When we won championships, there was one similar characteristic to all those defenses – big plays that resulted in points. Sometimes just turnovers, sometimes scoring on defense. That’s exactly what this defense did on opening day. If they can keep this up, they’re on their way.
Offensive snaps: Where’s Welker? – New England Patriots Blog – ESPN Boston
Offensive snaps: Where’s Welker? – New England Patriots Blog – ESPN Boston
Receiver Wes Welker’s reduced workload stood out. After playing in 89.2 percent of the team’s total offensive snaps in 2011, he split time with Julian Edelman. Welker had a quiet game (3 catches for 14 yards) and this type of plan – and his playing time – makes one wonder if it’s the potential beginning of a less Welker-centric attack.
I wasn’t planning on commenting on this whole Welker storyline but an IM conversation with Frenz sparked my agitation enough that I had to chime in. These are the sorts of things you have to expect when there’s no a lot to complain about with your team.
So, a few points. The offense now has two primary pieces: Gronk and Hernandez. Clearly this is supported because they played all the snaps. Those two players can do a pretty good job at dominating the center of the field, something that Welker also excels at.
In 2011, there was no X wide receiving threat, thus the strengths of the Patriots wide outs were somewhat redundant to Hernando and Gronk. Welker and Branch also excelled in the middle of the field. The end result was a team that could dominate the short passing game in the middle of the field but struggled outside the numbers and deep.
Enter Brandon Lloyd, and the Patriots now have a legit X wide receiver who can challenge defenses on the perimeter. So it’s really Lloyd who ate in to Welker’s snaps a bit, and I’m not really sure why anyone is complaining about that.
Can anyone tell me why we’d want to go back to throwing to Welker constantly and getting him lit up multiple times per game? Welker is the definitive slot receiver, and not having to depend on your slot wide receiver to perform outside and deep is a luxury not a constraint.
Ultimately the Patriots will be a better offense without having to constantly lean on Welker, and Welker will be a better, and possibly, healthier player at the end of the year without having to take all the extra abuse.
Let’s not forget Welker still played almost double the snaps Edelman did, and just 14 less than Lloyd. Is the attack going to be less Welker-centric? Sure, but that’s a good thing for everyone involved.
As I see it a drop in Welker’s receptions will signify a better balanced offense, and one that will be more difficult to defend.
This week’s Bottom Line Player of the Week is an easy choice for me. It’s a guy that I wasn’t overly impressed with based on what was available of YouTube highlights. A guy I put on my big board somewhat reluctantly. And a guy that suddenly became the fastest riser just a week before the draft.
Yes, I’m talking about Chandler Jones. Even after the Pats selected him, and pundits like Mike Lombardi and Mike Mayock were saying he could end up being the best player in the draft, we all still thought it would take some time for Jones to find his way. He needed to get stronger. He wasn’t explosive.
Well what a different a few months make. Jones seized his opportunity when Rob Ninkovich missed a couple training camp practices and he’s barely left the field since. We’ve known all along that a true elephant defensive end in the mold of Willie McGinest is the kind of player the Patriots truly needed to do all the things they want to be able to do.
Andre Carter was a great addition last year, but we knew he wasn’t the ideal right end because he wasn’t really suited to play in space. But now Jones has left us all saying “Andre who?” just one game into the 2012 season.
Jones has shown up in every aspect of the game. From getting pressure, to playing stout and aggressive at the point of attack. He is going to be a cornerstone in this defense for a long, long time, so this should be his first of many Bottom Line Player of the Weeks.
Charting base vs. sub defense – New England Patriots Blog – ESPN Boston
Charting base vs. sub defense – New England Patriots Blog – ESPN Boston
The Patriots played two different sub packages on Sunday – a nickel with cornerback Ras-I Dowling replacing either linebacker Dont’a Hightower or linebacker Brandon Spikes, and a dime with Dowling and safety Tavon Wilson replacing Spikes and Hightower.
Quick look at the Patriots defensive packages on Sunday:
4-3 Base
50-75-74-95
54-55-51
32-28-25-24
Nickel
50-75-96-95
51-55
32-28-25-24-21
Dime
50-75-96-95
51
32-27-28-25-24-21
Of course there are tweaks to these groupings, including using Deaderick instead of Ninkovich for a heavier look, but really it hasn’t been this simple for the Pats on defense in a long time.
