Prelude To A Championship, Part II: Setting The Edge Paramount To Patriots' Run Defense Success

When Training camp started, Patriots' Defensive Coordinator Matt Patricia welcomed what he thought was a defensive line bordering on the elite.

And, why not?  After all, In addition to bringing back stalwarts in nose tackle Malcom Brown, three-tech tackles Alan Branch and Vincent Valentine - and complimented by defensive end Trey Flowers - then added five-techs Lawrence Guy and Adam Butler through free agency, traded for defensive end Kony Ealy then drafted Arkansas defensive end Deatrich Wise and hybrid Derek Rivers.

Harrison was the perfect pickup for a team needing edge help

But things started going south almost immediately as Branch showed up out of shape, Valentine and Rivers hit the IR with knee injuries and Ealy was a bust in the system and was released. Suddenly, the Patriots were thin on the defensive line and with their linebackers dropping like flies as well, they entered the season with a front seven that had plenty of holes and no dirt to fill them in.

What was a compelling story line heading into camp - that being the structure appearing to be changing to a more flexible alignment to bring the linebackers' athleticism more into play - was suddenly a question of survival with a protracted earning curve that manifested as one of the worst stretches of defense that Foxborough has seen under head ball coach Bill Belichick.

The first month of the season was harrowing indeed, but with time and a concerted effort to play the most rudimentary style of defense in an effort to bring out the skill set of each player, and that has paid off in spades, and may be the best job of coaching in Belichick's tenure.

Bringing in Guy, Ealy and Butler signaled that the Patriots were in the final stages of building a defensive front that would resemble the old New York Giants 3-4 plus one which means an offset three man line playing odd spacing with a "Jack" linebacker being the fourth rusher, that position manned by a rotation of players on the second level.

That alignment was part of a defensive philosophy invoked by an obscure Giants' defensive coordinator named Bill Belichick, who had one of the most fearsome front sevens the game has known, with the likes of nose tackle Jim Burt flanked by five-tech ends Leonard Marshall and George Martin...

...backed by interior linebackers Gary Reasons and Harry Carson and outside 'backers Carl Banks and Lawrence Taylor. Taylor, who is widely considered to be the best outside linebacker to play the game, was usually the "Plus One" who combined with the three down lineman to put a four-man rush on the quarterback.

No need to go into the legacy of Taylor, nor the Giants in general, because there isn't a Taylor, nor Reasons, nor Carson, nor Banks to be had, only previously obscure youth on the second level playing behind a proven defensive line in a scheme tailor-made to the skill set of each player - and it's worked out pretty well so far.

How well? Considering that once the dark first month of the season is eliminated, the Patriots' defense has allowed a miserly 14 points per game, which is tops in the National Football League and a far cry from the 32 points per game they surrendered in the first four weeks of the season - while finishing the season in the middle-of-the-pack in total defense...

...as well as third down conversions per game, net time of possession allowed, and eighth in sacks - but the only real issue with the defense the entire season was setting the hard edge

In the running game that means taking away the lanes outside of the tackle box and forcing the running back inside, where big bodies awaited to make the stop, and in the passing game it requires covering the backs coming out of the backfield and into the flat on passing downs, as well as boxing in uber-ambulatory quarterbacks whose game depends on escaping pocket pressure and extending the play to the flats.

All told, the Patriots faced five teams whose quarterbacks thrive outside of the pocket and who game planned for New England with called bootlegs to take advantage of their weakness on the edges - and those teams, Kansas City, Houston, Carolina, Atlanta and Buffalo, combined for seven yards per carry from their quarterbacks and an astounding 28 first downs.

Running backs didn't have quite the absurd success that scrambling quarterbacks did, but frequently exposed the strong side of the Patriots' defense for 5.5 yards per carry, though they have gotten better during the past two weeks of the regular season. The reasons? well, ten sacks in two games will get you there, as well as limiting some fairly substantial running games to a measly 62 yards per game.

