As a whole they've looked better than expected. Don't really include the ravens game as they were given 28 undeserved points. Just to make a list of quick hits.
Spikes has regressed largely because of scheme. Was hoping to see him blitz more.
Chandler has been a beast. He had a monster game against the ravens, just wasn't getting the calls.
McCourty has been way better than people give him credit for. Not rookie season dominant but still pretty good.
Gregory has been better than expected, solid.
Hightower has been pretty good for a rookie, hope he developes into more of an impact player instead of a guy who won't lose the game for you.
Mayo hasn't been good. Still needs more impact plays.
Cunningham has made a nice resurgence.
I think the schematic shift to have lighter de's and heavy lbs was a smart one, but we need to get a better de than Ninkovich, he simply can not hold up in the run and is mediocre rushing the passer as a de. Whether its Cunningham or carter or someone else, we need to improve there.
Also the disappearance of dowling has been confusing. While I think Arrington and especially McCourty have been doing better than give credit for, I'm confused why someone as talented as him is on the bench. I was expecting a great year out of him.
Sterling Moore has been bad, bad, bad.
The lack of a pass rush is troubling though. Next year's draft or free agency needs to yield an interior rusher. Love is OK (passable anyway) as a base defense DT but a more disruptive player would take the defense from steady (which is what I hope they end up as) to disruptive and possibly elite.
Why specifically do you think Sterling Moore has been so bad? I'm not disagreeing with you, I just haven't really noticed anything to terrible. Why exactly has he been so bad?
Bad coverage, bad angles on the ball carrier, completely useless in the run game.
Basically, he's been bad or terrible at everything.
Better refs against the Ravens and better STs against the Cards, and the Pats are top 5 in the NFL in points allowed. I can't complain about that.
I disagree More was lined up with Fitz most of the game sure he had saftey help, but still held his own. The one thing i have noticed is Moore is the only corner who can jam the Wr at the line.
More or less this is my line of thought.
Despite Oher holding on Chandler for the entiriety of the game, we can't afford to get gashed in the run game the second Wilfork leaves the field. We need more depth on the OL and someone better than Nink. Nink was getting abused in the running game and they just kept targetting him for a while, and he wasn't doing anything in the pass rush.
The thing I can't understand about Nink is that he was good last year and even with Chandler already getting some double teams on the other side, he still can't be a factor. I really just dont understand, maybe he just can't have his hand in the dirt, Idk.
Latter part. He also has short arms and is only 6'2 and weighs 250 lbs. Doesn't help that he is going against (mostly) power tackles and TEs.
I wouldn't say he was good last year. He had moments of excellent play, moments of horrendous play and a lot of mediocrity in between.
I'm not quite sure why the Pats decided to go with him at LE unless they simply feel the in-house options are all worse (probably an accurate assessment) and external options wouldn't be a sufficient upgrade for the cost (and outside of Andre Carter, that too is probably an accurate assessment).
I do think that if he has more games like last week, he will find his way out of the rotation at DE. For a team with 3-4 other guys on the roster at DE, there is no reason not to try something else.
Who was out there that you would have preferred over Ninkovich?
That's what I want to see too. I wonder if BB thinks Ninkovich is truly a better option, or just thinks Cunningham needs to be available for the sub-rusher role instead. I find it hard to believe that Cunningham isn't better - he seems to hold the edge real well and he can rush the passer with more strength and variety of moves than Ninkovich.