I love the concept of a methodical manipulation of the pocket and forcing teams to systematically work their way downfield. But at some point, if we truly are gameplan specific and will morph into different things week over week…are we ever going to attack a team like the Pats did last night to the Jets?
For anyone who didn’t see it, it was like watching Mike Zimmer attacking us the last few years. Tons of different looks, lots of guys crowding the line of scrimmage and blitzes from all angles. Yes, it sucks when you don’t get home and the other team explodes for big plays. But when you don’t seem willing to do it, when you finally DO blitz the QBs we are facing seem well in control of how to handle it. They never really “see ghosts.”
BB has always been about making the QB uncomfortable, though it seemed for years it was more about disguise than anything.
If you can disguise coverage and pressure, you’re going to make any QB uncomfortable. If you can speed them up as well, you’re hitting on all of a QB’s pressure points.
The gamble of crowding the line for most other defenses is that if an outlet player gets the ball in the 2nd level, they can really hurt the defense. That’s where New England is really making hay right now. They have the DB’s to prevent that.
So, how does Detroit compare?
We can disguise coverages enough to cause hesitation in the QB. That part’s good. But, we don’t have any of the horses to bring pressure, either across the DL or via blitz. If we do have the horses, they’re seemingly gimpy at this point. We might have some desirable traits along all 3 levels of the defense, but we’re not complete in any. An attempt to play the way NE does would result in gashes galore.
I’m a fan of bringing heat, but have trusted MP, because of his top 10 ranked D of last year, with a dumpster fire for talent.
This year, we have better players and worse results. Injuries aren’t helping, but damn. I’m surprised by our lack of defensive production, though I could see them easily turning it around.
I don’t see them easily turning this around, but… We are down 25% of the DL with Daniels and Hand out. We have Strong and Atkins in the rotation in their place. It’s nice that we found undrafted players to contribute, but they’re no replacement for legit starters.
Yes, that would be nice. They seemed to like what they had in Atkins last year, yet he didn’t make the cut to 53. Coach Bo Davis and Kevin Strong Jr. were at ITSA together, which undoubtedly led to his coming here and making the team. Both have upside. Neither are starters or offer a whole lot in terms of versatility right now.
Good call, that might be a good time to do it. One key will be to jump on them early the way the Pats did…to take Saquon out of the game. If its a close game and we’re doing exotic blitzes, we could get gashed in the run game.
The game vs the Steelers was legit. After that we’re talking about Dolphins, Jets, Bills, Redskins, Giants and then the Jets again. Not exactly a who’s who of offensive prowess.
True but they’re not just beating them. They’re stomping them. The Patriots defense is on par to break most of the records the 85 Bears defense set. No matter who they play that’s impressive.
Look at the NYJ as an example. The Jets just came off a convincing win vs Dal. Only to get pounded by NE. The Jets almost beat Buff. A team with a solid defense too.
While NE may have had a soft schedule so far they are still playing at an extremely high level. We will get to see just how good they are over the next 3 weeks when they play the Browns, Ravens and Philly.