Dennis & Callahan feat. Greg Bedard: McCourty played one of his best games as a Patriot
This has quickly become a must-listen every week.
Playbook – 3rd Down Defense | The Flying Elvis
Playbook – 3rd Down Defense | The Flying Elvis
Nice breakdown using some all-22 pics from The Flying Elvis Blog, with Jermaine Cunningham getting called out. As we wrote earlier today I wouldn’t be surprised to see less of Cunningham this week.
Could Patriots make some defensive changes vs. Bills?
One of the most interesting things about the Patriots defense three games into the 2012 season is how straight forward their personnel groupings have been. If you look back at the last couple years (2010, 2011) you’d find almost wholesale changes from week to week and even down to down.
But this year the Patriots have morphed into a lighter, nickel-front 4-3 base defense that is better equipped to defend the pass on all downs. The result is that while in 2010 and 2011 the Patriots were trending toward nearly two-thirds of the snaps in their sub-defense, this year the trend is going back down toward fifty percent (52.9).
Through three weeks we’ve seen minimal changes on defense. The only notable exception being Sterling Moore passing Ras-I Dowling on the depth chart at nickel corner. But outside of giving guys occasional rest what we’ve seen is:
Ninkovich-Wilfork-Love-Jones
Hightower-Spikes-Mayo
McCourty-Chung-Gregory-Arrington
In the nickel either Spikes or Hightower comes off and Moore comes on. In the dime Spikes, Hightower and Love are replaced by Moore, Tavon Wilson (money position), and Jermaine Cunningham (interior rusher). And that’s pretty much it.
As someone who has been tracking the Patriots defensive personnel and packages extensively over the past three seasons I can tell you it’s never been this straightforward and simple.
But Sunday night’s defensive performance was a nightmare, so could that prompt the first real significant changes to this simplified defensive approach? Unlike the Ravens, who like to take shots down the field, the Bills get the ball out in a hurry, so perhaps some tweaks are needed to better defend them.
Here are three possibilities as I see it:
1. Moore in for Arrington – Arrington was picked on early and often against the Ravens and perhaps he would excel if he could just focus on nickel back duties. Moore has had a knack for making plays and seems to be on the rise since the start of season. Maybe it’s time to give him a shot at starting on the outside.
2. Tracy White in at nickel linebacker – Spikes and Hightower have been rotating at this spot, but both really struggled in coverage against the Ravens. This could be where the Pats miss Dane Fletcher the most, and an area where everyone assumed Bobby Carpenter was going to help out before he got cut. The Pats threw White into this spot in the Super Bowl, along with a couple other times late last season. He’s not ideal, but against the quick-throwing Bills he could have a quickness and experience edge that could helpful.
3. Newly-signed Terrell McClain in for Cunningham at interior rusher – The interior pass rush was a position we talked a lot about this off-season and Cunningham was somewhat of a surprise to win the spot. So far Cunningham has one sack, and no QB hits or pressures despite showing some flash in the preseason. Perhaps McClain, who is known to have some get-upfield burst and is a more traditional inside pass rush presence, should get a shot. Against the Bills the Patriots must cause some interior disruption even if they don’t get to the quarterback. If there’s one area we could see some changes this week I think this is it. Perhaps even Trevor Scott getting a chance, or Brandon Deaderick if he can get healthy.
O Line Question(s). Im not sure if Im just biased or not-football-smart but I like Donald Thomas over Wendell. Hell, last year I liked Nick McDonald more than Wendell. So… What do you think of Wendell? Who do you think the Pats best 5 are on the line? What do you think of Thomas, and McDonald? What’s more important: putting out the most talented 5? OR sticking with what has been out there so far for continuity and chemistry? Whats going on with Connolly? Healthy yet? And Cannon? Is he good?
I actually think Wendell has been one of the biggest surprises so far this year. I don’t think anyone had him winning the center battle outright when camp started and so far this season he’s been pretty solid, especially in run blocking.
PFF has graded him 1.6, 2.1, 1.2 so far this season, though Greg Bedard noted he struggled a bit in pass protection against the Ravens. Still overall he’s been solid and it’s entirely possible that the Patriots see him as the long term solution at center. His play so far has shown promise.
Vollmer played all the snaps against the Ravens and that’s a positive development. If he can stay healthy he’s an impact player and he should only get better as he gets fully into game shape. As for Marcus Cannon he’s shown that he can be a decent fill in at right tackle. The question everyone has is whether or not he’s a better fit at right guard. Everyone outside of Bill Belichick seems to think he is, but we know whose opinion counts most there.
Connolly right now is the biggest question mark to me. He was solid at center last year but so far this year he’s been below average at right guard. He didn’t play in week two due to a concussion, but his grades from PFF this year are -3.6 and -1.5 with real struggles in run blocking. You can’t have that from your right guard.
Overall I’d expect the offensive line to do nothing but improve if they can all stay on the field. But for me Connolly is the biggest question mark right now.
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Gronkowski & staying in to block – New England Patriots Blog – ESPN Boston
Gronkowski & staying in to block – New England Patriots Blog – ESPN Boston
Releasing into routes: 33
Staying in to protect: 16
The 16 might be a bit more than the norm (just a guess, as this isn’t something normally charted here), but offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels wasn’t spinning things when he said of Gronkowski’s limited production, “I think it’s just a factor of the ball came out quick sometimes and we had some other people that were in situations to make plays based on what Baltimore did to us.” Those other players were mainly Brandon Lloyd and Wes Welker. On the majority of plays that Gronkowski released downfield, the ball was out of Brady’s hands to someone else before Gronkowski was at the stem of his route. In particular, the Patriots really seemed to like the one-on-one matchup on the outside against cornerback Cary Williams.
Patriot defense didn’t look revamped in first test – Patriots – Boston.com
Patriot defense didn’t look revamped in first test – Patriots – Boston.com
We can’t really turn the page to the next game until Greg Bedard weighs in with his weekly wrap up and most of what he writes here reinforces what the PFF breakdown saw, though I tend to trust Bedard’s analysis more than the anonymous PFF guy.
Biggest takeaway? The defensive performance is concerning, and though Bedard didn’t include it here, he was wondering on twitter last night whether off-man coverage can even work any more in today’s NFL. I hope he writes more on that because it’s been a main ingredient of the bend-don’t-break, but it’s like pretty much giving up free completions against teams with any offensive presence. This quote sums it up:
The question the Patriots have to be asking themselves is: Is it time to change how we do things — at least against good teams? Because an increased talent level alone doesn’t look like it will be good enough against elite teams.