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Sketching out the New England Patriots Ideal Depth Chart in the Secondary | Bleacher Report
Nice breakdown from Frenz. As we said yesterday this should be an interesting area to watch over the next two games. They need to get settled in the secondary.
Shuffling secondary: Patriots seek continuity along back end
Good stuff here from Chris Price breaking down the Patriots secondary. Perhaps the biggest question from a personnel standpoint is how the secondary will look this weekend prior to adding Aqib Talib to the mix next week.
It looks like Arrington, Chung and Gregory could all be back on the field, and with Marquice Cole and Alfonzo Dennard having looked solid in replacement it’s hard to say who will go where. Add in Devin McCourty’s solid job at safety and it brings up even more questions.
The non-surprise version would be: Chung and Gregory at safety, Arrington and McCourty at corner, with Dennard taking over the outside and Arrington moving to star in the nickel.
But the bold version that we would advocate would be Dennard over Arrington in the base, while keeping Arrington solely as star.
Once Talib enters the mix you have even more options. Defending the middle of the field has been a problem, so let go with a dime look of:
Talib-Chung-Arrington-Dennard
McCourty-Gregory
Chung’s presence as the dimeback in the slot might be a prime place for him. Or perhaps Tavon Wilson would be a better fit.
No matter what the Pats will have options. It will be fascinating to see what BB thinks is the best fit.
FOOTBALL OUTSIDERS: 2012 DEFENSIVE EFFICIENCY RATINGS
Don’t look now but the Patriots are 17th in total defense per Football Outsiders’ DVOA ratings. Almost top half of the league baby! And yes, our standards have been lowered a bit over the past two years.
As for specifics, they’re 4th in run defense DVOA, and 20th in pass defense DVOA.
Against specific receivers they rank:
It’s pretty clear the Pats are having problems covering in the middle of the field.
Defensive snapshot via playing time – New England Patriots Blog – ESPN Boston
Great must-read stuff in here. My favorite nuggets below:
Jones is a leading candidate for defensive rookie of the year honors at this point, according to ESPN.com NFL scout Matt Williamson. … Ninkovich has played mostly end, but moved to linebacker for a short stretch when rookie Dont’a Hightower was out with a hamstring injury. … Nice rebound season from Cunningham, the 2010 second-round pick who has found his niche as an interior rusher in sub packages and backup end.
Spikes’ rise is particularly notable, as he’s strung together games without interruption from injury and/or suspension. He played 40.1 percent of the snaps last season, usually coming off in sub packages. But this year he’s staying on the field in the nickel, as evidenced by his higher total (77.3 percent).
Moore, the team’s primary nickelback since Week 2, was available for any team to claim and no one did. That speaks to how his upside is viewed around the NFL.
Bruschi sees secondary as ‘error repeaters’ – ESPN Boston
Per me and Frenz’s discussion on the podcast yesterday…
“But let me tell you what drives coach Belichick crazy. What drives him crazy is when you are an error repeater. When you make one mistake, and then you go into a week of practice and you try to fix things, and then you go out there the next week and you do the exact same thing. And that’s what happened. “Compare the deep ball that cost them the game in Seattle and the deep ball early in the game vs. the St. Louis Rams. Did you see any similarities to that play? It was pretty much the exact same play. The safety made the same technical error and the result was the same for another big play against the Patriots.
Patriots defense improved with more exotic pressure packages – Patriots – Boston.com
Against the pass, the Patriots sent additional rushers (more than the normal four) on just eight of the Rams’ 40 dropbacks. The 20 percent blitz rate is right on the Patriots’ average of 21 percent since the 2010 season. But it’s a lot for the 2012 season. The Patriots blitzed an average of 11 percent of the time in the first seven games. Only the Seahawks game, when the Patriots sent an extra rusher on 27.3 percent of the dropbacks, exceeded the blitzes against the Rams. But the number of true blitzes paints only part of the picture of the Patriots pressure packages against the Rams. The Patriots also used five zone exchanges and three run blitzes. They hadn’t come close to those numbers all season.
In fact, it could be argued that the Patriots’ run defense has been as good as any in football this season, as it’s yielding just 3.5 yards per carry, the best figure in the NFL. From a yards per game standpoint, the Patriots check-in 8th at 88.6, an outstanding total that is nearly 30 yards per game better than the run defense allowed in 2011. Beyond the yards allowed, the Patriots have minimized both big plays and touchdowns. They join just the Texans as the only defenses to have not allowed a run over 20 yards this season, and the Patriots have given up just three rushing touchdowns through eight games. Couple those facts with an NFL-best seven forced fumbles and four fumbles recovered, and it’s clear that this group has been a difference-maker for the Patriots in 2012.
Not bad if you don’t count when the Pats D went into “invisible mode” from the late third quarter into the early fourth when they gave up three straight touchdown drives.