It already was a hot topic in this area last week and only will be a hotter topic this week now that the New York Jets have advanced to play the Indianapolis Colts in the AFC title game on Sunday: Are the Jets better positioned on defense going forward -- defense, of course, being the bread and butter of Bill Belichick -- than the Patriots?
A position-by-position breakdown seems to indicate that, yes, the Jets had a significantly more talented defense this season and will have a significantly more talented defense going forward, especially as the Patriots grapple with the uncertain situation surrounding Vince Wilfork and the Jets anticipating the return of their defense almost intact next season:
(In parentheses are the regular-season performance rankings by the film analysts at ProFootballFocus.com.)
Nose tackle
Jets: Sione Pouha (plus-15.2)
Patriots: Vince Wilfork (plus-9.6)
Rex Ryan's defense appears not to have lost much since the injury to Kris Jenkins. Pouha is a terrific run-stopper who can shed blocks quickly enough to make tackles. Wilfork, however, still is a Pro Bowler and one of the top nose tackles in the NFL. Edge: Patriots.
Defensive end
Jets: Shaun Ellis (minus-0.7), Marques Douglas (minus-2.7)
Patriots: Jarvis Green (minus-14.1), Ty Warren (plus-3.9)
Green had a chance to seize control of the job at defensive end upon the trade of Richard Seymour but too often found himself pushed off the line on running plays and unable to get close to the quarterback on passing plays. When Wilfork moved to end in the Patriots' playoff game, it was Green who went to the bench with Mike Wright playing the nose. In a 3-4 defense, the defensive linemen first and foremost must occupy blockers to give the linebackers a chance to make plays, and Douglas and Ellis did that better than Green and Warren. Edge: Jets.
Outside linebacker
Jets: Calvin Pace (plus-6.9), Bryan Thomas (plus-11.8)
Patriots: Tully Banta-Cain (plus-21.8), Adalius Thomas (minus-8.5)
As disappointing as Thomas was, that's how surprising Banta-Cain was. Pace, on the other hand, played a well-rounded game against both the run and the pass, even finishing with eight sacks, while Thomas thrived as a run-stopper off the edge, finishing the regular season with more than 50 tackles for the third time in four seasons. Edge: Jets.
Inside linebacker
Jets: David Harris (plus-6.8), Bart Scott (plus-4.7)
Patriots: Gary Guyton (minus-2.2), Jerod Mayo (minus-3.5)
No contest. While Mayo endured something of a disappointing second season, Harris emerged as a star alongside the veteran Scott, an import from Ryan's Baltimore Ravens defenses. Scott plugged the middle of the line on runs and Harris thrived both in blitzes and in pass coverage, finishing with 5 1/2 sacks, three pass break-ups and two interceptions. Edge: Jets.
Cornerback
Jets: Darrelle Revis (plus-29.1), Lito Sheppard (minus-1.7)
Patriots: Leigh Bodden (plus-6.8), Shawn Springs (plus-1.7)
Quarterbacks just don't throw at Revis. The Patriots haven't had anyone like that since the departure of Ty Law. Edge: Jets.
Strong safety
Jets: Jim Leonhard (plus-5.1)
Patriots: James Sanders (minus-1.4)
Leonhard, another Ryan import from Baltimore, had an uneven season against the run but broke up five passes and thrived in deep pass coverage. Sanders lost his job to Brandon McGowan early in the season and won it back down the stretch, finishing with his lowest tackle total (48) in three seasons. Edge: Jets.
Free safety
Jets: Kerry Rhodes (plus-11.0)
Patriots: Brandon Meriweather (plus-5.0)
Despite Meriweather's selection to the Pro Bowl, the last memory one will take into the offseason will be the way Ray Rice blew past him on his 83-yard run on the first play from scrimmage in the first round of the playoffs. Meriweather intercepted five passes and forced two fumbles, but his play generally was more inconsistent than it should have been. Rhodes, on the other hand, didn't have a particularly bad game all season, and he broke up 13 passes in his center-field role for the Jets. Edge: Push.
