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Defense has Patriots in attack mode
By Len Pasquarelli
ESPN.com
Archive
Winners of three straight December games now and five of their last six outings, the Patriots are showing signs that they are back. And that's in large part because the New England linebackers, and not just the spiritual leader and medical miracle man Tedy Bruschi, are back. And back in a very big way.
If you know anything about Bill Belichick defenses, you understand the importance of linebackers to his brilliant scheming. Linebackers, and particularly the kind of hybrid, edge athletes whose versatility has always been the hallmark of Belichick defenses of the past, are essentially the most critical chess pieces in his 3-4 scheme. They are the defenders Belichick most loves to tinker with, the guys that he most uses to create confusion and wreak havoc, the players whom his intricacies revolve around, the players who give headaches to opposing quarterbacks.
Sure, down linemen are always important to any defense, and that was demonstrated this season during the extended absence of Richard Seymour to injury. But if you really want to plumb the depths of Belichick's genius, to get dizzy just trying to predict who is lining up where, watch his linebackers.
On Saturday afternoon, you couldn't miss them, that's for sure.
The starting quartet of Bruschi, Mike Vrabel, Rosevelt Colvin and Willie McGinest combined for 30 tackles, six sacks, two forced fumbles, a fumble recovery and, just for good measure, one pass defensed in the 28-0 whitewashing of a good Tampa Bay team that led the AFC South entering the contest. But truth be told, Saturday really was no fluke.
Ever since the return of Bruschi for the Oct. 30 game against Buffalo, and the shuffling of the unit that accompanied his comeback, the New England linebackers have performed admirably. In the last eight games, the starting linebackers have combined for 132 tackles, 13 sacks, four forced fumbles, two fumble recoveries, one interception and 17 passes defensed. Those are monster numbers under any circumstances, but especially so when one considers that the return of Bruschi to the starting lineup was but one of the linebacker moves enacted by Belichick and first-year coordinator Eric Mangini.
In addition to inserting Bruschi in the lineup, the Pats' brain trust moved Vrabel to one of the inside spots in the 3-4, after he had played most of his New England tenure outside. At the same time, Colvin, who played lights-out in the team's Super Bowl XXXIV win against Philadelphia last season, aligning mostly at end, became a full-time starter. The only holdover from the four linebackers who started in the season opener -- at least lined up in the same spot as he did against Oakland on Sept. 8 -- was McGinest.
But sometimes change can be good, and for the struggling New England defense, the wholesale revamping of the linebacker corps has been one of several factors that rescued the Patriots' season. In the first six games, with Vrabel and McGinest flanking the newcomer inside tandem of Chad Brown and Monty Beisel, the Patriots surrendered an average of 27.3 points, 355.5 yards and 3.2 offensive touchdowns, while posting a 3-3 record. Over the eight games since the extreme linebacker makeover, New England has allowed 15.6 points, 326.8 yards and 1.6 touchdowns, and is 6-2 in that stretch.
Not that the changeover was all that facile. In fact, in the first five games after all of the linebacker tinkering, the Patriots were actually worse than in the first six outings of the season. The painful breaking-in period for four guys who had to become reacquainted with each other, and with their new roles, included averages of 23.0 points, 425.8 yards and 2.4 touchdowns surrendered. But look at what the New England defense has done in its last three victories: The Pats have permitted just 10 points, allowed one touchdown and limited their victims to a microscopic 161.7 yards per game.
Colvin has sacks in four straight games and five for the season. McGinest has four sacks in the last eight outings. Despite playing with less freedom on the inside, Vrabel remains a big-play defender. And Bruschi, well, what more can be said about him? It has been a matter of getting the right people in the right places, finally, and letting them play.
Belichick and vice president of personnel Scott Pioli, the premier talent evaluation duo in the league, can be forgiven for their mistakes with Beisel and Brown, who don't get on the field very much anymore. No one could have predicted that Bruschi, who suffered a stroke and then underwent a surgical procedure to repair a small hole in his heart, would have returned ever to the field, much less in 2005. And the retirement of solid run-stuffer Ted Johnson just before camp commenced in the summer, simply added to the crisis situation at linebacker. And so the Patriots gambled a bit, and uncharacteristically missed on Brown (old and brittle) and Beisel (a career special teams guy New England brass was convinced it could turn into a starter). Everybody in the league whiffs on player moves at times, and the Brown-Beisel errors were among the few the Patriots have made under Belichick's stewardship.
