A few more nuggets from John Madden from today's NBC conference call:
On the Patriots' offense and where the overall team ranks in the history of the league. "It's the best offense I've ever seen. I said the other night that Tom Brady is playing the position of quarterback, right now, better than I've ever seen anyone play it in my history. Where they go as the best team [of all time], I think offensively they are right there. I think the best offensive teams that won were probably the San Francisco 49ers, in my mind, and I think this [offense] -- the way they're playing right now -- is probably better. Again, I put the whole thing together with the offensive line and the receivers and the quarterback and everything. When you go to 'team', then you have to put in defense. Their defense isn't the Pittsburgh Steeler defense, it's not one of those. It's not the '85 Bear defense. So you can say historically, when you put it together, I'm not sure they're the best team ever but I am sure -- in my mind, just my observation -- that they're the best offensive team I've ever seen."
On if the Patriots' "multiple" defense -- switching from a 3-4 to a 4-3 during a game -- has been around the league for ages, or it is innovative thinking in today's NFL. "I think it's innovative what they do on defense. You always assume that the Patriots are a 3-4. And then when they get to third down, that's when they give you very exotic defenses, they'll have six and seven defensive backs, sometimes they'll be in there and only have one defensive lineman. Not only do they do that, and it's innovative, but it's also the best in the NFL. Their third-down defense is the best in the NFL. On first and second down, that's when they use the base. They always have something different or something new. You get ready for the three-man line and they gave the Indianapolis Colts a four-man line. So then I thought against Buffalo they would go back to a three-man line and they played them in a base four-man line. They take Adalius Thomas, he's an inside linebacker and they make him an outside linebacker, so instead of being inside he's rushing from the outside. So every team knows that when you play the Patriots, you're going to get a 'Special of the Day.' Something that you haven't seen. It's going to be a special defense for you that day and you don't know what it is."
A quick observation from Sunday night's game: Madden mentioned that the Patriots were very successful running the ball from the shotgun. In fact, I feel like this formation accentuates Laurence Maroney's weaknesses. From the shotgun, he doesn't have the time to pick up speed, which would allow him to run straight ahead. In the shotgun he takes the ball from Brady, -- and the handoff is usually a little slow -- and then with no momentum dances around awkwardly hoping a hole might materialize.
Thanks so much for switch back!
My friends, and I were discussing Maroney's lack of momentum build-up during the game, regardless what formation the offense was in.
He has his moments, but so far, he's no Addai.
He's injury prone, so, maybe he's not fully recovered.
He's going to have to step up during the cooold months, especially, during the play-offs.
I remember in 1976 that Madden's "awesome' Steelers with their "great defense" started the season 0-4, including a 30-27 loss to the Patriots in Pittsburgh...
Too bad Madden coached the Raiders and not the Steelers.
Maroney definitely hasnt proven to be an inside the guards runner and draw plays from the shotgun dont help him. He's explosive, but needs the space to use his speed. Evans and Eckel do a great job breaking arm tackles up the middle and getting nice gains from the shotgun. I'd love to see them use Maroney a little more in the flat with screens, but I dont know if he's as good a receiver as Faulk. As the temps drop, he'll need to be more effective and with the passing threat, it should open up some holes.
Let's go for it at the end of the season [assuming Pats are 19-0 w.
Super Bowl]. 2007 Pats vs. 1985 Bears.
If you adjust for a different generation (lineman 50-75 lbs lighter),
1962 Green Bay Packers (13-1 + NFL Championship) at the height
of Vince Lombardi's leadership were awesome!!
'DMPC' - You have your coaches mixed up, Madden coached the Raiders in '76 (Noll was the coach of the Steelers). I disaggree with Madden's comments concerning the Pats defense not being one of the best of all time. The Bears, the Ravens, Steeler's et. al. dominated out of a relatively 'base' defense that did not change much from game to game or play to play. They were dominant, in large part, due to an innovative base defensive scheme and with relatively superior talent. What should put the Pats in the same conversation is that the Pat's defense is made up of very very smart players who think very well on their feet and adjust, are fundamentally sound, extremely versatile and don't make many mistakes. Those characteristics alone put them in a class by themselves - and equally as important as raw talent.