***
Let's revisit the question: Of the Jets' and Patriots' top 11 defenders, who would you take? In other words, if the rosters were combined, who of the Patriots' defenders would start?
Wilfork would start at nose. Warren would start at end with either Douglas or Ellis at the other end. Banta-Cain would be a third-down pass-rusher behind Pace, probably. Bodden would start at corner opposite Revis. Meriweather might -- might -- start at free safety instead of Rhodes, but that's a toss-up at best.
The Jets' top-ranked defense wasn't a fluke, and it's not going anywhere anytime soon. If quarterback Mark Sanchez takes a reasonable step forward in his second season, the Patriots are going to have some serious trouble hanging onto the AFC East title.
Showing posts with label meriweather. Show all posts
Showing posts with label meriweather. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Sunday, December 27, 2009
Meriweather once again playing with instincts
Brandon Meriweather sat down last week with Patriots coach Bill Belichick and defensive backs coach Josh Boyer to get himself back on track.
Meriweather had started the season on a Pro Bowl-type pace. He earned AFC Defensive Player of the Week honors after he intercepted two passes against Tampa Bay in London, and he even prompted former teammate Rodney Harrison to rank him with Denver's Brian Dawkins as the two best safeties in the AFC.
But the third-year safety had taken it on the chin in recent weeks, getting beat badly on deep passes against both New Orleans and Carolina. One missed read against the Saints gift-wrapped a 75-yard touchdown pass for Devery Henderson, and a bad break against the Panthers did the same for Steve Smith.
Meriweather even made a bad misplay at the end of the Patriots' loss to Buffalo, bouncing off wide receiver Josh Reed and allowing the Bills to turn a short pass into a drive-sustaining 29-yard gain. If the Bills hadn't botched their onside kick, the missed tackle might have cost the Patriots the game.
The series of errors had Meriweather thinking too much, re-evaluating too much, wondering too much if he was doing the right thing. That's what Belichick and Boyer had to get him to stop doing.
"They just told me to get back to the basics, to trust my instincts and to stop trying to go out of my element to make plays," he said.
Meriweather's instincts told him to get himself up to the line of scrimmage when rookie wide receiver Mike Thomas broke toward the middle of the field on a third-and-1 snap in the first quarter. Thomas took a handoff from quarterback David Garrard and tried to get around the edge, needing just a yard to move the chains -- but Meriweather drilled him, knocking him back short of the line.
"I just trusted my instincts," he said. "That's what I was lacking the last couple of weeks."
On Jacksonville's next possession, Meriweather hung deep to guard against the deep ball. Maurice Jones-Drew had just run for an 11-yard gain to get the Jaguars across midfield, and the time was right for Garrard to take a shot. Torry Holt ran a post route down the left sideline, and tight end Marcedes Lewis ran a post route down the middle of the field.
Meriweather split the distance between the two -- and when Garrard overthrew Lewis, the safety had no problem drifting over to pick off the pass.
It was his career-best fifth interception of the season. It also was the play that all but ended the game before the second quarter began, especially after his 56-yard interception return set up a touchdown pass from Tom Brady to Chris Baker.
"I've told them: They need to put me at punt returner, man," Meriweather said with a wide grin. "We need to try some things, but I ain't going to say nothing about that. I think y'all should bring that up with Coach Bill."
It also was just the sort of play Meriweather had been making back before he'd started to allow his confidence to get shaken.
"You trust coaching," he said. "You trusting coaching, and you do exactly what you need to do to get by."
Meriweather had started the season on a Pro Bowl-type pace. He earned AFC Defensive Player of the Week honors after he intercepted two passes against Tampa Bay in London, and he even prompted former teammate Rodney Harrison to rank him with Denver's Brian Dawkins as the two best safeties in the AFC.