But in preparing for their divisional round matchup with the Tennessee Titans, the Patriots are facing an offense that gets it done on the ground from both the backs and the signal caller positions, working behind perhaps the best offensive line in the league.

Against  Kansas City in the wild card round, Eddie George / Marion Butts hybrid runner Derrick Henry punished the Chiefs from all angles, hammering home 96 yards in just 15 carries (6.4 ypc) right into the teeth of the Kansas City run defense, then showed off his wheels on the edges, turning the corner four times for 38 yards (9.5 ypc)...

...while quarterback Marcus Mariota broke the pocket - not to mention the Chiefs' hearts - five times, gaining 52 yards (10.4 ypc) and picking up four crucial first downs in the process, including a desperation 3rd and eight from the Titan 38 that kept alive the game winning drive.

The scariest part of the Titans' win over the Chiefs was how their line dominated a fairly stout front seven, enabling Henry to run for two first downs and bleeding Kansas City's time outs in a smashmouth display of the four-minute offense. They were able to wear down the Chiefs' defense by winning the time of possession battle and forcing them to be on the field for seventy offensive snaps...

...so that by the time Mariota started feeding the raging Henry on his downhill surge late in the game, the Chiefs had nothing left in the tank.

Henry wore them down, which is to be expected of a 247 pound running back who is not what one would call "creative" in his running style, which is a little like a bull in a china shop where he seems unaware of anything except his initial read, a running style that often leads to a trail of bodies in his wake of carnage - and it looks as if he's not even trying.

His offensive line has more to do with that than his style, however, as he's not the kind of back that can make something out of nothing, and generally gets what's blocked for him - so the best way for the Patriots to limit the damage that Henry can do is by setting the edge and by being disciplined in their individual gap assignments. That should help the Patriots win on first and second down and then get off the field on third down, which the Titans have accommodated this season to the tune of a 25th ranked 35% conversion rate.

The problem there is that the Patriots only hold their opponents to a 39% conversion rate - but that's the Patriots, they play the bend-but-don't-break scheme as well as anyone ever has, giving up most of their yardage between the twenties but clamping down in the red zone, allowing only 43.75% of their opponent's red zone visits to result in touchdowns, good for fourth-best in the NFL.

Those number explain how New England's defense can be one of the worst in terms of yardage allowed, yet in the top five in points allowed.

One thing we probably will not be seeing much of is Henry in the pattern, as he's been targeted just eleven times all season, so the Patriots will most likely run with a standard 3-4 plus one, with Eric Lee, James Harrison and Trey Flowers taking turns at that "Jack" position, a spot that the newbie Harrison showed in the season finale that he is plenty capable of handling, so his workload should increase, allowing for defensive coordinator Matt Patricia to utilize Lee and Flowers to scheme with.

The Titans can run the ball. Their smashmouth style appeals to old-school football fans and elicits respect from their opposition and should have Patriots' fans looking forward to seeing how their defense holds up against a true feed bag bell cow with a mean streak, and how they plan to contain a quarterback who plays the same legacy-brand of ball that is a perfect compliment to Tennessee's downhill approach.

New England has allowed just 124 rushing yards in the last two games combined against teams who are run-first entities, for a per-rush average of just 2.6 yards - and while it seems that holding the Titans to that standard may be a pipe dream, the Patriots have certainly shown they are capable of it - so if they can set the edge, filtering Henry inside and containing Mariota in the pocket where he'll be forced to throw, they'd have to feel pretty good about their chances to win the game.

Harrison In New England To Intimidate On The Edge - Nothing More, Nothing Less

There is a curious phenomenon that occurs in the sports fan when their team loses a favored player to another team, and it's symptoms lie along the lines of the jilted lover syndrome - only in the case of linebacker James Harrison and the fans of his former employers, the Pittsburgh Steelers, the syndrome cuts both ways...

