Patriots vs. Steelers Film Review: Defense Edition

Diving in on the All-22 film of the Patriots’ defensive performance left me dazed and confused. I told myself after the game that a win is a win and really at this point there’s still time to work the kinks out, but the truth is that the defense is simply not winning one-on-one matchups up front enough.

Yes, it was a conservative gameplan, with the Pats rushing just three players on 22 of Landry Jones‘ 46 dropbacks. On those downs the Patriots were highly effective flooding the field with eight zone defenders. Jones had the most trouble on those snaps.

But when the Pats sent five or six rushers it barely ever affected Jones’ timing with his receivers and three of his eight completions of 10 yards or more came against the Pats five and six man rush.

So in today’s film review I’m going to look at one third down play in depth that best sum up the Patriots’ defensive problems.

Needing pass rush is a major cliche in football analysis, and as studying the Patriots has taught me, there are certainly times when pass rush takes a backseat for the good of the win. But there’s also simple math that tells you when guys are blocked one-on-one and they don’t disrupt the quarterback it’s almost always a bad thing.

And that’s what we have here, not one of the Patriots pass rushers is a problem for opponents except occasional flashes from Sheard, Collins and Hightower. Ninkovich, Flowers, Long, McClellin and Johnson (1 sack for all of them combined)  have been handled by just about everyone they’ve faced. I know it’s more nuanced than that, depending on the gameplan, the situation, etc., but when you boil it down the Patriots front seven isn’t getting the job done.

Last year they had 49 sacks, this year they’re on pace for 25. That’s staggering, and I know that sacks aren’t truly the best pass rush stat, but still. No matter how I can sell stats like points against, or the recent improvements on third down and in the red zone, the Patriots must find a way to get to the quarterback or they’re going to be picked apart when everything’s on the line.

Here’s a closer look at a significant play from the Steelers game that sums it up.

The situation: Patriots 20-13, ball on the NWE 43 late in the third quarter, 3rd-and-10.

Everything about this situation screams “critical”. Late in a close game, with a long third down on the edge of field goal territory. This is one of those gotta have it plays. The result? A 17-yard pass to Cobi Hamilton and a first down. Let’s take a closer look.

Here’s the play in real time.

Now a key part of it is the lack of jam at the top of the screen by Ryan on the eventual receiver. Compare what Ryan does at the snap to what Butler does in the slot just below him. As you can see Jones is in a perfect rhythm and delivers the ball right where it should be.  Just a split second of hesitation or jam recovery by Hamilton would’ve thrown off the timing of the play.

From the presnap look, it looks like Cover 1 Man. This isn’t a conservative, drop eight down. This is a disrupt timing and get after the quaterback situation.

And here’s how the pocket looked when Jones threw it…

Now everyone had their fantasies about the “Nascar” package, aka where it’s all your defensive ends (and maybe a sprinkling of LBs) on the field and you’re supposed to have an incredible pass rush. Well, here it is folks. That’s Long, Collins, Ninkovich, Flowers and Hightower all rushing the quarterback, and though they came close to disrupting Jones, they didn’t. Outside of Sheard, this is as good as the Pats can do with pass rushers on the field at once.

The defensive left side is what is troubling. Long, Collins and Ninkovich all single blocked. Only guy who gets close is Flowers looping around the right side from his initial nose tackle position, but even he is pushed past Jones and doesn’t lay a hand on him. Hightower’s inability to get any pressure up the guy might be the biggest problem of all. That open lane he should be charging through is directly where Jones is tracking his receiver. A flash of white and blue in that hole and Jones hesitates. But no, Hightower is somehow stopped dead in his tracks.

Hightower had a down game, partially because he spent most of it dropping into short zones. They moved him all around the formation but he wasn’t nearly as effective as he was against the Bengals when he was the best player on the field.

Ryan’s lack of jam didn’t help, but in this situation you need your five rushers to make a play. For someone to knock their offensive lineman backwards or off balance. Instead, it’s a nice little pocket and Jones never breaks rhythm.

The Patriots still have time to get a pass rush fire lit under their asses, but right now this is nowhere near good enough.