PatsPropaganda

There’s no way to sugar coat this one. Football Outsiders’ DVOA rankings (that basically measure efficiency) are ones that many NFL front offices do pay attention to and when they say your defense is bad it says something.

The Patriots have been 32nd or 31st the entire season vs. opposing #1 WRs. Against #2s and other wide receivers they’ve been hovering in the 20s. 

The only thing this Patriots defense has done efficiently this season is cover running backs, where they’re ranked 9th overall. Even against Tight Ends they are ranked 28th.

I will be the first to say that this defense has had it’s moments this year. Moments when they stepped up and made a big play with everything on the line. However they have been horribly inconsistent, and often times non-existant.

They have the fight, but they have yet to show they can play sixty minutes, consistently every week.  Can they put together three games against the iron of the AFC and NFC? At this moment it looks like a tall order.

But never say never when you have Tom Brady.

Great stuff from Bedard:

O’Brien and Brady have to be credited for changing course at halftime. O’Brien saw what the Dolphins were doing and decided to make things easier on his quarterback. In the first half, the Patriots ran just two plays with zero running backs on the field, and six with an empty set (no backs or receivers lined up next to Brady). The Patriots ran the first five plays of the second half with no backs on the field and an empty set. By the end of the second half, the Patriots had run 18 plays with no running backs, and 20 empty sets. That adjustment spread the Dolphins out more so Brady could tell where the blitzes were coming from. It also allowed the beat-up line to get a better idea of where the threats loomed. That helped Brady carry out the second big adjustment: getting rid of the ball quicker. Against 13 blitzes in the first half, Brady held the ball an average of 2.24 seconds. He was sacked twice, hurried three times, and knocked down twice for seven total quarterback pressures. In the second half, against 17 blitzes (only one of six rushers), Brady was hurried once and knocked down twice. Against those blitzes, Brady’s release time was 2.04 seconds. That’s an eternity for an offensive line.

Great poll on PatsFans. What would you prefer? 2009, 2010, or 2011’s Patriots defense?

Personally I’m going with 2011. It was a lot easier decision when Andre Carter was still upright, but I’m still sticking with this year’s gutsy squad that has consistently made more impressive stops than the previous two years. And that’s not saying a lot, but it’s saying something.