Despite one of the more exciting regular season games I’ve personally ever seen out of the Patriots ending in a win against Pittsburgh at Heinz, a stupid decision by Big Ben Rapelisberger helped overshadow defensive struggles that New England has dealt with all season long. In fact, many great Pats victories this season have covered up poor defensive performances. We haven’t seen such prominent ups and downs from the Patriots in any form quite like we’ve seen in regards to the defensive side of the ball this season.
For one, we can thank a depleted front seven and depleted defense in general. Injuries to Kyle Van Noy and Alan Branch have taken a serious toll on the squad’s performance lately (if you had told me I would be writing that very sentence a year ago, I would have called you insane). No Dont’a Hightower has left the linebacking corps a complete and utter mess. Stephon Gilmore’s concussion that sidelined him for three games kept the cornerback turnstyle spinning in an attempt to figure out what works best. I could go on.
Continuing on in regards to the linebackers, without Van Noy nor Hightower, New England’s LBs are among the worst in the league, primarily allowing rushers 4.9 yards per carry. Weak and generally bad tackling overall from the Patriots’ defense has hurt them, big time. This defense is absolutely a bend but don’t break D as we’ve seen in the past, but this year, there’s been some breakage and consequences have been felt. The breakage will continue on if something isn’t figured out with the run defense.
In the last two weeks, Le’Veon Bell and Kenyan Drake totally flamed New England, both rushing for well over 100 yards. Running backs are consistently having field days on the ground against Matt Patricia’s defense. They’re ranked 26th in run defense, allowing 122.3 yards per game. You can also thank any edge player the Patriots have thrown out there this season (*cough* Cassius Marsh and Eric Lee *cough*) as they’ve struggled big time to successfully set the edge, shooting themselves in the foot regularly on the ground.
On a semi-related note, if I never have to see Trey Flowers in coverage on Le’Veon Bell ever again, I’ll die happy. Both last season and this season, New England has randomly thrown Flowers in coverage and shocker, it hasn’t worked out.
To add insult to injury, this third down defense has been less than pleasant to witness. It’s one thing for the defense to struggle, but it’s another to be completely incapable of getting off the field and giving the greatest quarterback of all time the pigskin. For example, the Steelers went 10-for-16 on third down last week in a game that they were mere seconds away from winning. New England is ranked 23rd in defense making stops on third down this season, which feels high to me.
Similarly, as of late, the red zone defense has seen better performances. Don’t let that finish in Pittsburgh in the end zone fool you; there’s major issues inside the 20 yard line on the defensive side of the football for New England. Of course, you can almost always count on them to figure it out in the end, but we’ve seen them multiple times this year be unable to make that happen and subsequently suffer a loss. You can also almost always count on a coaching meltdown on the opposing sideline, but you get the point.
That leaves us with the secondary. Arguably the most consistent defensive unit on New England’s defense this season, they’ve absolutely done more good than bad contrary to popular fan belief. While they’ve given up big plays (see: Smith-Schuster before the Steelers shat themselves as a final act), they’ve also helped keep the Patriots’ defense as steady as possible while they struggle up front. Their defensive backs are their utmost strength on defense this season with Gilmore, Butler, Chung, McCourty and Harmon remaining relatively consistent in the backfield. The cornerback depth of Rowe, Jones and Bademosi, all who have contributed positively this season, helped keep the boat above water when Gilmore was hurt and Butler was benched and having struggles.
Albeit, those cornerbacks have been inconsistent, primarily Gilmore and Butler. Gilmore was essentially being driven out of town in his first month with his new team before suffering a concussion and missing the aforementioned three games. Then, he came back and seemingly redeemed himself before falling back into his old habits against Pittsburgh, covering Smith-Schuster and Martavis Bryant, before Antonio Brown left due to injury.
As for Butler, he’s had one hell of a roller coaster of a season. He’s bounced back since being benched multiple times in the beginning of the season in favor of oftentimes Eric Rowe. Butler has allowed 49 catches on 83 targets, good for two touchdowns and 615 yards and only coming away with two picks through 15 weeks.
At the end of the day, though, if the Patriots front lines can’t hold down fort the rest of the way and into the playoffs, it’s going to come down to the secondary as it has all season. I have faith that the Patriots will finish the regular season strong, but in order for that to happen, the entire defensive unit needs to fix lingering communication problems and play to their ability, which we all know is high.
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