ahhhh. good intel. thanks. Where you watching the game at? Make sure to take some mace with youD-train wrote: ↑Sun Sep 20, 2020 5:51 pmThat was last year:auroraave wrote: ↑Sun Sep 20, 2020 5:31 pmDude, the Patriots defense was number one last year in total yards allowed. They were second in passing yards per game and fifth in rushing. They're probably the best unit in the NFL. They allowed 14 ppg and were first in turnovers and are coached by the best defensive mind in the game. They ain't overrated. I'll be very surprised if Seattle hangs 31 on them. Seattle may win, but dismissing the Patriots defense as overrated is a big reach.D-train wrote: ↑Sun Sep 20, 2020 4:32 pmInteresting predictions by this guy. My prediction: None of them will happen. But it is a good read. He goes all Mike Blowers with the details on some of them. Pretty funny.
1. A special teams turnover will help determine the outcome (This is just so rare. Easy to say it won't happen)
2. Seahawks gets more running yards than passing yards(People act like Pats have an amazing pass defense. They played the damn Dolphins and Fitz)
3. L.J. Collier gets the first sack of his career (Possible but when he gets his first it will be against a statue, not Cam)
4. Jamal Adams gets an interception (This is the most likely but still not likely enough to predict it will happen)
5. Seahawks win a low scoring game (This is also possible but again, I think the Pats D is over rated after one game vs. a bad offense. We will score 31)
https://12thmanrising.com/2020/09/20/se ... edictions/
Downgrade On Defense
Kyle Van Noy, Dont’a Hightower (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)
Last year, the Patriots had the best defense in the NFL. It got them absolutely nothing.
OK, that’s an overstatement. It got them some big regular-season wins, like two victories over Buffalo, and a tighter-than-it-seemed Thursday contest over the Giants, and a rock fight in Philly, and a wet mess vs. Dallas. The defense won some games, hence the 12-4 record.
At the same time, Baltimore had no problem buzzing right through the Patriots’ defense. Nor did Kansas City, nor did Houston. Nor did … Ryan Fitzpatrick and the Miami Dolphins. And nor did Derrick Henry and the Tennessee Titans.
So despite having the best defense, the Patriots still were vulnerable on defense.
Now, that defense is set to be undeniably worse than it was a year ago.
You’ve surely heard the list a million times by now: Dont’a Hightower, Patrick Chung, Kyle Van Noy, Jamie Collins, Danny Shelton — all gone. The reason you’ve heard it so many times is because that is a lot of talent, size, skill, experience and attitude now subtracted from the Patriots’ defense. Van Noy was on the field for 80.75 percent of the Patriots’ defensive snaps last year, third-most on the team. He was a do-it-all defender, a role which took him a couple of years to carve out and one that can’t be easily replicated. Collins is an athlete among athletes, capable of making plays that few living men can make. Hightower is a rock. Chung is an intimidator. They’re all gone.
While you can feel positive vibes about rookie linebackers Josh Uche and Anfernee Jennings, and while you might hold out hope that Belichick went classic Belichick with his Kyle Dugger pick, and while you may even feel warm and fuzzy about the ascent of Ja’Whaun Bentley to team captain … there is no denying that the defense will be sliding back to the middle of the pack this year. The defensive back group — led by Stephon Gilmore, plus a couple of McCourtys, and J.C. Jackson — is still elite. But if the front seven can’t do its job, even an elite defensive backfield will struggle to do its job. (It’s a team sport. You might have heard that before.)
Don’t be surprised when opponents in 2020 score with a whole lot more ease than they did a year ago. As a result, games just might get full-on wacky in the fourth quarter.
