Patriots Film Review: Defense vs. Broncos Edition

The Patriots’ defense has finally settled in and is back to playing their good old bend-don’t-break style of defense. This isn’t the ’85 Bears, but they’re doing what well-coached defenses do — playing within the system, limiting big plays and getting stops in the red zone. As maddening as it can be to watch, we should all know by now that it’s a winning formula.

Despite their improvements I still have my concerns about the defense. The last two games have pretty much unfolded perfectly for them so I can’t get too high on them at this point, but improvement is improvement and there’s no question the product on the field has looked far superior to what we were seeing early in the season.

The truth is against the Broncos the defense turned in one red zone stop and they were already up 14-3. That’s the context of this game, which is important.

So yes, it’s okay to feel better about the defense, but there’s still a ways to go and some good offenses to stop.

Here’s what stood out in reviewing the All-22 game film.

— There’s no question, Stephon Gilmore is at his best in man coverage when he can just focus on one guy. He looked solid in this one and while I wish he was a more physical tackler there’s no question he brings a lot to this defense which will be more apparent against the better QB-WR duos.

— There were still some big plays in this one, including four passes to Emmanuel Sanders that went for 23, 23, 31 and 38 yards. Three of them came on third down which are significant. The 38-yarder came against Jonathan Jones in the slot playing Cover-1 Man on a quick slant. One more and Sanders had separation, luckily Duron Harmon wasn’t taking one of his early-season angles from the free safety spot and was able to prevent it from going the distance.

— With Cassius Marsh out there was a sprinkling of Marquis Flowers and Trevor Reilly. Flowers ran well in a third down coverage of Jamaal Charles that fell incomplete resulting in a second red zone stop.

— The run defense was really the story in this one as I hoped it would be. Alan Branch, Lawrence Guy led the way, but it was a full team effort. The secondary came down hard to support the edges and consistently put the Broncos in unfavorable yardage. If nothing else, this kind of physical play is what is most encouraging about the defense at this point.

— Kyle Van Noy continues to make strides every week and looks so comfortable in the defense. In some ways I think the Hightower injury has benefitted him because he can now focus more on pass rushing than having to cover running backs. Everyone would prefer to rush the passer than running down the field with a running back, right? Van Noy’s athleticism off the strong side edge has really started to show, as he’s getting around blockers more frequently to make plays.

— New guy Ricky Jean Francois actually showed some flashes in his first game off the street. The hardest thing for many defensive tackles coming into New England is learning to hold their ground and I thought Jean Francois actually did pretty well all things considered. The Pats will still need Malcom Brown back, he takes the defensive front to another level.

— On the 3rd-and-7 at the end of the first half where the Pats got another red zone stop I thought it was the best they’ve looked sorting out a bunch set all season long. They spread out well off the snap and hammered the crossing routes.

— I think the future looks pretty bright with Dietrich Wise and Adam Butler in the mix. Both continue to fit right in and cause disruption as rookies. Add in Derek Rivers next year and the Pats front will have some solid foundational pieces that they really need.

— On the red zone 3rd-and-5 which the Broncos would convert with a 23-yard catch by Emmanuel Sanders, it was the lowlight for Malcolm Butler‘s night. Otherwise the Sanders catches he gave up were close and mostly good plays by Sanders. But on this one it came out of a bunch set and Butler had help inside from Harmon, but still let Sanders break outside for an open catch. Still not perfect on these kind of plays.

— As the Pats lead grew it became another one of those hard-to-analyze games because the Pats were just trying to avoid the big play and were okay allowing some underneath passes and rushing yards. Once it again it allowed the Broncos to strangle themselves and it was just all-around good situational defense as Patrick Chung grabbed his interception.

This was a sound defensive game. It wasn’t overwhelming and the pass rush could’ve been better, but it’s impressive to see guys like Flowers and Jean Francois get in there and do a pretty good job. It tells me they’re buying in as a defense. They still have their moments of “what was that” but as we close in on Thanksgiving this is looks very much like a Patriots defense we’ve become used to watching.