Film Review: Patriots vs. Texans Defense Edition 2018

After years of focusing heavily on the Patriots’ defense it’s easy to see after the first game how new defensive coordinator Brian Flores has simplified things. They still did plenty of rotation of players, but this was as polished a defensive game as we’ve seen from a Pats team that often gets off to slow starts.

The defense was flying to the ball and looked well in-sync between coverage and pass rush. Most impressive, an array of front seven players who all won one-on-one battles. It is that Flores is sending all kinds of new pressure that Matt Patricia wasn’t, it’s that players like Trey Flowers, Keionta Davis, Dietrich Wise, Adam Butler and Adrian Clayborn are executing a coordinated and suffocating attack on the pocket.

Up front the base moved more toward a six-man front that echoes a 4-3 under. Kyle Van Noy was consistently on the defensive left side, standing. Hightower would line up to the tight end side (taking the TE in coverage on pass plays) and Bentley would line up across the running back, who he’d have in coverage. This meant that Trey Flowers was able to move back to right side after playing the Ninkovich role on the left. That role appears to be going away.

That was the run stopping front, I’m not sure they played a single meaningful snap of a seven-man front, fka “base”.

The other nickel package against the pass was a 4-2 front and they rotated all four linebackers through, with Hightower and Bentley being the top pairing, but Van Noy and Roberts also got rotational time. The nickel back ends rotated between Jonathan Jones in the slot and Duron Harmon, who saw some time near the line of scrimmage, somewhat of a rarity for him.

The coordination between Chung, McCourty, Gilmore and Rowe was outstanding. They gave up a few plays, but overall they were really sharp, especially in contrast to last year’s opening debacle.

Here’s a bunch more notes on a really impressive first defensive outing…

— Ju’Whaun Bentley got pointed out on the broadcast by Tony Romo for blowing a coverage on a third-and-nine pass that fell incomplete, but I thought Bentley showed remarkable recovery and change of direction. Against real NFL competition, it’s easy to see what the coaches love about him. He looked far more comfortable covering running backs than you might’ve expected.

— Okay, I’m in on Keionta Davis. Check out the relentlessness from him in the GIF below. He subbed in for Trey Flowers and didn’t look out of place, causing consistent disruption. He got pinned a couple times but it was an impressive debut and now I finally get what the Pats see in him — another Flowers-type of stout defensive end who is a good technician. His hand fighting and ability to disengage his blocker showed up a couple times.

— On Lamar Miller‘s 31-yarder off the left defensive edge he slipped out of Malcom Brown‘s tackle as Davis got blown back by the double team and Harmon took a bad angle that allowed extra yardage. Brown was back in the starting mix as I predicted in the gameplan. It appears his summer demotion was largely due to injury management. They still didn’t pick up his fifth-year option but Brown looked pretty good overall.

— Hightower is staying more off the line of scrimmage now, as it appears Van Noy standing on the left defensive edge is a new feature replacing the need for a base defensive end like Ninkovich who could rush and/or drop. Hightower is at his best in the heart of the defense and it appears Flores is playing to that.

— Gilmore’s interception was deservedly praised, just remarkable range and ability to close on the exact point for the catch.

— The coverage was outstanding on a third-and-10 stop in the first quarter. Just nowhere to go with the ball and a pass rush that constricts around the pocket. I don’t want to go full B-Flo lovefest, but it’s hard not to, especially in the light of the Lions’ loss to the Jets. This was one of the most impressive defensive performances of recent memory where everything looked totally in sync.

There were some bad moments…

— The long scoring drive in the third quarter came against the Pats’ nickel package, including interior pass rusher Adam Butler at defensive tackle. They were daring the Texans to run on them. I don’t know what the rankings will say about the Pats’ run defense but this was pure strategy aimed at winning the game.

Overall, I’m excited to see how this defense continues to progress. They’ve already set the bar really high. And as they start to play even more to their strengths with their best players, look out.