Defensive snaps: Jones earns trust – New England Patriots Blog – ESPN Boston

Linebackers Dont’a Hightower and Brandon Spikes split time in the nickel. Both came off in the dime as Jerod Mayo is the lone all-packages linebacker. … Cornerback Ras-I Dowling was the nickel back, and when he came on to the field, it pushed Kyle Arrington into the slot. … One line of thinking was that maybe Vince Wilfork would see a reduction in snaps with more depth on the line, but that wasn’t the case in the opener. He had a heavy workload. … Jermaine Cunningham saw time at defensive end in the base defense and also as an interior rusher in the dime package, and was productive based on his snaps, also drawing a holding penalty. … The top three safeties – Patrick Chung, Steve Gregory and Tavon Wilson – were part of a rotation.