PatsPropaganda

I don’t know, but I’d certainly bet D’Anthony Batiste will be checking under his every night after Sunday.

Hmm, honest answer or voice of BB answer… let’s go honest. It’s going to take a very special game from the Cardinals to beat the Patriots. Defensively there’s no question that this is a talented group at all three levels. Calais Campbell and Darnell Dockett are no joke. But there are holes to attack, especially the outside linebackers, and the hurry up and spread should really put the pressure on Arizona and keep them from playing the way they’d like to.

Is it possible the Cards defensive line comes out on fire, the Pats o-line comes out flat, and things get dicey? Absolutely. But I still don’t believe the Cardinals have enough weapons outside of Larry Fitzgerald to put up enough points to keep up with the Pats. Last week the Pats defense looked the best they’ve looked since 2007, but I still think they’ll have some growing pains. Still, they’re offensive line is pretty brutal, and Chandler Jones should have a big day. Greg Bedard thinks he could have four sacks.

But ultimately it’s going to take a very special game, where all the bounces go the Cardinals way, for them to beat the Patriots in New England. Those games have happened in the past, see 2006 Jets/2010 Browns, but I just can’t imagine it happening this Sunday on the Pats home opener.

Definitely the 49ers, that should be an excellent game especially in December on Sunday Night Football. Coming off a short week after playing the Texans on Monday night should make it even a little more challenging. But ultimately you want your team to be ready to play tough physical football in the playoffs and the 49ers should provide the perfect pre-playoff warm-up for us, especially for our offense.

Oh I love this question! As I’ve written about a little bit I’ve been calling this defense the “Double Nose”, because it’s really like having two nose tackles from the old 3-4 in the middle, often two gapping, while trying to free up five other linebacker types to make plays. So in some ways you could also call it a 2-5. You’re right too though, 75 is a huge part of being able to run this defense because of the way he can control two gaps.

Here’s a good article about what the Pats did last year on defense from Chris Brown of SmartFootball.com. But last year was a lot closer to a traditional 4-3, even though they were mixing up gap responsibilities. They still do that but the biggest personnel switch has been going from someone like Shaun Ellis who is 6’ 5", 290, to someone like Rob Ninkovich who is 6’2", 260 at left defensive end. Ninkovich is really the key to this whole defense working against the run because he’s smaller than a traditional 4-3 defensive end. Usually the left defensive end spot is the place that gets run at the most.

Nink held up well against the run against the Titans, and though his pass rush numbers might’ve suffered a bit, he did everything they needed him too.

Ultimately the Patriots defense has evolved to this because in the modern NFL you need more athletes on the field, to not only get after the passer on every down, but also to deal with the numerous kinds of evolving threats that are becoming more and more common place.

So yes, I do think we could see more teams trying to emulate this style, but you really must have dominant nose tackle types like we have in Wilfork to make it work. Kyle Love’s improvement has also been a huge factor in making this defense work, and I’m sure we’ll see plenty of Ron Brace in there too before it’s all said and done.