Boston Globe/Bedard: Weak Spots Glaring on Patriots Defense

I’m really trying not to post any more articles about the Steelers game but I thought this one was especially good and really boiled down the major trouble spots for the Pats D.

Frenz and I discussed this a little bit on the podcast this morning, but let’s just say Guyton, Ninkovich, Ihedigbo and Moldin were exposed against the Steelers. The Patriots either need to do a better job of hiding them or get the off them off the field in the situations Bedard mentions.

I agree with Frenz that a simple fix could be just to replace Ninkovich as the pass rushing left end in nickle packages with Mark Anderson. I’d even throw Guyton out there as a potential SLB replacement against teams that are doing what the Steelers did. He might not be able to hold up against the run but he certainly could get better depth in his pass drops than Ninkovich.

I’m still curious to see if Ihedigbo remains the starter when Josh Barrett comes back, and I think we’re otherwise stuck with our corners as they are. Hoodie forbid an injury to Arrington or McCourty, the secondary depth is as thin as it’s ever been and no one wants to go back to the days of signing defensive backs off the street.