Vince Wilfork realizes times have changed in Foxboro

FOXBORO — At the age of 30 and with eight seasons in New England behind him, Vince Wilfork realizes Richard Seymour, Tedy Bruschi and Rodney Harrison are as much a part of Patriots history as Paul Revere, William Dawes and Samuel Prescott.

The years have brought change with them; change that hasn’t necessarily been for the better.

“It was a level that, you had guys that played this game for a long time, had been in this system for a long time, and they just knew how to play,” the veteran defensive lineman reflected, recalling the way things once were. “When you’re around something for so long you adapt, you can start doing some different things and move around differently because you know it so well.”

While the team performed well last year, the fact of the matter is, the defense didn’t.

In fact, it could be said the Patriots’ fifth Super Bowl berth in the past 11 seasons under Bill Belichick was accomplished in spite of the performance of a defense that ranked 31st in the NFL both overall and against the pass.

And in the end, for the second time in five Super Bowls, that defense proved incapable of mounting a last-minute stand that would have secured a championship against Eli Manning and the New York Giants.

“Being a young defense, I think with the lockout and all of that, I think we struggled at certain points with some of the things that we did,” said Wilfork. “Hopefully it can be better this year.

“I think the OTAs (organized team activities) are good for us and are definitely good for a younger team. We’ve got a younger defense and I’m not saying we’re too young, but at the same time it helps to be able to get together and get the little things out of the way that can make a big, big difference down in the season. I think some of those things we can get done now.

“We’re trying now. With OTAs we’re trying, and every day we put something different in and every day guys are coming in to work. That’s what it’s going to take. You have to strive to get better and that’s where I’m at right now – striving to get better and hopefully my teammates are doing the same thing.”

Wilfork was speaking following last Thursday’s OTA – the team’s sixth of 10 – on the practice fields behind Gillette Stadium.

Those sessions wrap up on Friday of this week; next week (Tuesday-through-Thursday) the Patriots will hold a three-day minicamp, the last time they’ll get together until the start of training camp in late July.

Wilfork said he’s been pleased with what he’s seen to this point in an offseason in which the organization stressed defense, defense and more defense in the draft, dedicating the bulk of it to revamping that side of the ball, beginning with Chandler Jones (Syracuse defensive end) and Dont’a Hightower (Alabama linebacker) in the first round and continuing through the selection of Nebraska cornerback Alfonzo Dennard in the seventh.

“You know you can never doubt the capability of this organization and what they do,” said Wilfork, who earned a Pro Bowl berth in 2011, his fourth since the Patriots chose him in the opening round of the 2004 draft. “I’m just happy to be back.

“Whoever we have, we have a lot of faith in them, and if we didn’t they wouldn’t be here. Hopefully we can get this thing started fast. I’m excited about the upcoming season and I’m looking forward to camp, but when camp gets started I’ll be ready for it to end. It’s an exciting time when you can get back to doing something you love and something you’ve been doing for a long time. It’s always exciting.”


(enterprisenews.com)