< Back to Front Page Text size – +

Defensive snapshot

Email|Link|Comments (8) Posted by Mike Reiss, Globe Staff November 25, 2008 05:00 AM

A look at the snaps played by defensive players in the Patriots' win over the Dolphins, which can sometimes lead to a greater understanding of how personnel was utilized:

CB Ellis Hobbs -- 65 of 65 snaps

LB Jerod Mayo -- 65 of 65

S Brandon Meriweather -- 65 of 65

LB Pierre Woods -- 65 of 65

OLB Mike Vrabel -- 58 of 65

CB Deltha O'Neal -- 54 of 65

NT Vince Wilfork -- 53 of 65

S James Sanders -- 52 of 65

DE Richard Seymour -- 47 of 65

LB Tedy Bruschi -- 36 of 65

LB Gary Guyton -- 29 of 65

DE Ty Warren -- 28 of 65

DE Jarvis Green -- 27 of 65

CB/S Lewis Sanders -- 24 of 65

DE Mike Wright -- 18 of 65

DE Le Kevin Smith -- 12 of 65

CB Jonathan Wilhite -- 10 of 65

OLB Vince Redd -- 7 of 65

(snaps include two holding offensive penalties and an encroachment penalty)

ANALYSIS: The Patriots stayed in a base 3-4 alignment for much of the game, and nose tackle Vince Wilfork was immense. His 53 snaps were a season-high in non-overtime games. ... The coaches asked a lot of Wilfork in this game and he delivered; this marked the first game that he had the highest percentage of snaps among defensive linemen. ... The Patriots switched personnel in the 3-4 to add more coverage at times, having CB Lewis Sanders enter the game for S James Sanders when the Dolphins had three receivers. ... That seemed to be the Patriots' attempt to stay in a strong enough run defense, but add more of a coverage element on the field. ... Lewis Sanders also lined up at cornerback in place of Deltha O'Neal at times. ... The Patriots used their nickel package once in the first half, with rookie CB Jonathan Wilhite the fifth defensive back coming on, and just 10 times overall (9 on the final drive). Both of the Patriots' sacks came in the nickel. ... OLB Vince Redd's seven snaps were the last seven of the game, as he replaced Mike Vrabel, who had played every snap to that point.

» Back to Front Page

8 comments so far...

Mike - who had the green sticker on defense? Vrabel? I can't imagine they'd put it on Mayo as a rookie, no matter how studly he's been.

Posted by Jim November 25, 08 06:55 AM

Hi Jim. Vrabel has had the green sticker.
--Mike

Posted by Mike Reiss November 25, 08 08:01 AM

pierre woods and gary guyton are beasts in madden 09...ive benched bruschi. sorry

Posted by Alex November 25, 08 10:21 AM

Didn't Redd get beat on the Ricky Williams TD? Was that at the end of the game?

Posted by Pat November 25, 08 01:38 PM

Ellis Hobbs on the field for all 65 plays? That explains why they gave up 28 points and 341 passing yards.

Posted by Not An Ellis Hobbs Man November 25, 08 04:11 PM

Good to see Wilfork with 53 snaps in that game.

He is a stud, and I am glad they decided to leave him in on 3rd and long. Although, how about a 4-3 on 3rd and longs to bull rush and collapse the pocket ?

Just a thought

Posted by Blair from Canada November 25, 08 06:02 PM

Pat, I believe that was Guyton. From what I saw, Redd was just pass-rushing in this game with his hand on the ground.

Posted by MarkZ November 25, 08 09:48 PM

I think what we've seen over the last couple of weeks is that we have lost some versatiliyy on defense, specially after Adalius went down. It's been a couple of weeks now that we have stayed most of the game in our 3-4 alignment, and not going into those bizarre schemes that Bill uses so much.

Also, I think we are seeing a rejuvenating process in front of our eyes. Mayo and Guyton are stablishing themselves as our solid ILB's, which is great considering that Teddy is running our of gas. Also, lets hope that Woods develope quickly as well, because something that I think we are also seeing this year is how Mike Vrabel is losing a couple of steps.
Hopefully next year we'll have a very solid and athletic core of LB's. (It doesn't seem very far away those days in which we had 6 of the best LB's in the league - Brusch, Johnson, Vrabel, McGinest, Colvin & Phifer).

Back in the secondary, its obvious we miss Rodney, not because his covering abilities but because he is the one that puts someorder back there. I think Meariweather has shown some flashes, but besides that, we'll better hunt someone in free agency, otherwise, we may get used to getting burned deep badly.

D-line is certainly our strongest asset now.

Posted by Phillip November 26, 08 05:29 PM

DO NOT HIT THE SUBMIT BUTTON MORE THAN ONCE!

You must be logged in to submit a comment.

This blogger might want to review your comment before posting it.

Mike Reiss, Christopher L. Gasper and the rest of the Globe team provide regular updates –and a behind-the-scenes look– on the daily happenings of the Patriots.

see all globe blogs