The Patriots rode a dominant second half to their 12th win of the year against the Bills on Sunday, clinching a first round bye in the process and all but insuring that the AFC playoffs will come through Foxborough. While Dion Lewis stole most of the headlines after racking up 196 all-purpose yards, the Patriots front seven deserves a lot of credit for shutting down Buffalo in critical moments, most notably with Marquis Flowers’ takedown of Tyrod Taylor in the red zone on 4th down and Malcolm Brown’s 15 yard sack on the first play of Buffalo’s drive after the Pats had tied it at 16.
In total, the Patriots racked up six sacks, hit Taylor on four other occasions, and were consistently in Buffalo’s backfield. In fact, in the past five games, the Patriots have averaged 4.2 sacks per game, a rate that would put them above the NFL’s overall sack leaders, the Jacksonville Jaguars, who have put up 3.5 sacks per game on average. Sure, the Jaguars have done this over the course of 15 games, and the Patriots sample size is just five games, but this still shows just how well the Patriots have been playing of late.
This reenergized pass rush is quite the turnaround from earlier in 2017, when the Patriots averaged just 1.4 sacks per game in the weeks 6-11. The pass rush was considered a major flaw of this team after losing Chris Long, Jabaal Sheard, and Rob Ninkovich in the offseason, as well as third round pick Derek Rivers going down for the season after tearing his ACL, but the Patriots defensive front has weathered the storm excellently of late. Add in the loss of Dont’a Hightower, and you are looking at a team missing significant pieces yet still producing at a tremendous rate.
Players like Marquis Flowers, who was traded to New England in late August for a measly seventh round pick, has come on in the past few games and delivered some elite performances. He led the team in both sacks (2.5) and tackles (10) on Sunday and made plays all over the field. While his snap count will most likely decrease when Kyle Van Noy returns, it appears he has cemented himself in front of the veteran David Harris on the depth chart, as Harris did not see a snap while Flowers led all Patriots linebackers with 55 snaps.
The Patriots will need guys like Flowers to continue to step up come January, but with Kyle Van Noy coming back and players like Lawrence Guy and Malcolm Brown playing the best football of their careers, I think the Patriots defensive line ought to be feared by the rest of the league after what we have seen over the past five weeks.
