Daryl Washington rejuvenated Cardinals defense in pressure points | The MMQB with Peter King
Pats 9th in pass protection, 24th in pass rush. No question, they’re going to have to be better than that on Sunday or else they gonna get shredded.
What is your guess in how New England will scheme to stop Jimmy Graham? Will they assign Talib to him? And I am hoping to see more of Jamie Collins with all the speed the Saints have.
Collins was missing from practice today, so that bears monitoring. There’s just no easy solution to Graham, I think it will be by committee, with the only real objective being to avoid having Arrington or Dennard on him, they’re at a severe size disadvantage.
If he’s in tight to the formation I like having Hightower or Ninkovich designated as the jam guys. That’s the biggest thing, not letting him off the line. If he’s split out with I think you have to put Talib on him given your other options.
Is Jamie Collins ready to be the cover guy on him? I have my doubts, he’s been worked in slowly so far, and this would be a huge test for him.
I think this is a game where the lack of a great dime linebacker, like we had hopes of Adrian Wilson being, hurts. Gregory doesn’t quite have the size and Tavon Wilson hasn’t played a snap of defense yet this season.
So I think the main guys dealing with him are Hightower/Ninkovich at the line, Mayo in coverage and maybe some Collins, with a little Talib and Gregory sprinkled in.
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It comes down to team defense. You’re going to have to play solid coverage early and take away any quick-striking routes, and hopefully by the time patterns develop and the combinations are forming, you possibly have a rush up the middle. This is where the possibility of not having 6-foot-6, 310-pound defensive tackle Tommy Kelly, who left Sunday’s loss to the Bengals with a knee injury and didn’t return, could hurt them. You want to try to get in Drew Brees’ face this week, or at least get someone with 2-3 yards of penetration and their hands up because Brees is a short player – you see him every week tilting that chin up, with that face mask and helmet at a 45-degree angle to help him get a line of sight over taller defensive linemen that are usually blocking his line of vision. Up-the-middle pocket pressure is something you have to generate. Last week against Chicago, that’s a Bears defense that will take away the big play and make you earn it down the field by completing passes in front of them. That’s somewhat of a philosophy that the Patriots might try to adopt this week.
https://www.patspropaganda.com/it-comes-down-to-team-defense-youre-going-to/
New England defense vs. Tampa Bay
https://www.patspropaganda.com/pottsisstarksheart-new-england-defense-vs/
When gronk returns how do you think they will use him
Red zone and third down at first, they’ll manage him a bit like they did for Amendola. Those are the two spots Gronk is best at and two spots where the Pats have struggled most.