« 12 for No. 12 | Main | Seau on complacency »
LB interceptions
FOXBOROUGH -- Patriots coach Bill Belichick held his Thursday press conference (10:50 a.m.) and one topic of discussion was the play of the team's linebackers in pass coverage.
Belichick was asked about outside linebacker Rosevelt Colvin, and what impressed him about his performance against the Chargers besides his obvious statistics (5 tackles, 2 sacks, 1 interception, 2 forced fumbles).
"He worked hard last week on his pass defense and I was glad to see him make a couple plays, make some improvement in his pass coverage," Belichick said. "That was a nice play he made on the ball on the first [defensive] play of the game. We haven't had a lot of interceptions by linebackers around here. We haven't had a lot lately. To have two in that game, that's almost a season's worth for us around here sometimes.
"Rosie had one last year in the playoff game against San Diego, but that was much more of a loose play, scramble situation, where he was trying to dump it over his head. This was one where he made a nice drop [in coverage] and made a nice play on the ball. We dropped a couple the first week, and caught them this week. Maybe that's a sign we're headed in the right direction."
Patriots linebackers totaled four interceptions throughout the 2006 regular season, with Mike Vrabel (3) and Tedy Bruschi (1) accounting for the picks.
In 2005, linebackers accounted for just two interceptions.
Your comments
(8)What was the INT total in the 03 - 04 years? I seem to remember Bruschi getting tons in those days. BB may be alluding to the recent drop for a reason.
Speaking of linebackers, is there any explanation why it seems like Tedy Bruschi has been invisible in the first two games. Are the coaches trying to get him less snaps this year? I've seen Junior Seau playing quite a bit with Adailus Thomas.
This might have been an area that needed to be addressed/worked on since they got burned in the last AFC title game against the Colts.
With the criticism that the LB corp is old, it is great to see them out to a fast start. This was a glaring weakness in the AFCC game last year. Let's all keep our fingers crossed that they can stay healthy!
Best D in he League right nowand its only getting better...
Would this info have any bearing on why the Pmen refused to give Assante or Ty Law big bucks?
Moss gets most of the attention, but addition of Thomas has arguably made a bigger impact - especially in the running game. Like back in January, SD tried to run to the right side of the D. Instead of TBC, Thomas was there and LT was shut down. Later they tried running right and Ty Warren was there. Warren and Vrabel on the left cover up Tedy's limitations on the strong side. Thomas and Colvin are working well together on the weak side. The front seven has played so well that the safeties can drop back in deep coverage. Peyton and Joe Addai are in for a rude awakening.
In week 1 Colvin didn't show up on the stat sheet: no tackles, etc. The assumption was that he wasn't having a good game, but is the reality that he was dropping into pass coverage all day? If so, all the more credit, since it's a task he likely won't get stats/attention for.