2018 Patriots Defense

j44thor

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Nice article from masslive.com, primarily focused on the Amoeba Defense, but covering a lot more than just that.

My big takeaway from it, is that unlike last season, where the Pats had to limit the defensive playbook, this year, starting with the KC game, they have been expanding the playbook a lot. This has made them a lot less predictable on D.
I was just coming to post this, excellent article indeed.

Also just a bit concerning that McCourty is currently out with concussion. If he doesn't get cleared until middle of next week or misses the game I wonder what that does to the game plan. They likely have to limit the exotic looks they can use given he is responsible for so many calls as the article suggests.

Also makes me wonder who NE will match up best against defensively.

With BAL you know what they are going to run so I question how much value there is to confusing them. L Jax isn't going to be making calls at the line based on what he sees. He is going to make all his adjustments post snap ala read-option.

Philip Rivers is going to be tough to confuse given he has seen virtually every defense there is and he has the weapons in all 3 parts of the field to take advantage of any potential gaps, esp if Hunter Henry comes back.

To me HOU/DeShaun Watson is the best match-up defensively. He tends to let plays develop a long time and certainly hasn't seen every look NE can throw at him.
 

Ed Hillel

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Belichick indicated on WEEI that they’re optimistic he’ll be good to go. Getting that from him so early sounds like good news to me. He’s rarely so forthcoming.
 

Super Nomario

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Nice article from masslive.com, primarily focused on the Amoeba Defense, but covering a lot more than just that.

My big takeaway from it, is that unlike last season, where the Pats had to limit the defensive playbook, this year, starting with the KC game, they have been expanding the playbook a lot. This has made them a lot less predictable on D.
Very interesting article, and would provide more context for the limited impact a lot of the new arrivals and youngsters have had. On the other hand, we got fooled last year by a run of good performances against sub-standard offenses, only to see things implode in the Super Bowl. So I'm agnostic.
 

dcmissle

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Coughed up the lead in regulation, but they played well enough to win. Solid effort following very good effort last week. We need one more.
 

patinorange

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Coughed up the lead in regulation, but they played well enough to win. Solid effort following very good effort last week. We need one more.
I was hating on them during the second half, but looking back,they took away Kelce and Hill for the most part and gave up some crazy screens. Reid did a good job exploiting them in the second half and the kid made some incredible throws.
 

dcmissle

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We’ve drawn in the SB the weakest of the 4 QBs who played this weekend. Protect Brady and make this happen.
 

DeadlySplitter

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the scheme in the 1st half was great. held SCORELESS and Mahomes was rattled. If the offense had been perfect instead of near-perfect with one major gaffe, this game could have been over at half, that's how good the complementary football was.

at least one of the TDs in the 2nd half was completely bogus on that pick play. you knew Mahomes would make some stuff happen, but really if you look back at every play I felt the refs bailed him out on 3rd down a lot. They were still forcing 3rd & longs.

I thought it was a great effort despite the raw number of points given up. But they did kinda spit the bit at the end of regulation.

the good news is if they can get that type of pressure on Goff, Goff looked like a deer today. he's no Mahomes.
 

jodyreeddudley78

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Anyone that thinks the defense played poorly today is almost crazy. At least 7 points are directly attributable to a TO, questionable calls. They held the best (at least top 3) NFL offense to 0 points in the first half -- on their home field. Hill and Kelce were all but unseen. I'm sure they were ok with the RBs getting the ball due to game plan, and the box score reflected that. And they lost the TO battle.

Edit: they held KC to 290 total yards... At home. That's like a half for them normally. Game strategy, etc... But still.
 
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Super Nomario

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Anyone that thinks the defense played poorly today is almost crazy. At least 7 points are directly attributable to a TO, questionable calls. They held the best (at least top 3) NFL offense to 0 points in the first half -- on their home field. Hill and Kelce were all but unseen. I'm sure they were ok with the RBs getting the ball due to game plan, and the box score reflected that. And they lost the TO battle.

Edit: they held KC to 290 total yards... At home. That's like a half for them normally. Game strategy, etc... But still.
And while they didn't get a turnover, two of the sacks led to drives that started in KC territory, setting up great field position for the O (one, unfortunately, was the goal line pick, but the other was a field goal drive that only went 8 yards). I joked that Mahomes' best play in the first half was falling on the loose ball after the late strip sack - that had defensive TD written all over it.
 