With the recent standout performances by the Pats' linebackers, though, not many people remember how poor the team's inside starters in the 3-4 were at the outset of the season.
Notable, too, was what the return of Seymour to the lineup has meant to the defense. The veteran down lineman is a player feared by opponents, not just because he can play end in the 3-4 and slide inside to tackle in the 4-3, but because Seymour can dominate for long stretches of games no matter where he is aligned. Getting Seymour back from injury has allowed New England to start the same front seven now for six straight weeks. And more important, it has allowed the Patriots to begin shutting down their opponents' run games, and in rather dramatic fashion.
In the first eight games, the Patriots gave up 128.9 rushing yards per game, and 4.0 yards per carry, and ranked 27th in the league in defense versus the run. With an intact starting front seven in the last six contests, New England has allowed just 60.1 rushing yards per game and 2.8 yards per attempt, and statistically now ranks No. 6 versus the run (the Pats were No. 11 going into the Tampa Bay matchup). In that six-game stretch, only one opponent has rushed for 100 yards, four were held under 80 yards and the last three totaled a paltry 85 yards.
The Pats remain somewhat suspect on defense -- only four players have started every game in the same spot -- particularly against the pass. After all, the Pats, remarkably, have used seven different starters at strong safety. And ever since Rodney Harrison went down with a catastrophic, season-ending knee injury on Sept. 25, no Patriots strong safety has started more than two consecutive games. New England has lined up with journeymen such as Michael Stone (released by St. Louis in the preseason), Arturo Freeman (cut by Green Bay in camp) and Artrell Hawkins (a lifetime cornerback who had never played safety until three weeks ago) at strong safety, and so the secondary remains an area of concern, and rightly so.
Still, in the big picture, the Pats, whose offense will always be competitive as long as Tom Brady is perpendicular, have gotten much better. A defense that surrendered seven games of 400 yards or more in the first 11 outings, all of them in an eight-game stretch, has tightened up considerably. And when AFC opponents look over their shoulders now, their throats may constrict a little, because that emerging specter on the horizon is the shadow of the Patriots gaining ground on them.
By Len Pasquarelli
ESPN.com
Archive
Winners of three straight December games now and five of their last six outings, the Patriots are showing signs that they are back. And that's in large part because the New England linebackers, and not just the spiritual leader and medical miracle man Tedy Bruschi, are back. And back in a very big way.
If you know anything about Bill Belichick defenses, you understand the importance of linebackers to his brilliant scheming. Linebackers, and particularly the kind of hybrid, edge athletes whose versatility has always been the hallmark of Belichick defenses of the past, are essentially the most critical chess pieces in his 3-4 scheme. They are the defenders Belichick most loves to tinker with, the guys that he most uses to create confusion and wreak havoc, the players whom his intricacies revolve around, the players who give headaches to opposing quarterbacks.
Sure, down linemen are always important to any defense, and that was demonstrated this season during the extended absence of Richard Seymour to injury. But if you really want to plumb the depths of Belichick's genius, to get dizzy just trying to predict who is lining up where, watch his linebackers.
On Saturday afternoon, you couldn't miss them, that's for sure.
The starting quartet of Bruschi, Mike Vrabel, Rosevelt Colvin and Willie McGinest combined for 30 tackles, six sacks, two forced fumbles, a fumble recovery and, just for good measure, one pass defensed in the 28-0 whitewashing of a good Tampa Bay team that led the AFC South entering the contest. But truth be told, Saturday really was no fluke.
Ever since the return of Bruschi for the Oct. 30 game against Buffalo, and the shuffling of the unit that accompanied his comeback, the New England linebackers have performed admirably. In the last eight games, the starting linebackers have combined for 132 tackles, 13 sacks, four forced fumbles, two fumble recoveries, one interception and 17 passes defensed. Those are monster numbers under any circumstances, but especially so when one considers that the return of Bruschi to the starting lineup was but one of the linebacker moves enacted by Belichick and first-year coordinator Eric Mangini.
In addition to inserting Bruschi in the lineup, the Pats' brain trust moved Vrabel to one of the inside spots in the 3-4, after he had played most of his New England tenure outside. At the same time, Colvin, who played lights-out in the team's Super Bowl XXXIV win against Philadelphia last season, aligning mostly at end, became a full-time starter. The only holdover from the four linebackers who started in the season opener -- at least lined up in the same spot as he did against Oakland on Sept. 8 -- was McGinest.
