What Re-Signing Aqib Talib, Kyle Arrington Means for Patriots Defense

March 16, 2013   ·   Erik Frenz   ·   Jump to comments

Continued improvement.
That's what the Patriots are hoping for in bringing back (per Fox News) cornerbacks Kyle Arrington and Aqib Talib over the past 36 hours.
The defense got off to a rough start in 2012, specifically against the pass, but a few moves helped facilitate a second-half improvement:
Devin McCourty (who was not playing bad at cornerback to that point) was moved to safety; Cornerback Ras-I Dowling was injured for the season, thus promoting Alfonzo Dennard to a starting spot on the outside, a role which he emerged in; Arrington was moved to the slot; The Patriots traded a fourth-round pick for Talib. Talib was the final domino to fall into place, and from there, things got better.
In the first nine games of the season, the Patriots were allowing 5.2 pass plays of 20 yards or more per game. In the final seven games of the season, after all those moves had been completed, that number dropped to 3.9 per game. Before the moves, opponents were averaging 8.1 ...

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