BaseballJones

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I said it in the game bread but this was the best defensive performance probably in the TB/BB era, all things considered. And one of the greatest defensive performances in Super Bowl history.

I don’t think any of us expected THAT.
 

Dotrat

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Definitely not--but what a beautifully dominant performance it was. That was not only a curb stomping, it was a curb stomping of what was supposed to be the virtually un-defensible offense of the future.
 

dcmissle

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I said it in the game bread but this was the best defensive performance probably in the TB/BB era, all things considered. And one of the greatest defensive performances in Super Bowl history.

I don’t think any of us expected THAT.
I’d have to go back to “03, “04 to find something close, maybe a couple of those efforts against the Colts. Considering the stakes and our offense being shut down tonight, probably ranks #1.

Shocking turnaround this postseason. Mea culpa.
 

BigSoxFan

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Brian Flores is a god. Holding the Rams and Chiefs to 3 points over a span of 6 quarters. I mean WTF.
 

ifmanis5

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ESPN Stat: In back to back weeks the Pats beat the two best offenses in the playoffs. The only other times that happened were the '69 Chiefs and '66 Packers.
 

NortheasternPJ

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So with Flores gone, who's going to coach the defense now? With Patricia leaving last year, Flores wasn't even the D-Coordinator yet, is there a successor lined up?
 

BigJimEd

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Rumors are that they are bringing Schiano in. We should know for sure shortly.

Even before the last couple games I was more concerned with losing Flores than Patricia.
 

NortheasternPJ

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Rumors are that they are bringing Schiano in. We should know for sure shortly.

Even before the last couple games I was more concerned with losing Flores than Patricia.
That's right, I had forgotten that in the last couple weeks. It's going to take a couple years to rebuild that staff internally so Schiano make sense.

I'm with you on Flores. I was hoping they were just using him for the Rooney Rule, but here we are.
 

loshjott

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This could go in multiple threads....

Excellent article by Adam Kilgore in the Washington Post.

‘The best to ever do it’: How Bill Belichick out-coached Sean McVay in the Super Bowl

It gets to BB's game planning genius and also his penchant for intense preparation:

The biggest spectacle in American culture staged Belichick’s opus, but it began two weeks ago on a quiet field in Foxborough, Mass. In their first practice after the Patriots beat the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC championship game, when other coaches might have rested players after an arduous, emotional game, Belichick put the Patriots in full pads and went full-bore. He added extra drills and additional practice periods. Mistakes were met with coaches demanding, “Do it again.” At the end, players toiled through an extra 12 sprints.

“It felt like we were running forever,” Slater said. “It was like, what are we doing here? We knew Bill meant business. We better mean business. We had to play a great opponent. I think it prepared us for what we needed to do.”
If that anecdote doesn't define BB and the Patriots, I don't know what does.
 

Was (Not Wasdin)

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I heard on a podcast this morning that the Pats held their playoff opponents to a total of 7 points in the first half across the three games. The last team to be that stingy in the playoffs-the 1985 Chicago Bears, who held their collective opponents to a single field goal in the first half across 3 games (by the Pats, in the SB, to give them the early but short-lived lead).

The Pats did it against 3 of the top 10 offenses in the league by just about any measure (points, yards, etc.), and measured by Yards Per Play they were three of the top 4 teams in the league (how did Tampa Bay sneak in at #3-I wouldnt have pegged their offense as "explosive"). One game at home, one on the road (against the best offense) and one on a neutral field.

By any measure, this is one of the greatest defensive runs in NFL playoff history, likely without a single player on D who makes the Hall of Fame.
 

DegenerateSoxFan

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http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/25921740/super-bowl-liii-was-greatest-defensive-performance-history-here-how-patriots-did-rams: Barnwell makes in a case based on an interesting metric, the opponent's score in the SB as a percent of their opponent's regular season scoring average, in this case a ridiculous 9.1% (3 points allowed, when the Rams had averaged 32.9 a game all season). I wish someone on the D could have gotten the MVP, but I can't quibble with the choice, given that it really was a team effort, and Edelman's production was the difference in offensive production in a low-scoring game.
 
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If everything else remained the same and the fumble he forced on the sideline had bounced back toward the field of play, the MVP would very likely have gone to Gilmore. Although, in that case, it's probable High would've recovered so the MVP could have gone to him.

Whatever, I LOVE JULES.