The Patriots defense turned in their best performance of the season against the Falcons, a total team effort where they were fundamentally sound from top to bottom. Things got a little too foggy to breakdown the entire game, but from a half-plus of review I got a pretty good sense of how well they played and how they were able to shutdown a Falcons offense that had shredded them for much of the Super Bowl.
Here’s what stood out…
— Van Noy continues to make really good progress and his development is a big reason why the defense is playing so much better, especially against the run. The 3rd-and-4 on the Falcons’ second possession was a perfect example as Van Noy splits a double team in space to make a solo tackle for a three yard loss on a toss sweep. It was an excellent play, a great example of the kind of things that weren’t happening earlier in the season.
— After converting the following fourth down via a Matt Ryan scramble the Falcons put together a nice little drive that ended with a Cassius Marsh blocked field goal. On the last third-and-10 the coverage was excellent. Ryan had nowhere to go and the pass rush flushed him out of the pocket. He thought about scrambling again, but McCourty peeled off his middle field help coverage to prevent it. Just an overall really solid team defense play in a key spot, the kind of stuff we haven’t really seen enough of.
— On Marsh’s block he again demonstrated a strength — getting skinny and getting through gaps to make plays. It’s shown up a few times on defensive plays and now it set up what might’ve been a season-changing special teams play. After this the Patriots just played with even more confidence.
— As mentioned on Patshow, I’m a Johnson Bademosi fan. On the third-and-four stop on the Falcons next possession he was physical with Julio Jones the whole way, forcing an incompletion. I’m not sure how it flushes out when Gilmore returns, but I think we’ll continue to see Bademosi at cornerback.
— On Adam Butler‘s sack, it was due in large part to Alan Branch, who threw the center back into Matt Ryan’s feet. Butler won his matchup and finished things off, but Ryan had nowhere to go but backwards because Branch was so dominant. I wouldn’t say Branch is all the way back to his 2016 form yet, but he’s making plays now more frequently. Not really all that shocking that the veteran is taking a while to get going but I think he’ll be a beast in the coming months.
— The 4th-and-sixth stop near the end of the first half was another example of good tight coverage, this time by Jonathan Jones. All the Patriots secondary seemed on the same page and locked in this game. The only passing play the Falcons really got them on were a play action crosser to Julio Jones and Matt Ryan’s scramble. Otherwise they had to scrap for every inch they got. Yes, this is the defense we’re used to. Elements of Bend-Don’t-Break, but just excellent team defense.
— Dietrich Wise picked up another defensive holding penalty, which have been on the uptick against the run this year. I think what it’s partly due to is that the Pats defender’s are two-gapping, meaning they’re attacking the offensive linemen and not the gap, so it’s a fine line between controlling that blocker and holding him. I’d be curious for someone to ask BB about this as it hasn’t been this much of a glaring issue until now.
— The 2nd-and-8 in the early third quarter is where I’d point to when making an argument that Bademosi just fits the Patriots style of defense. The Falcons run a quick pass to stacked receivers and Bademosi instantly attacks and makes the tackle on Julio Jones after a mere three yard gain. This is the kind of stuff that makes the Patriots defense go, and I’m sorry, but it’s not the kind of thing Gilmore excels at, physicality in close to the LOS.
— You can’t understate how huge an impact shutting the run down had on this defensive performance. Guys like Trey Flowers and Malcom Brown dominated their blockers. The effect trickled down on the rest of the defense, into the third-and-longs where the coverage was usually perfect. Seeing a fundamentally sound performance like this bodes really well for the future of this defense because it wasn’t about the Falcons playing bad. It was about the defense playing within themselves and executing. I’d still love to see a little better finish with the pass rush, but that’s been improving. Overall, this was a top-notch effort and certainly one to build off of. They’ll just have to stay as locked in when they aren’t playing such an easy game to get hyped for.
And this is where I had to stop…
