Patriots vs. Bengals Film Review: Defense Edition

There was a lot to like about the Patriots defensive performance in their 35-17 win over the Bengals. It wasn’t all perfect, there were three drives where the Bengals moves the ball with ease, but as the game progressed the Patriots defense settled in and showed improvement in some of the areas they struggled in early in the season.

For the game, the Patriots held the Bengals to 5-10 on third down, and 2-4 in the red zone, including a fourth-down, goal-line stop that should fuel the defense’s confidence. The Pats are now second in the league in points allowed. That’s the ultimate bottom line stat and shows that despite some struggles on third down and in the red zone, this is still a very good defense that is one of the hardest in the league to score on. That has to count for a lot.

And even you’re not sold on points against, the bad areas are now improving statistically every week. Third down, red zone, yardage… each week they get a little better. If that continues this will be a playoff-ready defense by any metric.

Here’s what else stood out from film review, including a few more Elandon Roberts “fire in the hole” hit GIFs…

— The defense played a little more zone coverage, with three safeties early in this one. One of the recurring problems I noticed was the lack of impactful jams (at least on Logan Ryan) that disrupted timing. Jams are a fine art form and it doesn’t take much to throw off the bang-bang timing of quick throws. Usually the Patriots have gotten good jams from Ryan and Butler but in this one you saw attempted jams on receiver that neither caused any sort of delay in getting off the line nor any kind of route adjustment. Those need to be better.

— Elandon Roberts continues to get me all hot and bothered with his heavy downhill game, but he also looks very comfortable in space, which goes against some of his scouting report coming out that he was rigid and stiff when asked to do anything but attack the LOS. There’s little debate attacking is what he does best. I mean check out this drawn hold:

Or this play on third-and-goal, prior to the fourth down stop (that got him into concussion protocol from which he returned btw).

Each week I enjoy watching this guy more and more because he’s brought the presence I thought the Patriots most needed to add to their linebacking corps this past offseason. I thought Shea McClellin might’ve been the guy when they first signed him, but he’s ended up on the edge/not being a factor. Now with Jonathan Freeny on IR, Roberts should continue to have a role on defense. It might diminish in heavy passing games, but he’s a valued missing ingredient from last year. The biggest compliment I can give him, aside from his heavy hits, is that he looks in sync with the other linebacker. With Freeny you could see the lag time, especially next to Collins. With Roberts not so much.

— Malcom Brown doesn’t get much fanfare but he’s quietly putting together an excellent season. He can handle double teams, then split them or sneak between them to make plays. What Wilfork had in pure size, Brown has in slipperiness. Both play a similar role inside for the Patriots and both get the job done well with slightly different skillsets.

— Here’s the fourth down stop. Just great team defense, with Branch and Long holding their ground, Ebner setting the edge and Hightower cleaning up all the trash at the end. These kind of goal line stands can do wonders in terms of gaining confidence in themselves and each other.

— Fun seeing Ninkovich play some inside linebacker while Elandon Roberts was out getting his dome checked on this fourth down stop as well.

— On a third-and-five in the third quarter the Patriots played a two deep zone. Dalton had time and found Green for 23 yards in between the underneath corners/linebacker and Harmon, who was over the top. The Patriots had six defenders across the field in zones at the first down marker, but the pressure was just not there, giving Dalton enough time to find Green in the hole in the zone. Anthony Johnson didn’t stand out much in his return as an interior rusher and was ineffective on this down.

— The Bengals got 27 yards on the very next play as Dalton slipped out of the pocket and found Boyd. Again, same thing. Pats are in the same zone defense. Pressure collapses the pocket around Dalton (almost good) but they don’t finish him (not good) and he exploited the hole in the Patriots zone defense.

— And then, this is how the pocket looked on the third quarter touchdown pass to LaFell. Six-man protection. What are Roberts and Ninkovich doing?

— Gotta include a GIF of Hightower’s second safety in two games. Such strength to hold on and bring Andy Dalton down. Game-changing play right here. Bernard commits to the wrong gap and Hightower exposes it with a straight line to the QB.

 

— Mingo’s starting to show up on defense a little more, coming through with a pass breakup on a third-and-10 late in the third. He also had a couple pass rush snaps in this one. Special Teams in still his biggest contribution but they’re getting his feet wet in coverage and as ar

— The biggest difference between Eric Rowe and Logan Ryan just goes back to the jams. Rowe is bigger and maybe it’s a little easier to play a big receiver and get his hands on him. But I wouldn’t be surprised to see more Rowe than Ryan in coming games if Ryan doesn’t start getting his hands on guys.

— Rowe had a big play defending a pass thrown on third-and-two in the end zone to AJ Green. Wasn’t so much the jam this time, just good mirroring the route and getting his hand in to break the pass up. No, we haven’t seen the last of Rowe. Oliver Thomas also had a nice piece over at Pats Pulpit breaking him down further.

— We’re gonna end this with a sack on the last meaningful third down of the game. This is what we need more of. But notice the numbers advantage the Pats have on the defensive left. Guys are winning one-on-ones, and that is the biggest key. It’s where the Pats need to find consistency, at least in the key moments of the game.

The pass rush has been where my biggest complaints have come this season. The coverage has overall be generally solid, but offenses are executing some perfect plays and that’s because there isn’t enough disruption from the Patriots’ defense. But it looked a bit better this week. Sheard especially showed up quite a bit, even when he was just a moment too late, he was still getting there.

But as I said last week, and it’s even more true now, Dont’a Hightower is the heart and soul of this defense now. He was all over the field in this one, making plays at every level. If he stays healthy all the defense’s problems will slowly get smaller and smaller.