Nothing like a victory Monday, and the more I thought about what we’ve seen from the Patriots in the first two weeks, the more I felt I needed some additions to Monday’s Posits.
– I did touch upon it a little bit, but the versatility of the defense is finally coming to fruition. Everything we wrote about all offseason, about how the defense would be more mix-and-match than ever is coming true. The old days of conventional defense are over. Now Belichick’s defense is truly a player-by-player, matchup-by-matchup amoeba. Look at the athletes we have in the front seven and it’s hard to compare this group to any we’ve seen before.
– Jamie Collins had a slow start last Thursday night but he was all over the place against the Bills. Between him and Hightower, Sheard, Chander, and Ninkovich you can’t put anyone into a box or assume anything about how the defense will play. I know it’s early, but I haven’t felt this good about our front seven since 2007 (and we’re still waiting to see what Easley can do).
– I think it won’t be long before a lot of the x and o football writers at the national level start writing heavily about the style of defense and how Belichick has evolved to deal with the passing game.
– When the Pats let Revis and Browner go this offseason, the general consensus at the time seemed to be that the Patriots would be a lot more of a zone defense now (a critical error in my view then and now). It was really Browner leaving that bugged me most because he was relatively affordable (by my standards but not the Patriots’) and how can you not have a use for a corner that big when you MUST play man defense at times. Well this preseason and into the regular season it’s been clear that the Pats have not abandoned man coverage. They might be a little less physical at the line, but they are okay playing Cover-1 Robber, last year’s majority coverage. So again I’m a little bummed about not retaining Browner, especially considering games against the Jets.
– Fans have to readjust their feelings toward the run game on both sides of the ball. I’ve long been a proponent of “throw to score, run to win” and it’s even more true now. There was no use running into the brick wall with Blount. His time will come. It goes back to needing to win on first and second down against the Bills to avoid third-and-long. Instead of trying to force the run they went with short quick passes on the perimeter. They threw on 29 of 37 first downs.
– The sacks are nice but I think a bunch of them don’t happen with a good pocket quarterback. Only two jump to mind where Chandler and Collins won clean off the line. Otherwise coverage was a big part of taking away the first read. Granted, the rush was getting there before guys could uncover, but I still think there’s pass rush work to be done. Cough Easley…
Can’t wait to dive into the All-22 today and really get a sense of the schemes they used.
