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An Independent Patriots Blog

Review/Preview: 5 Things We Watched & 5 Things to Watch

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Last week, I asked these questions about the Point-least Game ever. Here’s what I came up with for answers.

terrance-knighton-nfl-new-england-patriots-minicamp-1

Credit: Winslow Townson – USA TODAY Sports

1. What the hell is happening on defense, specifically at LB?
A: Um, a whole lot. For a more philosophical look read Mike’s piece on BB’s defense 2.0. Also Doug Kyed touched on it in his mailbag.
This defense is jacked with talent, more importantly versatile talent, quick, smart, instinctive guys who will play through the whistle. Shea McClellan looks the part, he was in on nearly everything when he was out there. In front of him, the DTs were able to push into the running lanes early and often; really nice depth there and I think Alan Branch could be cut. Also Pot Roast’s gut is as advertised.

How is that guy a pro athlete?

The player that I was most excited to see was Kamu Grugier-Hill. He looked lost, not a surprise for a 6th round pick, but multiple times he was too anxious to go after his coverage assignment, even if they were staying in to block and even when his assignment was pointed out to him, he got caught up in the wash somehow. His coverage skills apparently stand out in practice, but he doesn’t possess the size at LB to make significant contributions in the running game, as evidenced by his several back-tapping assisted tackles. It is an intriguing enough idea (a coverage specialist LB), but the dude needs time. And protein.

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5 Patriots To Watch vs. Bears

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It’s preseason week 2, and yet again all I truly care about this week is staying healthy. Aside from that it should be an interesting game, as a number of significant players are dealing with seemingly minor injuries that should hold them out of action. That means the trickle down effect should give quite a few under-the-radar types a chance to shine in more prominent roles.

Here are the five guys who I’ll be watching most closely.

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Tweets of Note: Patriots Final Training Camp Practice #16

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And that’ll do it for training camp. It’s been just under three weeks and now practices won’t be open to the public as the team transitions to more of their usual schedule. It’s good that the Pats escaped this portion of the summer, including two weeks of joint practices, without a season-ending injury to anyone important. Of course there’s still plenty of time to go before the season starts, including three games, but making it this far is a good sign.

The final joint practice with the Bears was little more than a walk through, so there were no fights and no great plays to report. Still there was plenty to take away as far as tomorrow night’s game is concerned.

Here are the final Tweets of Note…

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Breaking Down Patriots’ Preseason Defense

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Screen Shot 2016-08-16 at 10.16.31 AMEveryone knows the Patriots preseason defense is vanilla ice cream. You’re not going to unveil some revolutionary new tactic or formation when it doesn’t matter. And Bill Belichick is never one to tip his hand if he has something interesting brewing.

It seems like every season everyone gets so wrapped up in 3-4 vs. 4-3, who’s standing up, etc. that we get confused trying to figure out something that is far less complicated than we’re all making it out to be.

Here’s the biggest thing to remember — the Patriots were in sub defense for 84 percent of the snaps in 2016. They’ve been trending that way since 2009. So any discussion of 3-4 vs. 4-3 applies to less than 15 percent of the snaps. And the truth is that the techniques in both these defenses are the same. Just because one guy is standing up or has his hand down doesn’t make much difference.

For all the talk of “Ninkovich is playing linebacker!!”, here he is, playing linebacker in the 4-3 under in 2011, just like McClellin was doing last week.

Patriots Preseason Defense

So here’s a look at the vanilla base schemes the Patriots defense ran against the Saints, using the plays right out of Bill Belichick’s 1997 Jets playbook.

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Tweets of Note: Patriots Training Camp Practice #15

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It was another chippy day at joint practices between the Patriots and the Bears. More players were ejected and it seems clear these teams are going to get after it on Thursday night. I have to say I enjoy the extra business going on. Yes, it might distract from some of the work that needs to be done, but it also forges a team and bonds them against an early common enemy. If someone tries to push them around this season, we know how they’ll react.

But the best part of this practice though was reading about Julian Edelman being uncoverable. Yes, the injury scare from last week is far behind him now as Edelman is seemingly back to where he was before the injury last season. Keeping him at that level now through February is the goal, and it certainly won’t be an easy one.

Here are the tweets of note from Tuesday’s practice.

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Belichick’s 2.0 Patriots Defense Hitting Their Prime

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Remember Gary Guyton?

One of the major influences on why I started blogging about the Patriots was to see how Bill Belichick would execute a full defensive turnover with absolute power. How many times in football history has a coach had full control to rebuild a defense from scratch? Few have that kind of longevity, and while Tom Brady has been Belichick’s constant on the offensive side of the ball, the defense barely resembles what it looked like just five short years ago.

Despite the record-setting 2007 season, the Patriots defense was getting old and slow. A lot of their deficiencies were covered by their unstoppable offense. By 2008 the cracks were even more apparent, especially without Asante Samuel. That offseason things went into full turnover mode.

Mike Vrabel was traded. Rodney Harrison, Rosevelt Colvin, and Tedy Bruschi retired. Richard Seymour was traded. And just like that, the dynasty defense was no more.

Jerod Mayo and Vince Wilfork were the cogs to build around, but the holes around them from 2009-2012 were glaring. It was a revolving door in the secondary, where no cornerback or safety seemed to stick outside of Devin McCourty. Gary Guyton and Tully Banta-Cain played prominent roles. Street free agents were regularly making starting appearances. It was ugly.

By the grace of Tom Brady, the Patriots offense was just so good, the team glided through this down period of having a terrible defense. They gave up a ton of yards and more big plays than anyone else from 2009-2012, and were near the bottom of the league on third down. They still won 49 games because they forced turnovers and had Brady.

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Tweets of Note: Patriots Training Camp Practice #14

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The Patriots were on the field with the Bears on Monday starting three days of joint practices prior to Thursday night’s second preseason game. This should be a good chance to face another veteran quarterback with some interesting size/speed combo weapons who should give the Pats’ defenders some new looks and challenges.

We’re in the dog days of summer now with just under four weeks to go before the Pats open the 2016 campaign in Arizona. Every practice rep, every injury, it’s all so critical now.

Here are the tweets that stood out.

So this makes two times already this summer I’ve accepted a player was likely done for the year only to have him return to practice. Even if he can’t do much contact stuff, just being out there and being able to get some reps and stay in the flow of the season is huge for Mitchell. But seriously, how the hell can he be back out there so soon after his arm got pretzeled? Another impressive moment for a rookie who is quickly making a name for himself.

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