But the third-year safety had taken it on the chin in recent weeks, getting beat badly on deep passes against both New Orleans and Carolina. One missed read against the Saints gift-wrapped a 75-yard touchdown pass for Devery Henderson, and a bad break against the Panthers did the same for Steve Smith.
Meriweather even made a bad misplay at the end of the Patriots' loss to Buffalo, bouncing off wide receiver Josh Reed and allowing the Bills to turn a short pass into a drive-sustaining 29-yard gain. If the Bills hadn't botched their onside kick, the missed tackle might have cost the Patriots the game.
The series of errors had Meriweather thinking too much, re-evaluating too much, wondering too much if he was doing the right thing. That's what Belichick and Boyer had to get him to stop doing.
"They just told me to get back to the basics, to trust my instincts and to stop trying to go out of my element to make plays," he said.
Meriweather's instincts told him to get himself up to the line of scrimmage when rookie wide receiver Mike Thomas broke toward the middle of the field on a third-and-1 snap in the first quarter. Thomas took a handoff from quarterback David Garrard and tried to get around the edge, needing just a yard to move the chains -- but Meriweather drilled him, knocking him back short of the line.
"I just trusted my instincts," he said. "That's what I was lacking the last couple of weeks."
On Jacksonville's next possession, Meriweather hung deep to guard against the deep ball. Maurice Jones-Drew had just run for an 11-yard gain to get the Jaguars across midfield, and the time was right for Garrard to take a shot. Torry Holt ran a post route down the left sideline, and tight end Marcedes Lewis ran a post route down the middle of the field.
Meriweather split the distance between the two -- and when Garrard overthrew Lewis, the safety had no problem drifting over to pick off the pass.
It was his career-best fifth interception of the season. It also was the play that all but ended the game before the second quarter began, especially after his 56-yard interception return set up a touchdown pass from Tom Brady to Chris Baker.
"I've told them: They need to put me at punt returner, man," Meriweather said with a wide grin. "We need to try some things, but I ain't going to say nothing about that. I think y'all should bring that up with Coach Bill."
It also was just the sort of play Meriweather had been making back before he'd started to allow his confidence to get shaken.
"You trust coaching," he said. "You trusting coaching, and you do exactly what you need to do to get by."
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Safety help on wide receivers
Derrick Mason had six catches for 77 yards and a touchdown on the Ravens' first drive against the Patriots on Sunday. He had one catch for 11 yards after that.
Adjustment, much?
"We played more split-safety coverage after the first drive," Patriots coach Bill Belichick said during a press conference on Monday. "I don't think that was all of it, but I think that might have had something to do with it."
For the layman, here's how Belichick described split-safety coverage: "Where there’s a safety over the top of the receivers, which gives the corners an opportunity to play down on them a little bit tighter because they are backed up -- as opposed to having a middle of the field safety on the outside perimeter routes, there isn’t anybody behind him."
Along those same lines, Belichick was asked immediately after the game on Sunday why the Patriots spread the ball out so much and used their running backs so much in the passing game.
"Well, they played a lot of coverage over Randy (Moss), like we expected, with (Ed) Reed over the top, and so they took a lot of those plays away," he said.
Let's go to the chalkboard to figure out a little bit about how the Patriots and Ravens utilized their safeties to take away their opponents' best wide receiver -- and how that played to the Patriots' advantage. (Mason and the Patriots' safeties will be highlighted in yellow.)
First quarter
Baltimore's first drive
First-and-10, 33-yard line going in
Mason already had three catches to this point in the game, including a catch for 17 yards to kick-start the drive deep in Patriots' territory. The Patriots lined up in a basic 3-4 defense with two cornerbacks and two safeties. Some specifics:
* The Ravens split two wide receivers out to the left, and safety Brandon McGowan and cornerback Leigh Bodden lined up across from them. Bodden lined up across from Mason.
