PatsPropaganda

An Independent Patriots Blog

Dane Fletcher

Dane Fletcher Bandwagon Now Boarding

by

I don’t want to get too far ahead of myself but I have high hopes for Dane Fletcher after seeing his role to continue increase over the course of the season.

Early on we saw him as just a spy, his only responsibility to stay with the running back in pass coverage. But lately he’s been employed differently. As part of a 3-3-5 nickel package where he was used both as a blitzer (see below) and in coverage.

We even saw Fletcher get some time at outside linebacker in the 34 base defense in the Jets game. Now with Jermaine Cunningham out against the Bills will we see more of Fletcher today? We’ll see.

But what is clear is that Fletcher has demonstrated he’s a quick reactor, he can cover, he can blitz. Now if he can learn to set the edge, and be stout against the run, he could turn into a three down linebacker for the Patriots.

Of course setting the edge is not something that many rookies have the strength or technique to do, Jermaine Cunningham being an exception.

But with Fletcher coming from a small school, as a hand-down defensive end, his progress has already been impressive.

Give him an offseason with a professional training and coaching staff and it should be interesting to see what Fletcher can do in 2011.

Check out this article from the Boston Globe today for a little more on Fletcher. Great story!

Some new twists for the New England Patriots defense

by

It’s hard to know where to start when breaking down the New England Patriots dismantling of the New York Jets, so to kick it off here are some observations from the Pats defensive side of the ball.

The first player I’d like to talk about is Darius Butler who suddenly emerged as the teams nickelback last night. Patrick Chung had been playing that spot in place of Jonathan Wilhite, but it was not his strength. Putting Butler in forced Chung back into a rotation at safety, meaning less playing time for him.

Jarrad Page also suddenly emerged, making it a four man rotation at safety. I will need to look more closely at how exactly all of them were used, the snap counts should give some insight into it. Page looked like he was playing fast and physical last night, we forget that he was steadily getting more and more play time before getting hurt.

Dane Fletcher saw time as a 3-4 OLB for the first time this season. It wasn’t his traditional pass rush/spy role. This sheds a little more light on the decision to let Shawn Crable go. I’ve always been curious to see if Fletcher could play OLB in the base defense, it seems like he has the length and smarts needed. Hopefully he will continue to improve, but chalk another undrafted rookie up on Bill Belichick’s success list.

Devin McCourty… what can you say. I don’t think it’s too early to say we’ve finally got an elite corner. Partner him with Leigh Bodden next year and I guarantee this unit won’t be ranked last in anything. But that’s next year, for now McCourty is really the difference maker in the secondary.

Brandon Spikes’ interception is a huge sign of progress. Had he bit on the play action it would’ve been a touchdown. Instead he stayed in his zone and Sancheesy threw it right to him.

To think that this defense held the Jets to 3 points without Ty Warren, Leigh Bodden, Mike Wright, Myron Pryor and Jonathan Wilhite… wow.

More to come later…

by

Found this video today of linebacker drills from training camp 2010, or more specifically INSIDE linebacker drills. Thought it was kind of interesting. As you can see they’re working on gaining leverage based on where the play is going. There’s a notable “Good Job, Dane” shouted by Matt Patricia at one point. 

On a related note I’m happy to see Tyrone McKenzie catch on with Tampa Bay. Even to my slowly-being-trained eyes Fletcher looked like the better fit for New England defense than Tyrone. He was quicker to react and has better length which is more conducive to taking on blockers, and then shedding them without allowing them to get into you. 

                       

(Source: http://www.youtube.com/)

https://www.patspropaganda.com/found-this-video-today-of-linebacker-drills-from/

ProFootballFocus.com: Patriots ReFocused

by

ProFootballFocus.com: Patriots ReFocused

Here are the stats from ProFootballFocus.com’s refocused segment this week. I used to love this site when it was free, now they just throw you these little bones. I like it, but not ‘willing to pay $60’ like it.

Check out Guyton’s coverage numbers. Evidence is building, could Dane Fletcher cut into Guyton’s playing time even more this week?

Patriots: Three performances of note

The Patriots were blessed by great pass protection from Sebastian Vollmer at left tackle last season and with Vollmer finding his feet at right tackle after the bye week (two pressures yielded in two games), the pressure will surely fall on Matt Light (-2.5) to improve after this performance. Light was terrorized by Antwan Barnes, playing in only his second game for the Chargers. Barnes was only in for 11 pass rushes but on those plays he was responsible for the sack and three pressures that Light surrendered. Light was left chasing Barnes on most of those plays, seemingly lacking the ability to contact Barnes early to neutralize the former Ravens and Eagles player.