The Steelers released Harrison from his contract on Saturday afternoon, he cleared waivers on Sunday and then signed with New England on Tuesday, in a natural progression of the waivers process - especially at this point of the season with just one regular season game remaining, with the only teams a 39-year-old outside linebacker could possibly help busy building their vacation itineraries.

Despite this, he allegedly had other suitors - per Harrison himself - but he chose to change his business address to Foxborough.

Why? Only Harrison knows for certain - but we can guess, and the first thing that comes to mind is that Harrison has always been a hyper-competitive person with a mean streak a mile-wide. That said, he spoke of the Patriots in less than glowing terms throughout his career, consistently labeling them as cheaters, claiming that they knew Pittsburgh's defensive signals in the 2004 AFC Championship Game and, as a result, denied him a trophy...

...more recently climbing aboard the so-called DeflateGate bandwagon, claiming via Twitter that he was"gonna show TB what deflated balls are all about" before their week one matchup in 2015 - and trolling Belichick saying that it would be "tough to win a Super Bowl without knowing the other team's plays" after the Patriots lost to Denver in the 2013 AFC Championship Game.

But all of that apparently goes out the window when the team he'd been loyal to since making their 53-man roster in 2004 (after a stint with the Rhein Fire of the World League as a loaner from the Baltimore Ravens) lied to him about playing time, then unceremoniously dumped him with one game left this season, giving the entire situation the feel of a jilted lover seeking revenge.

It's no secret that the Pittsburgh Steelers' locker room is a soap opera more suited for daytime television, as coach Mike Tomlin's grip on his players is notoriously loose-fisted, as they regularly throw each other under the bus, so to hear them trash Harrison was to be expected - but in doing so they made Harrison look like the victim and Tomlin look like a modern-day Snidley Whiplash.

A common theme coming out of the Steelers' camp is that Harrison went to the Steelers' coaching staff three separate times and asked for his release, citing lack of playing time, and was rebuffed three separate times, being told that they had a role for him on the team and to just stay ready. But when that role continued to include being given "lip sevice" and riding the pine anyway, Harrison approached Steelers' head coach Mike Tomlin a fourth time.

"I'd have to be absolutely crazy to release you if something happened with injuries" Harrison quoted Tomlin in an interview with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, recanting a conversation that took place immediately after the Steelers' loss to the Patriots in Week 15, a game in which Harrison had no role.

Apparently, Tomlin changed his mind and released Harrison in a roster spot swap, giving offensive tackle Marcus Gilbert, who was coming off suspension, the vacated roster spot.  What went into Tomlin's decision to tweak his roster as he did is inconsequential, however, and anything said here would be nothing more than weak speculation.

Many on the team and even more of the Pittsburgh fan base are painting Harrison as the bad guy in this scenario, but the information as it has been presented tells a different story.

Both center Maurkice Pouncey and linebacker Bud Dupree have been very vocal about Harrison's departure, with Pouncey going so far as to claim that Harrison has "Erased his legacy" with the Steelers, and the majority of fan comments on various sites calling Harrison a traitor - but it's also true that both Pouncey and Dupree confirmed that Harrison had asked for his release several times throughout the season.

And the one thing that no one can deny is that the timing by Tomlin is curious at best, and disastrous at worst since Harrison has signed on in a place that sincerely needs what he brings to the field as a pass rusher and edge setter, which brings up two very important points: First, with all of the noise coming out of the Steelers' locker room, it is clear that Tomlin still doesn't have control of his team, and if he does, he is incredibly childish for allowing his players to backbite Harrison...

...and second, had Harrison signed with anyone except the Patriots, this wouldn't even be a story.

But since he did sign with New England, and since it is a story, the question begs: What does Harrison bring to the Patriots' defense? Harrison doesn't seem the mentoring type, and that's not what he is in Foxborough for - instead, Harrison is one of those rare athletes who takes his fitness and workout routines to the extreme, perhaps in response to being shunned by the NFL coming out of Kent State.

