Plowed my way through the first defensive review of the All 22 film and as always it put things into perspective when watching without the emotion of the broadcast. Of course there were bad plays and busted coverages, but there was also plenty to feel positive about.
In a lot of ways it did remind me of the 2014 Chiefs loss in that players just weren’t getting off blocks and making plays. That kind of performance is often common the first few weeks of the season, with one ugly game almost always popping up — remember losing to the Cardinals at home in 2012?
But the poor performance would’ve been so much different if not for a few blown coverages and I fully expect there to be fewer blown coverages the rest of this season than there were in Week One.
Here are my observations on the big defensive picture.
First let’s start with some positives.
— Undrafted rookies Adam Butler Dietrich Wise were both extremely effective as third down pass rushers. If you had asked me what my biggest concern was heading into this season it would’ve been getting after the passer in clear passing situations and those two guys did an outstanding job for their first games. Butler is non-stop effort, but also showed really good discipline with his rush. At one point he got some good push, but was able to reverse his direction and come back to tackle a wide receiver down field. Wise also showed good attention to not ending up behind the quarterback. Both had multiple positive plays and could very well start to work their way into the early down consideration. I’d especially look at Wise in some capacity as he’d be useful on early downs with his length.
— This felt like one of those veteran off games for Alan Branch. He did still have his moments, but he wasn’t the wall-to-wall dominant force we got used to last year. Again, it’s the first game and I felt like a lot of the veterans just weren’t quite as locked in as we’ve gotten used to.
— Kyle Van Noy got an extension this week, but I’m not sure the MLB role we saw him play most of this game is really the best spot for him. Clearly it’s going to be him and Hightower as the two passing down LBs, but he struggles to be effective between the tackles against the run. Plenty of the running plays that seemed to be snuffed out only to see the running back gain an extra 4-6 yards were often simply because Van Noy is not a force in the middle as a ball-seeking tackling machine. I wonder if a better alignment would be David Harris or Elandon Roberts in the middle with Van Noy sliding over to the weakside linebacker spot that Jordan Richards was occupying in this one. Regardless, what’s clear is that Van Noy is the new Jamie Collins and I’ll be waiting for him to make some impact plays against the runs.
— Perhaps another solution would be to go back to more of a 4-2-5 look with Wise at left defensive end and Hightower/Van Noy off the ball. It would help put some teeth in the middle of the defense and get Richards out of the box.
— After Hightower went out, much of the damage felt like the 2015 loss in Denver, where the Pats just didn’t have the athleticism to make plays, especially against the zone running game.
— Richards sure does try hard and the hold he drew was impressive, as was the forced fumble, but he’s just simply miscast playing against offensive linemen. I really hope this was just an experiment because I don’t see how this is putting him in position to succeed. It feels like one of those strange desperation moves we get out of the BB every once and a while, ala Eric Alexander suddenly starting in the 2006 AFC Championship.
Alex Smith 78 yard TD pass to Kareem Hunt #Chiefs pic.twitter.com/fOohhCaBo7
— Marina Molnar (@mkmolnar) September 8, 2017
— On Kareem Hunt’s 78-yard touchdown catch, Duron Harmon came screaming in right at the snap completely vacating the deep centerfield spot that he’s usually in, which also happens to be just where Hunt caught the ball. Not sure what happened there, it seemed totally out of character for Harmon. My best guess is he thought the fly sweep to Hill was coming.
— Devin McCourty had some really great plays in this one and is now fully customizable within the defense due to the experience and trust that exists with Harmon and Chung. This is allowing McCourty to show just how versatile he is, whether it’s in coverage or making key tackles. Hard to tell what happened on the Hill 75-yard touchdown. Looked like McCourty was disguising Cover-2 and just couldn’t get back to be over the top of Hill.
— Generally Alex Smith was on point with all his reads, quickly decoding the Patriots coverage and picking the right spot to attack. That’s what always scared me about him and he knew just how to exploit each defense. Getting lucky on a few plays, like tipped balls landing in receiver’s hands, or chucking a completion just as the pressure arrived, sure helped his overall performance.
— For all the suckiness on D, Trey Flowers continued to show up as just a master technician who always seems to get off blocks and cause problems against the pass. He’s like a pinball up front, bouncing off would-be blockers and making his way to the ball at all times.
— The problems in the run game were dependent mostly on the defensive tackles. When they held their ground and got off blocks the defense was successful. When they whiffed or got turned, the second level talent just wasn’t there to make up for it. If they got by Brown, Branch and Guy, it was going to be a very solid play.
–Without Hightower it was just a total lack of playmaking that did the Pats in. Usually if you tell me no second half drive would be longer than seven plays I’d feel pretty good about the Pats chances. It’s just the three big plays, the biggest “no no” of all in the Pats’ defense, that broke them. Drew Brees will provide a good test of the Pats’ deep ball prevention, but this is too experienced and talent a secondary to keep on struggling like it’s 2012 and we have rookie Tavon Wilson playing on the back end.
