PatsPropaganda

I don’t really buy into the peaking too soon thing as far as the Patriots go. Maybe for a team that hasn’t played at a high level before, they might get a little full of themselves and believe their hype a little too much.

The Patriots are in this position pretty much every year, and all I hear coming out of the locker room is how they have to be better and that even performances like we’ve seen in recent weeks won’t be good enough.

Haha, I’m with you. Look, I don’t think the Patriots are just going to cruise through the next five games and no one will score a touchdown on them. There’s going to be ups and downs, and in the very possible case that the Pats lose in Green Bay there are going to be questions, most likely things like “can they generate enough pass rush?”

Chandler Jones is one of the best players on this defense and at a position where the Pats literally had zero experienced depth coming into the season. That’s what necessitated them going out and getting Ayers, a move I wish they had made in the offseason.

And I think Ayers has been very solid, but Chandler Jones is still the better player with the higher ceiling.

Ultimately having three quality edge players is a good problem to have. It’s a vitally important part of the defense and we can count on Ayers and Ninkovich to be the all-everythings for the next two full months.

Here are some general points we know about the 2014 Patriots defense at this point:

• Chung is the starting strong safety in Cover-1/Cover-3, but comes off for Duron Harmon when they want more of a Cover-2 look. 
• They’ll mix coverages but are most adept at playing man.
• Wilfork/Chris Jones are the top two interior DTs, while Easley will rotate in there, but Easley is really their designated pass rusher, With Easley out last week, Chris Jones took that role.
• Ninkovich/Ayers/Moore are the edge players whether you call the DEs or OLBs. No matter the defense these are the guys charged with contain.
• Browner is used as a size matchup, whether in the slot or on the perimeter.
• Revis doesn’t simply matchup on the best WR, they’ll move him around, but generally he’ll be on the QB’s safety blanket.
• Collins and Hightower are used in a variety of ways and are responsible for most of the deception on the defense. 
• Casillas comes in as a linebacker in “regular” (fka base).

Especially against the Broncos, the Pats did some disguising on the back end, faking Cover-2 then moving to Cover-1. But the most deception comes from Hightower and Collins, whether they’re showing blitz and bailing, or actually blitzing from any spot on the line. There’s no set play either as to whether Collins or Hightower will cover running backs, both have been pretty good at it.

I think some of it stems from comparing him as a run stopper to Brandon Spikes last year. There might not be another linebacker in the NFL who is as devastating against the run as Spikes, so that was an unfair comparison.

I also think it has to do with Hightower being so good in a variety of roles, we just didn’t want to see him relegated to solely MLB duty.

So what’s been great is that the Pats are moving him and Collins all over the place and it’s causing a lot of problems for offenses because they’re both so versatile. And you really need to know what they’re doing presnap because if they’re blitzing, they’re a load for a running back to block.

Hightower has also been a lot better in coverage this year than I imagined he could be.

And don’t be sorry about liking him more than Mayo, I tweeted the same thing earlier this week. Mayo is smart and fast, but I’d call him more of a tackling machine than a playmaker, if that makes sense.

Simply put I just like the defense with Hightower at the guy calling the plays than Mayo. It will be really interesting to see how things with Mayo play out this offseason.