* Jonathan Wilhite, the other corner, lined up opposite tight end Todd Heap on the opposite side.
* Brandon Meriweather lined up as the deep safety.
Mason and Mark Clayton, the other wide receiver, both ran relatively short routes, and with Meriweather still playing center field, Bodden had to give Clayton more than enough cushion to make a catch for 12 yards and a first down:
The result: An easy first down.
Contrast that to the way the Ravens defended the Patriots on a play on which Tom Brady was forced to throw a dump-off pass to Laurence Maroney. This time, Moss and the Ravens' safeties are highlighted in yellow.
First quarter
New England's second drive
First-and-10, 45-yard line going out
Some highlights:
* The Patriots lined up two wide receivers to the right of the formation -- Moss and Wes Welker -- and two tight ends to the left.
* The Ravens lined up in a nickel defensive package with three defensive linemen and three linebackers with three cornerbacks and two safeties available in coverage.
* When Welker went in motion at the snap, it looked like this:
Correctly anticipating a pass, the Ravens dropped into coverage -- and by splitting their safeties, Reed was able to focus mostly on Moss going deep while Dawan Landry, the other safety, mostly played center field on the other side.
Brady, despite all the time in the world given to him by a lackluster pass rush, could find no one open downfield and instead threw a dump pass to Laurence Maroney:
Let's skip ahead to the Ravens' next drive and the adjustment the Patriots made on Derrick Mason.
Second quarter
Baltimore's second drive
Third-and-10, 38-yard line going in
In a fairly obvious passing situation, the Patriots went to the dime formation they used frequently the rest of the way, employing three defensive linemen, two linebackers and six defensive backs. Make sure to note:
* Meriweather, McGowan and James Sanders, all safeties, all were on the field at the same time. Both Meriweather and Sanders played so deep they were actually out of the picture on the CBS broadcast.
* Mason lined up by himself on the left side of the formation.
* Bodden, rather than giving Mason a wide cushion, crept up to the line of scrimmage at the snap to give Mason a bump before he could get into his route.
Adjustment, much?
"We played more split-safety coverage after the first drive," Patriots coach Bill Belichick said during a press conference on Monday. "I don't think that was all of it, but I think that might have had something to do with it."
For the layman, here's how Belichick described split-safety coverage: "Where there’s a safety over the top of the receivers, which gives the corners an opportunity to play down on them a little bit tighter because they are backed up -- as opposed to having a middle of the field safety on the outside perimeter routes, there isn’t anybody behind him."
Along those same lines, Belichick was asked immediately after the game on Sunday why the Patriots spread the ball out so much and used their running backs so much in the passing game.
"Well, they played a lot of coverage over Randy (Moss), like we expected, with (Ed) Reed over the top, and so they took a lot of those plays away," he said.
Let's go to the chalkboard to figure out a little bit about how the Patriots and Ravens utilized their safeties to take away their opponents' best wide receiver -- and how that played to the Patriots' advantage. (Mason and the Patriots' safeties will be highlighted in yellow.)
First quarter
Baltimore's first drive
First-and-10, 33-yard line going in
Mason already had three catches to this point in the game, including a catch for 17 yards to kick-start the drive deep in Patriots' territory. The Patriots lined up in a basic 3-4 defense with two cornerbacks and two safeties. Some specifics:
* The Ravens split two wide receivers out to the left, and safety Brandon McGowan and cornerback Leigh Bodden lined up across from them. Bodden lined up across from Mason.
* Jonathan Wilhite, the other corner, lined up opposite tight end Todd Heap on the opposite side.
* Brandon Meriweather lined up as the deep safety.
Mason and Mark Clayton, the other wide receiver, both ran relatively short routes, and with Meriweather still playing center field, Bodden had to give Clayton more than enough cushion to make a catch for 12 yards and a first down:
The result: An easy first down.
