Free Agency just started on Friday, and the Jets and Dolphins have both made significant moves while the Patriots have stuck to signing their own guys, and it's become a popular article around the interwebs whether these moves have dethroned New England as the AFC East favorites.

First of all, Miami and New York should be doing whatever they can do to pass the Patriots this year. No one realized it heading into last year but 2009 was the year Bill Belichick had to begin rebuilding his defense. He realized it at the end of training camp and unloaded Richard Seymour to Oakland. But the Patriots are well suited for the rebuild that is ahead of them.

Jerod Mayo and Vince Wilfork will be the centerpieces of the new defense. And will 4 picks in the first two rounds of this years draft, as well as 2 1st-rounders in next years, the Patriots are in position to add a lot of quality players in the next two seasons. Meaning if you're going to beat the Patriots you better do it now before all this talent is added and begins to gel.

Continue reading "And on the 4th Day of Free Agency the Jets & Dolphins Apparently Passed the Patriots...."

Many Patriots fans seem to still be under the delusion that their defense is a mere pass rusher away from returning to an elite, Super Bowl-caliber squad. The reality is that the Patriots defense began a full on rebuild in 2009, making the AFC East title they won even more impressive considering it was done with such a young and inconsistent defense.

The core leadership of the early Super Bowl defenses, like Tedy Bruschi, Willie McGinest, and Rodney Harrison was born of playoff disappointment early in their careers, just as this season's playoff loss will be a building block for young leaders like Jerod Mayo and Brandon Meriweather.

So what are the biggest holes to fill? I believe that the number one need for this team right now is a right defensive end to replace Richard Seymour. For all the talk about the Pats lack of pressure on the passer, it was the run defense that was most lacking in the playoff loss. Stopping the run must be first and foremost for any defense and the Patriots lacked a starting quality 5-techinique in 2009.

Continue reading "ReBuilding The New England Patriots Defense"

I came upon a website today that breaks down every play of the NFL season and awards grades to each player accordingly: www.profootballfocus.com. What you get is an expansive database, with hard numerical data ranking player performance. While fans never get to break down the game film or know exactly how the coaches are grading out the players, this is a good resource with some really interesting stuff. I won't challenge their method or their football credentials, rather I looked at each player on the 2009 Patriots defense and found their season rankings. Here's the list from best to worst:

1. Tully Banta Cain: 21.8
2. Vince Wilfork: 9.6
3. Leigh Bodden: 6.8
4. Brandon Meriweather: 5.0
5. Ty Warren: 3.9
6. Rob Ninkovich: 3.4
7. Patrick Chung: 1.8

Continue reading "Pro Football Focus' Rankings of the 2009 Patriots Defense"

The three months in between the end of the season and the draft always seem to drag out until you've done so much  research and seen so many mock drafts you tend to get attached to certain guys and lose sight of who the best player for your draft slot really is.

Lately most of Patriots Nation seems to be trending toward Penn State's Jared Odrick as good fit for the Patriots at the 22nd overall slot, especially with the departure of Jarvis Green to Denver. Odrick seems to have the size and intangibles to make a good 5-techinque, a position that Jarvis Green was ill fit for when he was thrust into it following the trade of Richard Seymour.

DE is a position of need and Odrick is by all accounts a great kid who loves football and competes on every down. Sounds like a perfect fit right? As recently as yesterday he was my number one target. However last night my opinion began to sway a bit.

Continue reading "Odrick Isn't Seymour"

By now you're probably reaching the saturation point for draft coverage and good news, we've still got a whole month to go. As we saw a couple days ago with the conflicting reports regarding Tim Tebow wanting to say a pre-Wonderlic prayer and being shot down with a firm STFU, we're reaching the point where alot of misinformation is being released. I have little doubt the Tebow story was exaggerated by a team hoping to see him fall to them on draft day. Because no one wants a prayer-leading rookie who doesn't know when to shut up on their team, right?

So for the Pats I think at this point you're going to be in one of four camps with how you think they will attack the four picks in the first two rounds.

1. Common Sense: We can all pretty much agree that the Patriots defense the last couple years gets about as much pressure as a 90-year old man trying to squeeze out a leak wtihout his flomax. And yes there are quite a few quality outside linebacker/defensive end hybrid types in this years draft. So the conservative, common sense pick would be a Sergio Kindle, Carlos Dunlap, Brandon Graham, or Jerry Hughes. None are perfect for the Patriots OLB position, but all could potentially provide some pass rush that the Pats sorely need.

Continue reading "Four Different Ways the Patriots Could Go On Draft Long-Weekend"

I've been listening to the podcasts at MoveTheSticks.com where former scout Daniel Jeremiah gives a lot of good inside info about NFL scouting. In the latest installment Jeremiah talked about linebackers and what goes into scouting them for the transition to the pro game. Having worked in Baltimore and Cleveland, Jeremiah is familiar with both the Mike Nolan/Rex Ryan 3-4 as well as the Bill Belichick/Romeo Crennel 3-4.

Couple interesting nuggets to pass along that related to the Patriots:

• When grading linebackers there are two types: Rushers are guys who can generate pressure without any schematic help. They can put their hand down and through a variety of moves beat their man one-on-one and get to the QB. Blitzers are guys who need help via scheme. Jeremiah said that while he was in Baltimore Adalius Thomas fell firmly in the Blitzer category in that Rex Ryan needed to come up with creative ways to allow AD to use his speed to get to the QB. He was not the kind of player who could line up head on and win a match-up.

Continue reading "Adalius Thomas: A Blitzer, Not a Rusher"