I thought it was interesting reading some analysis going into this game by Tedy Bruschi. He wrote that Bill installs his gameplan at the beginning of the week. As the week goes on, if he is not comfortable, he will make the game plan more vanilla. What is interesting is that going back to 07 even, if I could pick one word to describe this defense is just that...vanilla. They could be in the top 5 or 10 in scoring defense, but I cant think of any signature plays that stand out in the last 3 years. In the Super Bowl years, I can think of at least 10 of them. I used to anticipate watching the defense as much as the offense in those days. I expected them to make plays and they usually did.
Well, yesterday was anything but a vanilla defense. There was ALOT of movement and coverage disguise. Also plenty of communication. I know these guys are young, but I think BB has more confidence in these guys now. Who knows, maybe Mayo, Spikes, Chung, McCourty etc are the new Ty law, Rodney Harrison, Mike Vrabel, etc.
These guys were all high draft picks so if Bill is puting them in position to make plays, maybe they are ready. I know it was only one game, but the biggest question mark for this defense was whether they can make plays. Against a tough Offense in Cincy, they answered that question.
I also heard Vince Wilfork on WEEI this morning talking about how this group has the chance to be special. They all are hungry young players who want to get better. You typically dont hear that kind of talk from BB coached players so it really meant something to me.
I know it is still early when everyone is happy and healthy, but I am MUCH higher on this team than I was a couple of weeks ago. Anyone else as excited as I am?