Contrast that to the way the Ravens defended the Patriots on a play on which Tom Brady was forced to throw a dump-off pass to Laurence Maroney. This time, Moss and the Ravens' safeties are highlighted in yellow.
First quarter
New England's second drive
First-and-10, 45-yard line going out
Some highlights:
* The Patriots lined up two wide receivers to the right of the formation -- Moss and Wes Welker -- and two tight ends to the left.
* The Ravens lined up in a nickel defensive package with three defensive linemen and three linebackers with three cornerbacks and two safeties available in coverage.
* When Welker went in motion at the snap, it looked like this:
Correctly anticipating a pass, the Ravens dropped into coverage -- and by splitting their safeties, Reed was able to focus mostly on Moss going deep while Dawan Landry, the other safety, mostly played center field on the other side.
Brady, despite all the time in the world given to him by a lackluster pass rush, could find no one open downfield and instead threw a dump pass to Laurence Maroney:
Let's skip ahead to the Ravens' next drive and the adjustment the Patriots made on Derrick Mason.
Second quarter
Baltimore's second drive
Third-and-10, 38-yard line going in
In a fairly obvious passing situation, the Patriots went to the dime formation they used frequently the rest of the way, employing three defensive linemen, two linebackers and six defensive backs. Make sure to note:
* Meriweather, McGowan and James Sanders, all safeties, all were on the field at the same time. Both Meriweather and Sanders played so deep they were actually out of the picture on the CBS broadcast.
* Mason lined up by himself on the left side of the formation.
* Bodden, rather than giving Mason a wide cushion, crept up to the line of scrimmage at the snap to give Mason a bump before he could get into his route.
Mason went straight for the end zone. Bodden got a little bit of a bump on him and then passed him off, chasing a little bit but sitting back in zone coverage. McGowan, right in the middle of the formation, pursued Mark Clayton and Kelley Washington, the two receivers on the right side of the formation.
That left Meriweather and Sanders, the deep safeties, to pursue Mason. The wide receiver actually seemed to beat the coverage, but quarterback Joe Flacco threw off his back foot and gave Meriweather a chance to come all the way across the field and knock the ball away to save a touchdown:
Had the Patriots still been playing one safety deep rather than what Belichick called "split-safety" coverage, Meriweather wouldn't have been in the area to go knock down the pass: He would have been up in coverage and involved with either Clayton or Washington and nowhere near where the ball came down.
It's easy to see how playing an extra deep safety helps defend an opponents' best receiver -- but it also demonstrates how the Patriots won Sunday's game.
The split-safety coverage of the Patriots all but nullified Mason as a weapon. The coverage of Reed all but nullified Moss, too. All three times Moss caught the ball, Reed was uninvolved in the coverage. When Brady hit Moss for a touchdown, Reed was coming on a blitz from the outside -- and Brady only barely got the pass away before Reed was on him.
But the reason the Patriots won was because they had other weapons to employ. Nine different receivers caught passes for the Patriots on Sunday, including all four of the team's active running backs. One of the biggest plays of the game was a fourth-quarter pass Brady threw to running back Sammy Morris, split out wide, a pass Morris took for 14 yards that set up a field goal and pushed the Patriots' lead to six points.
(Reed, on that play, was playing in the middle of the field -- and Pro Bowl guard Logan Mankins went out to block him before he could get to Morris.)
The Ravens, on the other hand, needed a big play from Clayton at the end of the game -- and Clayton let a perfect pass from Flacco hit him right in the numbers.
That was the difference.
The Denver Broncos don't have a safety like Reed, but they do have one of the top cornerbacks in the NFL in Champ Bailey. It'll be interesting to see if they do what the Ravens did or if they do what the Jets did -- isolating their top corner on Moss while using their other 10 defenders to put extra pressure on Brady.
