Originally Posted by DJ's left nut (Post 14439603)

I have a concern.

Offensively we're just ahead of the game. We are setting the trends and teams are trying to catch us. Andy is the top of the game and it's a horserace to see who's in second.

BB is his defensive doppleganger. He's the defensive equivalent of Andy and he sets trends out there that nobody else can seem to duplicate (just as Andy does on O).

So when the Patriots do a thing that seems 180 degrees different than what we're doing on defense, that's worrisome. And right now the Patriots are largely eschewing the idea that pass-rush is king in the modern NFL and nobody can cover long enough to matter anyway with these rules. They're spending money on DBs and making their coverage work. That Steelers game wasn't a display of a fire-breathing pass-rush scaring off Big Ben - it was a secondary just blanketing guys.

Is he right? Should we have been building our defense around our defensive backfield rather than plowing all these assets into the DL? Should we have have stayed put at 1, taken Ya-Sin, even peddled Jones for another CB and just hurled assets at the secondary while trying to scheme pressure?

My gut says no. My gut says we got it right. But my gut's resume is a shitload less impressive than Bill Belichick's brain.

My concern don't mean shit, in the end. This team is unquestionably pot-committed to a plan built predominantly around it's DL and either it works or we lose. But you have to get a little skittish when you see probably the best defensive mind in history doing the opposite of what you're doing.