Tom Brady shook off one of the worst games of his career and had a relatively quiet game throwing for two touchdowns and more importantly, having no turnovers. The Patriots have played three out of their first four games away from Foxborough and are sitting at a record of 3-1, I think most coaches in the NFL would love to be in their position right now. The Buffalo Bills loss coupled with (at the time of this writing) the Jets losing to the Ravens, means that New England will be atop their division once again (tied with the Bills). With seven home games left, it's hard to see this team finishing with less than 10 wins overall. Wes Welker once again dominated proceedings, did you know he already has 40 catches this year? This game he had 9 of them to go with 158 yards, considering that only 16 passes were completed by Brady, this is huge! He was responsible for more than half of the Patriots offence (by air), I feel safe in saying that if Welker gets injured and has to sit out more than 2 games that this team would be in some serious trouble. Chad Ochocinco continues his relatively quiet season; today he had 2 catches (although he was targeted only 2 times) for 26 yards. Cabrock speculated in his last article that this could be a result of him not understanding New England's offence yet. if this is the case then Chad has 13 weeks to figure it out if he wants to contribute to this team. In the playoffs (assuming the Patriots make it) New England can not rely only on Welker as a primary wide receiver if they want to contend.
Defensively, the Patriots finally held a team to under 20 points, this is a good sign after being torched by Buffalo last week. Vince Wilfork had another pick (his only 2 career interceptions have come this year) and continued to be a beast on the defensive line, continually drawing double teams. Patrick Chung also came up with an interception and showed that he is a valuable player to this team (he missed the game against Buffalo). For some reason, (and I do not know enough about the technical aspects of football to explain this) Safeties seem to be really important to defenses (more so than other positions) and teams that had great safeties tend to have great defenses (Ed Reed, Bob Sanders, Troy Polamalu, Lawyer Miloy etc.). This is an open invitation to Cabrock Jones to try and explain this in writing, it is something I've been wondering for a long time, so Cabrock: Why do defenses in the NFL rely so much on safeties? and why do defenses under-perform when starting safeties are out? Anyways, today it was business as usual for the Patriots who now host the New York Jets next week. If the Ravens keep kicking their ass this game could put the Jets in jeopardy of missing the playoffs, should make for a very good game. Two quick notes: Tom Brady passed his idol Joe Montana (while playing where he grew up no less) on the all time Touchdowns list. Just another achievement to put on the hall of fame plaque reserved for him. Second thing, Brady cut his hair, Think what you will about this; my guess is that Belichick told him he's tired of his pretty-boy shit and that he wants him to take this season seriously. The only true contenders that have emerged so far are all in the NFC (Saints, Lions, Packers). Belichick senses that the AFC is weak and that this could be the Patriots year. Stay tuned.
In the NFL you have to run to set up the pass...or is it pass to set up the run? Does a good D-line allow your DBs to make plays or does good coverage let your D-line to terrorize the QB? The NFL is full of these Chicken-or-the-Egg type questions that really have no definitive answer. To answer your question simply, a safety is extremely crucial, and potentially the most important player on D, only if the rest of the defence is doing their job.
ReplyDeleteThe safety can be loosely compared to the goalie in other sports; if you let a receiver past the safety, you’ve just given up a score. Now, in the NFL, the “QB of the Defence” is usually the middle linebacker, but in reality, it makes most sense to be the safety. They line up 14 yards from the LOS(line of scrimmage) and the entire field of play is in front of them. The only reason they aren’t usually in charge of controlling the defensive calls is because it would be very difficult to communicate an audible to the D-line from 14 yards out.
The reason a good safety is so crucial is because, in theory, they aren’t responsible for a man. They are either responsible for covering the deep zone or allowed to roam free (hence the name free safety) and go make a play anywhere on the field. Over the top safety help is what allows cornerbacks to go for INTs and help make plays elsewhere, and if the help doesn’t arrive, the defence is going to get torched for a huge pass.
So why do teams with good safeties usually have good defences? It is because the rest of the D is at least doing their bare minimum to let the safety roam the field and make plays on the ball elsewhere. If your corners can hold their own, you can pack a safety in the box and bring them on a free blitz or you can allow them to cover the deep part of the field so the other DBs can try and make an early break on the ball.
However, if all you have is a good safety, you’re shit out of luck. A safety can only excel if, a) the defensive line gets after the QB and makes him get rid of the ball earlier than he would like, or b) the other DBs do a good enough job of covering the receivers so that the safety can break on the ball when it is thrown.
Look back to all of the safeties you mentioned; they all either had very good fellow DBs or had aggressive defensive lines that constantly applied pressure on the QB. No matter how you look at it, one player can’t make a team (unless you’re Barry Sanders or Peyton Manning), but an smart, instinctive safety can be the most crucial player on defence and the difference between a good team and a superbowl champion.
-Cabrock Jones