autograph I have. Real Patriots fan know who that mystery man is.
One thing the [Patriots] do so well is they evaluate themselves from a coaching standpoint and in evaluating players. But when I got there in 2011, one coach was here had worked there 10 years. Another had been there 12 years. Another guy learning to be an offensive line coach had been there for three or four years. The staff was such a tight-knit group and they worked together. It’s tough when you don’t have consistency in coaches. The philosophy and style changes. The play-calling changes. The scheme changes. It’s like starting over. That’s one of the toughest things from a team standpoint to go through. With the Patriots, you knew who we had and who they could trust and when you have that consistency it makes things so much easier.
https://www.patspropaganda.com/one-thing-the-patriots-do-so-well-is-they/
To support a conservative defensive approach? I have one: more games won than any other team in the NFL over the last 13 years.
Look, I know it can be infuriating to watch when some crummy QB lights up the Pats defense for hundreds of yards yet somehow the Pats win. BB don’t care about that. He don’t care about stats. He cares about winning the game. So if he thinks your QB is incapable of playing mistake-free for 60 minutes against a conservative zone defense, that’s what he’ll run if he thinks it’s the best chance to win the game.
Here’s a list of select crappy QBs who have thrown for 300+ yards on the Pats since 2001 (there have been 53 total):
The Pats’ record in games where they allow a 300+ yard passer? 39-14.
Only eight times did one of those 300+ passers not throw an interception. In those games the Pats were 4-4.
19 times did those QBs throw for 2 or more interceptions. The Pats were 16-3 in those games.
So passing yards allowed don’t mean a whole heck of a lot. As maddening as it is to watch, it works over the course of 60 minutes.
Stay in the AFC East.
There’s one unknown with him as I see it – how injured was he BEFORE the final preseason game. Because up until that point he didn’t seem like was fighting a potential season-ending injury. And usually, if you’re a veteran and you’re playing the entire final preseason game, it’s not a good sign.
But maybe it was some kind of injury that was lingering and he was trying to play through it and now he’s healthy and will have some burst back.
From camp reports last summer it just didn’t sound like he could run anymore. Arizona was already pulling him off the field in 2012 in passing situations, seems like a sign.
But maybe most important is asking where does he fit into the defense now? The only potential role I see is as the dime linebacker, but I think Jamie Collins is a far better option there.
Where else does Wilson fit? I don’t really see it. He’s not starting at strong safety over Gregory or else teams will expose him in coverage all day long.
I know we’d all like that intimidating strong safety to replace Gregory, but I don’t think Wilson is that guy any more. There will be some options in the draft there, that seems most likely to me. They’d replace Tavon Wilson on the depth chart and special teams with McCourty/Gregory/Harmon being the primary safety rotation for 2014.
My response might surprise some people but I don’t think they’re really comparable. The Pats were a perfect storm around Brady and with their schedule. The defense was on its last legs, but they still had a good front seven. They feasted on the weak AFC and NFC West divisions as well. They were still a good team, they just couldn’t beat the elite teams in the AFC (Pittsburgh/San Diego/Indy) and of course they got the Wildcat run all over them.
The Colts not only had Manning go down but their weapons and offensive line were also in shambles. They had the AFC North and NFC South as well, two of the best divisions at the time. I wouldn’t have thought Cassel was much better than Orlovsky/Painter/etc. going into 2008, but clearly he was pretty well prepared and the Pats knew how to play to his strengths. Moss/Welker and a veteran offensive line certainly helped too.
I don’t think the Pats’ collapse would’ve been quite as bad as 2-14 in that situation, but take away Welker and a couple of their offensive linemen along with Brady in 2008 and have them play two of the better divisions and they would’ve been a lot closer to .500 than 11-5.
Despite the Pats being able to change up their offensive attack week to week, I think the plan to stop them is pretty simple, at least over the past few seasons.
Things are going to change in 2017 for the Patriots defense. The list of defenders due to hit free agency after this season is long and talented — Dont’a Hightower, Jamie Collins, Jabaal Sheard, Alan Branch, Logan Ryan, Duron Harmon and Chris Long are some of the high profile names. Now, the Patriots have the cap […]