Patriots-Bills Film Review: Defense Edition

Yes, it’s time to take a look back at the car crash that happened on Sunday, when the Bills beat the Patriots pretty much across the board. And where else would I start than with the defense?

Now the common refrain I’ve heard over the past couple days is THEY ONLY GAVE UP 16 POINTS!

Well, this is true. And overall the Patriots defense is fourth in the league in points-per-game. That can’t be overlooked and as maddening as the Bend-Don’t-Break can be, it’s a proven game winner.

But from there just about every other defensive stat is bad. Real bad. They’re 29th in 3rd down defense and 28th in red zone defense. We’ll see how far they’ve fallen in DVOA on Tuesday.

So yes, the number of points allowed is certainly an important stat, and when you combine that with how the bad tackling, lack of edge setting, and overall sloppiness should all be corrected and there’s certainly a valid argument to be made that the Patriots defense will be okay.

But don’t ask me to feel good about how they’ve regressed in some of the most important aspects of the game since last year. Hopefully this game was just a stinker they needed to get out of the way.

Let’s take a closer look at the All 22 to get an emotionless look at what went wrong.

1st Half

— Probably should’ve known this one would go badly when Chung and Ryan collided on the second play of the game. Looked like Ryan too the worst of it.

— The Patriots mixed between zone and man coverage, usually had a spy on Taylor. The crossing routes gave them a lot of problems when they were in man and Taylor was extremely calm in the pocket. On the touchdown throw the pressure was about to cream him, but he got the ball off at the last moment, Hightower got borderline pick-played and McCoy took it to the end zone.

— Stop me if I sound like a broken record but Freeny and McClellin are the two obvious weak links on defense. Freeny sticks out even more when you see him playing next to Collins. This defense is far better off against a pass-heavy team than a run-heavy one.

— Quick slants and checkdowns were also key plays for the Bills. Couple those with a shitty tackling game from the Patriots defense and it’s clear why the Pats couldn’t get off the field. Logan Ryan seemed like the primary target for the slants and though they were getting completed on him he was tackling them all pretty quickly. Not sure why he wasn’t getting more of a jam, those are useful in disrupting the bang-bang timing needed for a quick slant.

— Even when the Pats sent Ryan as a blitzer on the second drive, Taylor avoided the rush and found Clay for another first down. No matter what the Pats did they had no answers early on in this one.

— Hightower was rusty and had his share of mistakes, but his power is always evident. The Patriots continue to use him at strongside linebacker as much as possible and he’s a force on the end of the line. But again, the weak link is Freeny, and when he fills the gap too quickly and gets trapped it spreads Hightower and Collins thin.

— The “mush rush” or slow rush to keep a QB in the pocket really seemed to neuter the Pats defense when they weren’t sure if it was run or pass. They were killed on second down. Taylor was 16-of-20 for 137 yards on second down and nine of them went for a first down.

— Finally Hightower made a play on third down, sidestepping the running back’s block and forcing Taylor to throw the ball under pressure. There just wasn’t enough plays being made overall by the defense early on.

— On the second drive the Pats moved to some more three heavy DL (Valentine/Branch/Brown) fronts, but similar shitty results.

— Maybe the worst play of the game came on a 2nd-and-20 that went for 22 right in front of Matt Patricia and the Patriots sideline. They were in zone (cover 4) but with two receivers along the sideline the Bills exploited the coverage. Perhaps Cyrus Jones should’ve been deeper. The three man mush rush did nothing but give Taylor time to let the play develop. Two stops there and the Pats might’ve had some good field position before half. But nope. Major missed opportunity.

— Pats got another third down stop a few plays later to keep it at 13-0 at halftime. The rush was a little more aggressive this time and as  Taylor tried to run Malcom Brown closed just in time to get a hand on him and Sheard finished him off. Credit to Trey Flowers too for finally getting some inside push.

2nd Half

— A three-and-out on the Bills first possession to start the second half was nice. The Pats were paying obvious attention to the quick slants now, dropping Jamie Collins to prevent one on the first play of the second half.

— Again, this is how you take away the quick slants. Hightower this time.

— Just after this the Bills had a third-and-10. The Pats were in off-man coverage with Butler favoring the deep ball. Goodwin threw on the brakes and Taylor got the ball there off balance before Butler could break back on it. Pressure’s gotta get there in that situation, this time McClellin was just a bit too late.

— Things were far more technically sound in the second half, however it continued to seem like every mistake was exploited by the Bills.

— I’ve mentioned McClellan a couple times negatively, but he had a good edge set in the third quarter. He’s athletic and aware but the problem I’m finding is that he has no power and struggles to defeat offensive linemen once they engage. I continue to be unsure of where, if anywhere, McClellin is a long term fit in this defense. Still, having him on the edge and Hightower in the middle seems likes a better defense that Hightower on the edge and Freeny in the middle.

— Yup, this sums the day up…

— Early in the 4th McClellan did have a nice edge set. So credit there to him. Maybe he just needs some time. I’m not sure. Still haven’t gotten a “wow” play out of him though.

— More late game sloppiness when Taylor slips out of back-to-back sacks to dig the Bills out of a 2nd-and-24 hole deep in their own territory to get another first down. Sheard and Collins were the ones who couldn’t bring Taylor down.

— Way too many plays where the running back had nothing where the play was blocked, then reversed field and picked up a bunch more yards. That’s pursuit and tackling problems, again just symptomatic of the sloppy overall play. Things were better in the second half, but they were still often very ugly.

 

Overall I feel a little better after watching the emotionless All-22 of the defense. They had a bad game, but you could see in certain moments what they’re capable of. It was just one of those games where the Bills were on fire and the Pats couldn’t get out of their own way.

The second half, though still filled with bad plays, looked a lot better. At least there was a semblance of a gameplan there. In the first half the defense didn’t look like they were on the same page. As they settled down and got a better read on Taylor they were able to contain him and the Bills’ offense better.

But again, this shouldn’t happen to a veteran defense. Kudos to them for only giving up 16 points to what really is an average-at-best NFL offense. But in the important moments they were often torn apart and looked unprepared.

Again, I’m just going to bury this game for the defense, just like I am for the Brissett-led offense. Hopefully it’s just the early-season stinkah and we’ll start to really see the defense come together now with Ninkovich back and the offense more capable of playing complimentary football.