Friday, December 19, 2008
Snow no advantage for youngest Patriots
The hoodies were out in force in the Patriots' locker room today. With bad weather expected on Sunday, Bill Belichick had his team outdoors and exposed to the elements for their final practice of the week. Center Dan Koppen had a bomber cap with ear flaps under his helmet; special-teamer Ray Ventrone, the first player out on the Gillette Stadium field for practice, looked like the Michelin Man with so many layers on under his white practice jersey.
The easy thing to do this week is to assume that the cold weather is an advantage for the home team. The Patriots, after all, play in cold weather year after year; some of their most memorable wins have come in the snow. Long snapper Lonie Paxton might be best known for the snow angel he performed in the Foxboro Stadium end zone in 2001.
But a good-sized group of Patriots have just as much experience in cold weather as the Arizona Cardinals do. More than half of their defensive players grew up either in California or south of the Mason-Dixon line.
"The guys we've got from Georgia, Auburn, Georgia Tech, Tennessee -- some of the younger guys here aren't exactly from a winter wonderland," Belichick said.
Two of those are former first-round picks Jerod Mayo (from Hampton, Va., and Tennessee) and Brandon Meriweather (from Apopka, Fla., and Miami). The two answered questions together in the Patriots' locker room today; they were joking around at first, but they got serious when the topic of cold weather came up.
"I've been here for a year, so I have a little experience, but not as much as some of the other guys do," Meriweather said. "I'm sure it'll be a little bit (of help), but not much."
Said Mayo, "I've played in cold games, but no snow. It might be a first for me. ... I'm always looking forward to another challenge, and this should be a great one."
Meriweather's best advice for the rookie?
"Dress warm," he said.
Belichick did his best to downplay the elements -- by this time in most players' careers, he said, the idea of flying to the opposite coast or playing in unfriendly elements shouldn't be a big deal at all. And if it snows, it'll affect Matt Cassel -- a native of southern California -- just as much as it affects Kurt Warner.
"These guys have all played in cold weather," Belichick said. "They've all played in these kind of situations. ... I'd be surprised if there's too many players who haven't experienced these conditions. I mean, (Cardinals wide receiver Larry) Fitzgerald went to Pitt. He's probably be in this as much as some of our players."
The easy thing to do this week is to assume that the cold weather is an advantage for the home team. The Patriots, after all, play in cold weather year after year; some of their most memorable wins have come in the snow. Long snapper Lonie Paxton might be best known for the snow angel he performed in the Foxboro Stadium end zone in 2001.
But a good-sized group of Patriots have just as much experience in cold weather as the Arizona Cardinals do. More than half of their defensive players grew up either in California or south of the Mason-Dixon line.
"The guys we've got from Georgia, Auburn, Georgia Tech, Tennessee -- some of the younger guys here aren't exactly from a winter wonderland," Belichick said.
Two of those are former first-round picks Jerod Mayo (from Hampton, Va., and Tennessee) and Brandon Meriweather (from Apopka, Fla., and Miami). The two answered questions together in the Patriots' locker room today; they were joking around at first, but they got serious when the topic of cold weather came up.
"I've been here for a year, so I have a little experience, but not as much as some of the other guys do," Meriweather said. "I'm sure it'll be a little bit (of help), but not much."
Said Mayo, "I've played in cold games, but no snow. It might be a first for me. ... I'm always looking forward to another challenge, and this should be a great one."
Meriweather's best advice for the rookie?
"Dress warm," he said.
Belichick did his best to downplay the elements -- by this time in most players' careers, he said, the idea of flying to the opposite coast or playing in unfriendly elements shouldn't be a big deal at all. And if it snows, it'll affect Matt Cassel -- a native of southern California -- just as much as it affects Kurt Warner.
"These guys have all played in cold weather," Belichick said. "They've all played in these kind of situations. ... I'd be surprised if there's too many players who haven't experienced these conditions. I mean, (Cardinals wide receiver Larry) Fitzgerald went to Pitt. He's probably be in this as much as some of our players."
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
