PatsPropaganda

YES YES YES. Not just depth either, it’s versatility. As I’ve written many times before tracking the defensive overhaul that started in 08/09 was a major area of focus for me as a blogger with a penchant for Xs and Os.

Belichick’s defense evolved from the Fairbanks-Bullough 3-4 defense. There are a couple different versions of the 3-4, but this one had 3 big defensive lineman who would “two-gap”, which means they’d attack their blocker, control him and cover both gaps to both sides. While those 3 were holding up the offensive lineman it was the job of the 4 linebackers to make the plays.

That’s where you can see the somewhat conservative roots of Belichick’s defensive philosophy. Not one that goes all-out attacking, but one that wins with physicality upfront and linebackers who can make plays.

What the defense has evolved to now is a merging of the nickel defense and the two-gapping principals so that they’re more effective against the pass one early downs. The problem with the old 3-4 is that you had three defensive linemen who weren’t overly concerned with pass rushing on early downs. Yes, guys like Richard Seymour
could pick up their tackle and carry him to the QB, but generally they were more concerned with controlling their blocker and making sure no one ran through either of their gaps.

Belichick still uses the 3-4 defense to teach in the early days of camp. This doesn’t mean they’re a 3-4 team anymore really, but it’s how the team learns to two- or one-gap, the communication calls, etc.

The lockout in 2011 pushed this transition forward because there was less time in camp to install so Belichick just went straight to the nickel front and a lot of those elements remain.

So now, really what you’re looking at is almost a more of a 2-5 defense than a 4-3 although that’s what it looks like. The two defensive tackles can be moved around to attack certain areas, and you’ll even see a mix of one tackle (Siliga/Branch) two-gapping while the other will be one-gapping (Easley).

The difference now is that there are just more athletes on the field, even in “base”, and they’re better equipped to attack the quarterback on early downs. And when you look at  what the DE/LBs on the roster can do, it gives Belichick/Patricia so many options to confuse.

That’s another big tenet of the original 3-4 that has carried over – the ability to disguise. In the old 3-4 it was the OLBs that were the queen pieces because you could blitz or drop guys like Willie McGinest
/Mike Vrabel/Rosey Colvin. Now they can do the same thing with not only their OLBs like Donta Hightower

and Jamie Collins
, but with the DEs as well.

I think he’s clearly an edge player in the Pats current defensive scheme in the mold of Chandler/Nink/Sheard, and it’s the presence of those three why they can bring him along slowly. This position is a hybrid of a 4-3 DE and 3-4 OLB in that they will have some coverage drops at times, but primarily their job is to set the edge and then have a smart pass rush.

Flowers seems to really have the strength and aggression to fit this role perfectly, and it’s certainly not an easy position to play, especially because they’re criticized on the same level as DEs in a “pin your ears back and go get the passer’ system. The Pats are a lot more complicated than that and right now they can afford to bring him along slowly.

But I think it’s only a matter of time before he gets worked in as a 3rd down pass rusher, a trial role we’ve already seen Geneo Grissom and Rufus Johnson in this season. 

After the preseason I still feel like Flowers has the highest ceiling of all three. I’m excited to see him get in there. Honestly, they might just be holding him back and waiting to spring him on the Colts.

I tweeted a bit about this earlier this week but I think in a strange way the Patriots offense and defense are somewhat mirror images of each other and so the best model to beat the Patriots offense is their defense (at least if you look at what they’re theoretically trying to do).

Look, when the ball is coming out of Brady’s hand in under two seconds there’s not much traditional pass rushers coming off the edge can do. So the gameplan needs to involve effective interior pass rushers surrounded by a group of athletic defensive ends and linebackers who can both rush or drop into space. Then corners who can win at the line of scrimmage and disrupt the quick pass timing are the final piece of the puzzle. But if all those elements aren’t working in conjunction it’s a recipe for disaster.

Denver has a lot of those elements, especially with good man corners who can disrupt timing at the line, as do the Jets. Buffalo seems to have the personnel but just couldn’t put it all together in Week 2.

I’ve always liked the Panthers’ defense and think they have some solid Pats-stopping pieces. I need to watch more of the Cardinals to get a better sense of them, the same with the Packers.

The Scalpel (fka dink and dunk) is a deadly weapon and when it’s clicking it’s almost impossible to stop.

Will!? I can’t say “will”, but I will say “could”. If the stinky early season Patriots show up to any of these games I could see them going down:

@ Colts: This is not what any Patriots fan wants to hear but the Colts are always tough at home even if they’ve stunk to start this year I think they’re better than they’ve shone. Their rookie DL are playing well against the run. They have talent. And they’ve put together a lot of comebacks. So I’m definitely not writing off the Colts yet as much as I want to hang 60 on them.

Jets: If this game was in New York at this point I’d be more worried about it. It will be closer than many might expect. But I think this one is a near-lock for the Pats. Not a total lock though with that Jets defense. Fitzpatrick would just have to have a mistake-free game in him.

@ Giants: Hard to believe we haven’t beaten the Giants since the 2007 16-0 game. So I can’t just writing them off as another win. Eli always has some magic against us somehow.

@ Broncos: Forget what we think we know about Peyton Manning and instead focus on a team with maybe the best defense in the league and a smart quarterback who might not be as unstoppable as he once was but is more than capable of putting together a winning game on offense.

Eagles: This one will be fascinating from a scheme aspect, but I think the Patriots’ defense is well-equipped to match the pace of the Eagles offense. Still, they’ll have a unique way to attack the Pats.

@ Jets/ @ Dolphins – These games might mean nothing (and probably the Dolphins one will) but there’s always a chance the Pats need at least one of them and neither place is ever a total slam dunk. Hopefully they mean nothing and it doesn’t matter. But I wouldn’t want to need two wins the last two weeks.

I’ll also add that really any week they “could” lose. We’ve seen it plenty of times over the years that teams like the 2013 Browns or 2009 Dolphins just come in on fire and getting all the bounces and the game goes down to the end. The ones above are just the obvious ones that could give the Patriots matchup problems.

The next two games are somewhat critical to Dobson because LaFell could return Week 7 vs. the Jets. Last week we saw them work Keshawn Martin in a little bit, I’m not sure if that’s a reflection on Dobson or just the overall attempt to get a look at the lower end roster guys against the Jags.

But I think the experimentation will subside against the Cowboys and Colts on the road and that means Dobson should once again be a starter. So far this season Dobson has done nothing to make me think he’s anything different than what I thought he was – an average receiver with better than average size. You’re right – he doesn’t really make plays after the catch. Most of the time he’s catching the ball with his body and going to the ground afterwards.

He had a good game against the Bills just by making the catches he was supposed to make. But has he really ever done anything to make you go “wow”? I can think of plays by LaFell/Edelman/Amendola over and over the last couple seasons that have.

So while I’m not closing the book on him entirely these next two games might be his last chance to really show he can do something dynamic.