This after teaming up with his Mother to pay his way through college because his track record in high school told a story of an elite athlete with a quick temper and a sadistic approach to football - playing to inflict pain and humiliation upon others as a result of continually being slighted for his short frame (barely six feet tall) and skin color (he was one of the first black student athletes at his high school), he was suspended twice for retaliating to racial taunts during road games.

Routinely, Harrison would approach the opposing team during warm ups before games and stare them down - then when he had their full attention, he told them matter-of-factly that they were going to die that day, such is the manner in which he intimidates his foes.

A poor academic record combined with the suspensions found Harrison with no scholarship offers and few universities willing to accept him as a student, so he walked on at Kent State which was close enough to home for his mother to keep tabs on him, and when she received the poor grades for his freshman year she came to the school looking to take him home, saying that she wasn't paying for him to flunk out of school.

But he promised her that he would do better and with the help of head coach Dean Pees, whom Patriots fans will remember as their defensive coordinator a decade ago, he made the Dean's list and finished school only to be snubbed during the 2002 NFL draft, but being invited to the Pittsburgh Steelers' training camp.

Cut and resigned to the practice squad three times in two season, Harrison accepted an invitation from the Baltimore Ravens to travel to Germany and play for the Rhein Fire of the now-defunct World League, but hated Germany so much that the Ravens eventually cut him and he ended up back with Pittsburgh where he toiled in anonymity until Joey Porter retired and Harrison seized the opportunity to fill his spot.

The rest is history - or his legacy.

As mean-tempered and intimidating as he is on the field, he can be just as mild-mannered off of it. He dotes on his son, makes regular visits to children's hospitals on his own, and is generous to the schools that gave him the opportunity to play, making several large donations to each.

But the one thing about Harrison that takes people aback is that he decompresses after long days at the office by watching hours of cartoons in the evenings.

"I think he's in such a violent, violent scenario, that it gives him peace." said former Coventry High School offensive coordinator Gary Hutt, who befriended the young Harrison around the turn of the century, adding, "That's his place to get away from it all. I'm not kidding you, he'll sit there and watch cartoons for hours. He's a teddy bear."

Not many people would describe Harrison as a teddy bear, though he certainly has a softer, caring side. But that's not why the Patriots picked him up off the scrap heap earlier this week. No, they brought him in to add a level of intimidation and aggressiveness to a defense that really doesn't scare anyone, though their brand of the bend-but-don't-break philosophy has worked well for them so far this season.

New England gives up a ton of yards to opposing offenses, and can't set the edge in the running and screen games to save their lives - but they don't allow a lot of points, which means that they clamp down on opposing offenses in the red zone where the field shrinks and the Patriots' big nickel alignment allows them to be more aggressive on the edges and in their pass rush.

What Harrison has come in for is to help between the twenties - to help set a solid edge and not allow rushers to get outside, and also to provide spot duty as a pass rusher. He's fresh for sure, having only played 40 total snaps in five games this season, so asking the 39 year old to wreak havoc on the edge for 15 to 20 plays per game isn't asking a hell of a lot...

...especially given that New England has one regular season game remaining, then has two weeks off before starting their post-season, then, maybe, another couple of weeks off between championship Sunday and the Super Bowl, where Harrison will be seeking his third ring.

That's a lot of time off to rest his weary old bones, time off to spend with his son, to continue his legendary sunrise workouts and to dig on some cartoons - and to let the events of the past year build up a substantial amount of anger, because Patriots' fans don't want to see his teddy bear side, they want to see the violent and unremorseful villain side of Harrison...

...only, they want to see him dish it out on opponents instead of on their team - and if they get to play the Steelers in the AFC Championship game, they want to see him take it all out on them. He won't need to stare them down during pregame warmups, nor tell them that they are going to die that day.

The Steelers already know what's coming, which makes Tomlin's decision to release Harrison when he did even more curious.