Jerod Mayo has put a slow start in run defense to rest with three straight good games (+4.4 in run defense in that time frame) as he finally shows an ability and an intent to come downhill and take the game to the opposing run game. Mayo has registered 26 stops this season, one of the best numbers among LBs. Rookie Brandon Spikes brought this downhill physicality to the inside of the Patriots’ linebacker corps first, but Mayo now seems to be responding in kind.

For a nickel linebacker Gary Guyton (-4.4) was little short of atrocious in coverage in this game, found wanting both physically and in terms of awareness to cover the Chargers’ receiving threats between the numbers. Guyton allowed nine catches on the 11 passes into his coverage, yielding 97 yards and a touchdown on a tough day covering a multitude of receivers.

Rookie report

Aaron Hernandez (-1.7) was a contributor in the passing game again for New England (eight targets, five catches, 54 yards) but struggled as a run-blocker (-1.2). … Rob Gronkowski (-0.3) played 30 snaps to Hernandez’s 50 and struggled similarly in the run game (-1.2). … Brandon Deaderick (+0.1) made his second straight start and was much improved in his run defense this week (+0.5in comparison to -2.2 against Baltimore). … Jermaine Cunningham (+1.5) isn’t setting the world alight as a pass-rusher, but his consistency in run defense is refreshing (graded +0.4 or above in run D in every start). … Dane Fletcher (+0.1) saw more snaps than in his prior two games combined and impressed in coverage, snagging Darren Sproles for gains of only 5 and 2 yards on two receptions into his coverage. … Spikes (+0.4) had a quiet game in run defense after his outstanding display last week against Baltimore: only 22 snaps and a solitary tackle as the Chargers were passing most of the games. … Safety Sergio Brown (+2.0) saw his first defensive snaps of the season and impressed in coverage. He allowed catches on all four of his targets but allowed a long of 8 yards and a total of 16 yards. … Devin McCourty (+0.8) recorded his first career interception covering Patrick Crayton on a deep route and allowed only one catch on six targets. … Zoltan Mesko (-0.7) saw only one of his four punts returned.

by

UP

Dane Fletcher – On his first play, the rookie inside linebacker forces a fumble that is recovered by the Patriots. He also catches a squib kick in the first quarter and was more effective than Gary Guyton in squaring up Darren Sproles.

Mike Reiss echoing my comments yesterday about Fletcher vs. Guyton.

https://www.patspropaganda.com/up-dane-fletcher-on-his-first-play-the-rookie/

Notes on the Patriots-Chargers Re-Watch

by

While the RedZone Channel is the greatest invention of the modern football watching experience, DirecTVs Short Cuts (each game in a half hour) isn’t far behind. 

While it’s hard sometimes to get a read on the personnel before the snap because they are cut so tightly, it’s an easy way to go back and see what happened without having to be constantly fast forwarding.

Anyway, this morning I re-watched the Patriots-Chargers game and some additional interesting tidbits caught my eye.

I am really curious to see Mike Reiss’ defensive snap totals this week because it seems like Shawn Crable and Dane Fletcher are getting more snaps.

On the re-watch I continue to be impressed with Fletcher. He did some blitzing, but he was primarily used as a spy on Darren Sproules. Not only did he force a fumble but he closed quickly on the ball carrier and made solid tackles. 

This is a similar role to what the Patriots use Gary Guyton for, and after seeing Guyton get beat more than a couple times (and miss a couple tackles) I’m starting to wonder if Fletcher might not overtake Guyton at some point this season.

Looks like the Pats can pretty much put any of their defensive lineman at any position in any given package. We saw a Wilfork – Pryor – Wright 34 front at one point which was a pass rush 3-4 look. That’s something we hadn’t see before.

I’ve already heard a lot of people say it was a tale of two halves, but it was really the tale of the first 3 quarters and the fourth quarter. Once the Chargers started taking the check downs they started moving the ball. 

Clearly as an offense they want to get the ball deep but the Patriots did an excellent job of taking the deep ball away. When San Diego finally adjusted late in the second half they began to have success.

I really thought that Sergio Brown had shown enough in the preseason to make the 53-man roster. Even though he didn’t he showed up strong yesterday. You can’t understate the tackle he made in pursuit of Antonio Gates to keep him short of a first down. That was a game saving play. Not bad for an undrafted rookie.

All anyone can talk about today is how bad the Chargers were early on. Rightly so, that gave the Patriots the game. Still, this again feels like the Patriots are just making enough plays to win like they used to. 

I’m the biggest Patriots homer there is, and even I would’ve been skeptical of anyone predicting a 5-1 start.