While I respect Maddens knowledge of the game and his historical refrences. Dominant defenses are a thing of the past. The rules in the game today so heavily favor the offenses. Starting with the offensive lineman being able to use their hands to block, defensive lineman can no longer use the forearm shiver. The nuetral zone infraction, where defenses are no longer allowed to try to make the offensive line move. The quarterback's in today's game are protected like fine china and after the Patriots played bully to the colts, reinforcement of the Illegal contact rules downfield have all but nuetured todays defenses. Madden is right the pats defense does'nt stack up to the great Steelers or for that matter the Ravens. No defense does or ever will. The rules are designed to give the advantage to the offense. Offense sells....
To Silverghost....
I KNOW Madden coached the Raiders. I was just commenting on the fact that he seems to be enamored of the Steelers and thinks their teams were better than the Pats.
I was mereley pointing out that a team that Madden loves, but did not coach, more than the Patriots had some flaws as well.
The bottom line!!! If the Pats go 19-0 they will be considered the greatest team ever no matter what Madden thinks
Beantowne, I don't know that I would say that "dominant defenses are a thing of the past", but it's true that the rules changes over the years have definitely favored the offense. Just off the top of my head, both the Ravens and Tampa Bay won SB's in the past decade with marginal offenses. I might even include the Pats in that group, prior to this years offensive juggernaut of course.
I recently saw some clips of Joe Namath playing, and was amazed at what the defensive players were doing to him, yanking him around by his head and anything else they could grab. Say what you will, those QB's took beatings. It's a whole different world in the NFL.
I see the usual trend with these posts. Always minimize the Patriots in all situations. As long as the team never gets the respect it deserves, the Pats will continue to chew up the league. And as long as America continues to show its lack of respect for the great team it is, the Pats will become the "dynasty" the country is afraid of. The future looks great for the Patriots, sorry about that America.
Steve Smith,
What you say is so true and so funny. I've seen every Pats game this year and I live in Oregon and I don't have an NFL package.
This disrespected team is sure to be featured for the rest of the season. I've never lived anywhere where an entire season of a team outside of that region has been televised.
I keep hearing all these disparaging remarks about the Pats and keep thinking "you are just feeding them the fuel they crave and dominate with."
The patriots are the only team that is 10 and 0 give these guys some slack. Spygate serious there are over 100 cameras at the game. The patriots out score their oppenents by more than 250 points. Does that show something. Now Tom Brady has Moss, Stallworth, Welker and Watson he should have more success. Look at Tom Brady's numbers compaired to Peyton Manning. Brady's numbers are so much better it not even funny. The Colts have lost more because they don't have Harrison. Mnning still has better weapons plus they have Addai. So lets put it this way Manning stinks.
I really dislike the Colts, I live in Indiana and my whole family loves them, but I can't stand them, however I am a football fan and I appreciate the fact that Manning is a good quarterback. Brady has a lot better weapons than Manning, Moss better than Harrison, Stallworth better than Wayne, Welker way better than Gonzelaz, and Watson and Clark are about equal in most categories. The running back situation is pretty obvious, Addai is better than Maroney and always will be. However Addai does not make up for all those weapons that Brady has over Manning, I thought Manning did pretty well against New England for what he had, he utilized Addai because he knew he was the best offensive weapon they have right now on the field. Brady not only has a better receiving core than Manning but he has the best receiver to step on a field since Jerry Rice. Randy Moss is flat out the best player in the game today, taking away quarterbacks from this category. That was said by Madden himself. So in saying that Manning stinks is something an uneducated football fan would say. I don't like him, but i respect him.
Personally I think the Pats D is very underrated. It's only giving up 15 points per game despite the blowouts. People seem to forget that this team won 3 Super Bowls because of their Defense. Just because the Pats offense is now so dominant is no reason for people to overlook the Pats defense. They will be needed to stop teams before it's all over.
If you look at recent Super Bowl champs you'll see that 3 out of the other 4 teams to win a Super Bowl since 2000 we're dominant on defense: the Ravens and Bucs (who we're marginal on offense at best) and the Steelers.
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