Dean Pees's scorecard
FOXBOROUGH -- Patriots coach Bill Belichick (10:45 a.m.) and defensive coordinator Dean Pees (11 a.m.) held press conferences and media members had access to the locker room (11-11:45 a.m.) today at Gillette Stadium.
One of the interesting nuggets was Pees breaking down his weekly scorecard for the defense. Pees had been asked about the team's performance on third down last week, when the Chiefs were a solid 8 of 16.
Pees then explained that he has a weekly win-loss scorecard for the defense. He breaks it down by first down, second down and third down.
As for last week, Pees said "it was probably the best we've done in a long time on first down; our win percentage was very, very high."
The problems came on third down.
"There were a couple situations where we were very competitive on the routes but the guy made the catch, basically [Tony] Gonzalez," he said. "Regardless of that, we have to do a better job on third down. ... We have to a little better job of playing our techniques and doing some things to get off the field. We have to get that number lower."
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Hey Dean, use my system:
On any first down, if you can limit the other team to 1/3 of the distance to the first down marker, you win. Round to the nearest yard.
On any second down, if you limit them to 1/2 of the distance, you win.
Third down is less than all of the distance.
Under my system, if the other team has 1st and 20 and your guys give up 12 yards, that's not a win at all. If the other team has 2nd and 2 and they get an incomplete pass, that's really a win.
For offense, any of the above plus 2 yards counts as a win.
Thanks Mike, That is really a great piece of information. I would love to know more. Does he mark what type of defense he called against a certain offense? Maybe you could include the scoring on your game analysis when you put out other things like Offensive Participation.
Football games are won or lost on third down.
Agreed Brian - the Pats are great at getting people into 3rd down, but then don't close the deal. 3rd down D was a problem last year also - its something we need to get a handle on.
Cheers,
Davo
The Pats are simply going to have to "sell out" on the pass rush on third downs more often....bring pressure and bring it hard.
Their secondary is not what it used to be, and the new "Polian rules" of playing pass defense, where just breathing on a WR after 5 yards could draw a flag, are a hinderance for all NFL DBs now.
The Pats were ranked just 11th in defensive passer rating last season, and their pass defense on 3rd down has left a lot to be desired the past few seasons, actually.
They simply need to bring more pressure, as Brian is correct: football games are won or lost on 3rd down. And increasingly, since the "Polian Rules" went into effect, passing games are stopped up front, by the Front 7, not by the secondary.
Basically what he is saying is that his run defense was fine(first and second downs) but that his pass defense9third down) stinks as we know from last year.
Sure am glad none of you are Patriots coaches.
The defense played well. Stout against the run and decent against the pass. Gonzalez made some plays, but that is going to happen - what was encouraging is that unlike last year, he was not running free in the middle of the field. There was good coverage on him.
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