This was the game by the defense that I’ve been waiting a long time for. Were there some mistakes? Of course. But overall, the Patriots defense played with their best intensity of the season and demonstrated why they can be as good as they want to be when they play within the system.
The big headline coverage-wise in this one was a shift to a lot more zone coverage, with a lot of special attention being paid to the middle of the field as I noted was a critical area in my gameplan article. Early in the game the Patriots played a lot of Cover 2 zone, which had safeties over the tops of the wide receivers and a flood of three zone players right in the flat.
They mixed in some man coverage, but this was primarily a zone game as they shifted to more Cover 3 in the second half. It was a good lesson for me from a football study perspective. I’ve always believe man coverage is the only way to go in today’s NFL but this game showed how effective zone can be when it’s executed well.
We’re finally seeing what we expected this season. An amoeba defense that can flood the line of scrimmage and have any number of guys drop or rush. Maybe they just needed some time but everyone is working together now and the results were obvious. Boil it down to the simple “Do Your Job” because that’s what everyone on the Patriots defense was doing.
Each member of the unit attacked their role with zest and the end product showed just how good a well-coordinated defense with everyone on the same page can be.
The pass rush wasn’t even especially dynamic. They only had two sacks. But the disruption and confusion were there, two things that don’t show up on the scoresheet and certainly hadn’t been showing up on the field prior to this game either. But the gameplan and the defense all worked perfectly well together.
From the first snap it was apparent that a fire had been lit under the defense. They haven’t played with this much energy once this season and it continued throughout the entire game.
Some general notes on some specific plays and players…
— Shea McClellin had a big field goal block doing his best Jamie Collins impression and even aside from that it was still his best game. I’m starting to come around on the quiet hybrid defender and even went so far to compare him to Ninkovich when it comes to patience. The biggest difference between him and Collins is that McClellin is fundamentally solid and plays within the system. That hasn’t translated to splash plays, which Collins frequently had, but I think Belichick would far prefer someone who plays with in the system and is always where he needs to be than someone who takes chance and makes some big plays but also gives up some big plays.
— On the first Ravens touchdown it looked like Ninkovich slid just a little too far to his left and that left the slant wide open. I always look for the guy who does the guilty hand slap after giving up a significant play and Nink had one of those here. This was a theme I noticed a few times with zone coverage, if the dispersion is not balanced good quarterbacks are going to find the holes.
— On Perriman’s 47-yarder it was a weird play for the defense. Butler was sent on a corner blitz and it looked like Cyrus and the two safeties were then to shift into Cover 3 after showing Cover 2 presnap. However Cyrus allowed Perriman to get behind him and make the catch. Hard to know for sure if that’s what happened, but it was one of the more complicated plays the defense ran. Jones can’t let up with his eyes in the backfield.
Two big third down stops in the fourth quarter to discuss.
— 3rd & 4, 7:47 4th quarter, 23-17 Patriots
Simply perfect defense. And I liked that they were aggressive sending five too. Ninkovich gets there and makes another big play. Those have been piling up lately, a very good sign. Just look how tight this coverage was:
— 3rd & 4, 3:12 4th quarter, 30-20 Patriots
Another huge play, this time it’s Butler with the perfect tackle just short of the sticks. Great game by Butler despite getting beat for one long gain. So physical. I didn’t think the Patriots would ever lock him up long term, but there’s no doubt they should. He’s special.
Timing is everything! Malcolm Butler!! ??? pic.twitter.com/du30E43DYj
— WeAreDBnation (@WeAreDBNation1) December 14, 2016
We can only hope that the Patriots defense has a few more of these kind of games in them. It was so exciting to see them playing with such energy, tackling with force and maintaining that effort for 60 minutes. You could go right up and down the line and point out solid plays by every member of the defense.
The finally looked like a defense that was entirely on the same page, from coordinator down to reserve DB Jonathan Jones, getting his first meaningful defensive snaps and coming through with a nice tackle-for-loss on a Ravens running back. Ninkovich had a key sack. Chung was everywhere, tackling everyone. Malcom Brown blew up the entire play on the safety, which was keyed by a pre-snap shift that messed up the Ravens’ blocking assignments.
If this is the defense we have in the playoffs I’m not sure who can beat us.
[…] last week’s best defensive performance of the year, I have high expectations for this week. The Patriots defense did all they could in the 2015 AFCCG. […]