But sometimes change can be good, and for the struggling New England defense, the wholesale revamping of the linebacker corps has been one of several factors that rescued the Patriots' season. In the first six games, with Vrabel and McGinest flanking the newcomer inside tandem of Chad Brown and Monty Beisel, the Patriots surrendered an average of 27.3 points, 355.5 yards and 3.2 offensive touchdowns, while posting a 3-3 record. Over the eight games since the extreme linebacker makeover, New England has allowed 15.6 points, 326.8 yards and 1.6 touchdowns, and is 6-2 in that stretch.
Not that the changeover was all that facile. In fact, in the first five games after all of the linebacker tinkering, the Patriots were actually worse than in the first six outings of the season. The painful breaking-in period for four guys who had to become reacquainted with each other, and with their new roles, included averages of 23.0 points, 425.8 yards and 2.4 touchdowns surrendered. But look at what the New England defense has done in its last three victories: The Pats have permitted just 10 points, allowed one touchdown and limited their victims to a microscopic 161.7 yards per game.
Colvin has sacks in four straight games and five for the season. McGinest has four sacks in the last eight outings. Despite playing with less freedom on the inside, Vrabel remains a big-play defender. And Bruschi, well, what more can be said about him? It has been a matter of getting the right people in the right places, finally, and letting them play.
Belichick and vice president of personnel Scott Pioli, the premier talent evaluation duo in the league, can be forgiven for their mistakes with Beisel and Brown, who don't get on the field very much anymore. No one could have predicted that Bruschi, who suffered a stroke and then underwent a surgical procedure to repair a small hole in his heart, would have returned ever to the field, much less in 2005. And the retirement of solid run-stuffer Ted Johnson just before camp commenced in the summer, simply added to the crisis situation at linebacker. And so the Patriots gambled a bit, and uncharacteristically missed on Brown (old and brittle) and Beisel (a career special teams guy New England brass was convinced it could turn into a starter). Everybody in the league whiffs on player moves at times, and the Brown-Beisel errors were among the few the Patriots have made under Belichick's stewardship.
With the recent standout performances by the Pats' linebackers, though, not many people remember how poor the team's inside starters in the 3-4 were at the outset of the season.
Notable, too, was what the return of Seymour to the lineup has meant to the defense. The veteran down lineman is a player feared by opponents, not just because he can play end in the 3-4 and slide inside to tackle in the 4-3, but because Seymour can dominate for long stretches of games no matter where he is aligned. Getting Seymour back from injury has allowed New England to start the same front seven now for six straight weeks. And more important, it has allowed the Patriots to begin shutting down their opponents' run games, and in rather dramatic fashion.
In the first eight games, the Patriots gave up 128.9 rushing yards per game, and 4.0 yards per carry, and ranked 27th in the league in defense versus the run. With an intact starting front seven in the last six contests, New England has allowed just 60.1 rushing yards per game and 2.8 yards per attempt, and statistically now ranks No. 6 versus the run (the Pats were No. 11 going into the Tampa Bay matchup). In that six-game stretch, only one opponent has rushed for 100 yards, four were held under 80 yards and the last three totaled a paltry 85 yards.
The Pats remain somewhat suspect on defense -- only four players have started every game in the same spot -- particularly against the pass. After all, the Pats, remarkably, have used seven different starters at strong safety. And ever since Rodney Harrison went down with a catastrophic, season-ending knee injury on Sept. 25, no Patriots strong safety has started more than two consecutive games. New England has lined up with journeymen such as Michael Stone (released by St. Louis in the preseason), Arturo Freeman (cut by Green Bay in camp) and Artrell Hawkins (a lifetime cornerback who had never played safety until three weeks ago) at strong safety, and so the secondary remains an area of concern, and rightly so.
Still, in the big picture, the Pats, whose offense will always be competitive as long as Tom Brady is perpendicular, have gotten much better. A defense that surrendered seven games of 400 yards or more in the first 11 outings, all of them in an eight-game stretch, has tightened up considerably. And when AFC opponents look over their shoulders now, their throats may constrict a little, because that emerging specter on the horizon is the shadow of the Patriots gaining ground on them.