The great part of not using a ton of different guys is that it help communication develop. Imagine how well these guys should be working together by January. You can’t put a price on having a defense that is always on the same page. If they can stay healthy this could be a dominant group, and not just this year, but for the next five to ten years.
Notes on a solid start to the Patriots season
I don’t want to overreact so I’ve been putting off writing too much about yesterday’s Patriots-Titans game until now. If I get too excited at all below just please take it with a grain of salt. This is a young team and there will be growing pains but… WOW.
– Let’s start on the defensive side where the Pats seem very focused on keeping it simple. The biggest question we had was could this new nickel-front 4-3 base stop the run. Well Chris Johnson had 4 yards rushing. The longest run the Pats gave up was a 9-yard scramble to Jake Locker. I don’t know exactly what to make of it, but that’s a dominating performance and one that will certainly skew some pretty looking stats favorably for us as the season goes on. We knew the Pats would be physical, but no one was expecting that kind of run defense.
– You can say this run defense will be an anomaly, but the foursome of Wilfork-Love and Spikes-Hightower were absolutely dominant. For the first time in a long time this defense looks like they have the ability to be game changers, not just game managers.
– In the simplest terms the Patriots defense just looks like all the high draft picks they’ve made over the past four seasons are finally coming together. They’re just more talented. It’s no longer a defense of specialization, where there would be whole sale personnel changes between first and third down. Now the Pats are pretty much ready to handle anything with their base 11 guys.
– Pats starting defense: five homegrown first round picks, two homegrown second round picks, three undrafted free agents (one homegrown), and Ninkovich who was taken in the fifth round.
– Chandler Jones was the biggest missing piece. I am blown away by how good he’s looked, and the fact that he rarely came off the field shows the Pats have been blown away too. This looks like a defense ready to ascend and dominate for a long time, with Jones as one of the centerpieces.
– Spikes and Hightower split time as nickel linebackers, will need to take a closer look to see who was better. But I was really impressed with how well Hightower moves.
– On offense it’s a very similar approach to the defense. They’re keeping it extremely simple with their personnel, and letting the personnel’s versatility dictate what they do.
– Brandon Lloyd already looks like everything they need on the outside. They won’t miss a long pass like that one again.
– I was never overly worried about the offensive line. I still think they’ll have moments, and perhaps even games, of inconsistency. But overall they looked very good against the Titans, and it’s a promising sign considering how much changeover they had. Not many teams don’t miss a beat after experiencing all the juggling on the line that they Patriots did this off-season.
– I’m sure they’ll try to preserve Ridley a little bit, but wow was he impressive. The strange thing is how many negative runs he seemed to have. Law Firm never really had those, but he also never had the explosive second-level moves that Ridley featured that picked him up a lot of extra yardage. Overall it looks like the backfield will be in good hands. I expect Brandon Bolden to slowly get more and more of a chance to show what he can do. Who knows how Vereen will fit in when he comes back.
– Need to take a closer look at Welker’s snaps but I wouldn’t really read too much into him playing a reduced role. That’s a benefit I think, not a sign of decline.
– Haven’t given enough props to Julian Edelman this season yet. Seems like he really did make Branch, Gaffney and Stallworth expendable, and he’s getting his chances on offense now.
Overall it’s hard not to think that top to bottom this is the most talented team the Patriots have had. That might sound ridiculous considering how good the Pats have been over the years, but they’ve never been this loaded with young talent.
In year’s past there was always something to overcome, whether it was a lack of weapons (dynasty years through 2006), or an aging and/or rebuilding defense (2007-2011). This year’s team looks like they should be more balanced than ever on offense, and are flashing the kind of talent of defense the likes of which we haven’t seen since the early part of last decade.
Defensive snaps: Jones earns trust – New England Patriots Blog – ESPN Boston
Defensive snaps: Jones earns trust – New England Patriots Blog – ESPN Boston
Linebackers Dont’a Hightower and Brandon Spikes split time in the nickel. Both came off in the dime as Jerod Mayo is the lone all-packages linebacker. … Cornerback Ras-I Dowling was the nickel back, and when he came on to the field, it pushed Kyle Arrington into the slot. … One line of thinking was that maybe Vince Wilfork would see a reduction in snaps with more depth on the line, but that wasn’t the case in the opener. He had a heavy workload. … Jermaine Cunningham saw time at defensive end in the base defense and also as an interior rusher in the dime package, and was productive based on his snaps, also drawing a holding penalty. … The top three safeties – Patrick Chung, Steve Gregory and Tavon Wilson – were part of a rotation.
