Despite prognostications of doom, the young Patriots defense looked fast and hungry against the Bengals and all of a sudden everyone loves them again. The offense was what we thought it would be, explosive with more threats than last year. Some quick thoughts on the defense.
– The Pats matched their corners to the Bengals receivers throughout the game. This is a switch from the past when generally players stayed on their sides. McCourty did a great job on Owens, Wilhite was solid against rookie Shipley, Sanders had just one bad play against Gresham that resulted in a TD while Butler was up and down against the Bengals best receiver Ochocinco.
– The Patriots primarily used dime packages with big defensive lineman. Being able to shut down the Bengals run game made them one-dimensional. You can’t look at the passing yards given up in the second half and not still feel good about this defense. They remained in soft coverage after getting the lead, playing bend but don’t break.
– The tackling on defense looked like it did in the first two weeks of preseason… outstanding. That’s a key to the Belichick defense.
– Holy Crap, the Patriots have a fast defense now.
– Jermaine Cunningham didn’t do much despite getting some considerable reps. He gets a pass as he had zero game experience. Clearly he showed enough to beat out Derrick Burgess in the 10 days or so before the Saints game.
– Ron Brace got considerable time at LDE and looked solid. He should continue to develop as he gets more experience. But he looks stout.
– Brandon Spikes is a force in the run game. Watch how many times he flies into a hole and an offensive lineman gets knocked into the backfield. This is the player we’ve been missing since Ted Johnson left.
– Pat Chung lived up to every last expectation we’ve been building all offseason. Now he just needs to be consistent.
– Meriweather was only missing from the base 3-4, which is interesting, but ultimately he still probably played 75% of the snaps at least.
– Who’d have thought James Sanders would be such an integral part of the game plan? Most had him as trade bait (myself included). Gresham had a TD but was generally ineffective otherwise with just 6 catches for 25 yards.
– Communication was excellent as well. On every play you could see everyone talking, getting on the same page. It payed off. Even when the Pats gave up plays the ball carrier was tackled immediately.
– Mike Wright made the Benson fumble happen.
– Gary Guyton is back in the role he was meant for, a pass coverage LB and we all saw the results. The addition of Spikes will allow Guyton to flourish.
– Wilfork was all over the defensive line and was in for passing situations to give some protection against the run.
– First/Second Year Players who played a role in this game:
- Brandon Spikes
- Rob Gronkowski
- Aaron Hernandez
- Pat Chung
- Devin McCourty
- Darius Butler
- Sebastian Vollmer
- Brandon Tate
- Ron Brace
- Jermaine Cunningham
- Zoltan Mesko
That’s 11 guys right there. Things are looking good for the Patriots future.
Finally in closing it’s important not to get too excited about this win. It’s the first game of the year and this defense remains extremely young. There will be down moments for them. But ultimately if the continue to improve as they get more experience this could be a dominant defense for another five years at least.
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