Patriots' Adherence To Fundamentals Fuels Tough Victory Over Talented Browns

28 October, 2019

Jonathan Jones has world-class speed, and apparently carries a wicked overhand right.

He's not a track star nor is he a prize fighter - just a little nickel cornerback for the New England Patriots who on Sunday afternoon saved his team's bacon by combining both skills to chase down Cleveland Browns' running back Nick Chubb, then punch the ball out of his grasp...

...the fumble deep in New England territory preventing a sure Browns' touchdown and, most importantly, deflecting a huge momentum shift in Cleveland's favor had Chubb found the end zone.

That was part of a first quarter drive-by punking of the Browns that saw the Patriots' defense force two fumbles and one weird interception on three consecutive Cleveland offensive snaps, the 10 points scored off of those turnovers putting the Browns in an early hole that they would never recover from.

Not that they would have anyway, regardless of when the Patriots scored on offense, because that three-play sequence took the Browns out of their game plan, a fantastic game plan that could have – should have – helped Cleveland hand New England their first loss of the season.

Jonathan Jones forcing Chubb's fumble

After all, had Jones and his 4.33 speed not caught up with Chubb, who had also coughed up the ball to Hightower on their previous offensive snap, had Jones not tomahawked the ball out of Chubb's grip and had safety Devin McCourty not recovered the loose ball deep in New England territory, the Browns would have been down by just three points...

...and had Chubb not been stripped of the ball by his own offensive lineman on the previous play, and had Dont'a Hightower picked it up on the fly and floated into the end zone with it, the Browns would have been up by four and feeling like world-beaters.

Hypotheticals aside, those things did happen – and in such rapid sequence that a guy could have gone outside for a smoke with the Patriots up by three with six minutes remaining in the first quarter, and come back in five minutes later to find New England up by seventeen and commentator Tony Romo sputtering platitudes about the dominant defensive performance he was witnessing.

Two plays after doomed kicker Mike Nugent put the Patriots up 3-0 with 6:38 left in the first quarter, New England linebacker Kyle Van Noy upended Giants' right tackle Chris Hubbard to set a hard edge against Chubb who was attempting to climb to the corner, Hubbard's flailing foot kicking the football free and Hightower scooped the ball off the turf and followed a six-player-strong escort to paydirt.

Punter Jake Bailey sent the ensuing kickoff into the Browns' bench to give Cleveland a short field to work with, and quarterback Baker Mayfield went right to Chubb on another strong-side edge run, but this time he cut back to the inside, juked the entire Patriots' defense out of their socks and turned on the afterburners at the left hash with nothing but the light tower in sight – but Jones, who had been planted by a Browns' tackle Chris Hubbard about 15 yards up the field, got up and started sprinting diagonally to try and catch Cleveland's marvelous sophomore back...

...going to warp and closing the gap on Chubb with freakish speed, catching him just inside the red zone, securing Chubb with his left arm and then punching the ball out with his right – the McCourty twins diving for the loose ball with Devin coming out of the scrum in possession.

Chubb was noticeably distraught, but gained a measure of solace when the Browns' stoppers pulled the plug on the Patriots' next possession – that relief lasted all of one play, as defensive tackle Lawrence Guy split a double team to wreck a Mayfield forward pitch intended for Jarvis Landry on the first play, the ball landing right in Guy's hands to complete what should now been known as a “Browns' Hat trick”.

The Patriots did score after Guy's interception, Julian Edelman taking a Tom Brady offering eight yards for what proved to be the winning points. After that the game slipped into a punt-fest as both offenses bogged down in the face of two pretty good defenses – the main difference between the two offenses being New England's almost fanatical adherence to fundamentals and Cleveland's panic-driven abandonment of them.

Which goes to figure, right? After all, when a game is tightly contested, the advantage goes to the team that sticks to their game plan, and New England's offense is so entrenched in the details that at times their methodical approach is about as exciting as watching products being put together on an assembly line...

...while the Browns seem so erratic under pressure that the fundamentals are eschewed in favor of expediency.

That is all coaching and experience, which the Patriots have over every other team in football with Brady and head ball coach Bill Belichick calling the shots - and which was on full display in the second half, when New England trudged along and wore down the Browns' defenders while Cleveland abandoned what they do best on offense – and the results were what one might expect.

Trailing by ten points at the half, the Browns took the second half kickoff and drove down the field only to be denied deep in Patriots' territory, settling for a field goal to make it a one-score game, but Brady responded by leading a seven-play drive capped off by Edelman's second touchdown reception of the night to build the Patriots' lead to fourteen.

Fundamentally, the Browns are a run-first entity despite all of the receiving talent they possess, and for three quarters their ground game actually had the advantage over the Patriots' run defense – but as the clock ticked down to the fourth quarter, Cleveland head coach Freddie Kitchens panicked and abandoned his running game and put his hopes on the arm of Mayfield...

...taking the ball out of hands of Chubb, who had rebounded spectacularly from his dismal two-fumble start to the game and ended up with 131 yards on just 20 carries – but only three of that total coming in the final frame on just one carry.

Putting the game on Mayfield's shoulders played right into what New England's defense does best, the Patriots drawing two offensive pass interference calls on deep balls and sacking the second-year quarterback twice in the fourth quarter, one of those an Adam Butler sack on fourth down from the Cleveland 19-yard line that effectively salted the game away.

Yardage-wise, New England's 27-13 victory at Gillette Stadium was their defense's poorest performance of the season. Realistically, however, the Patriots' vaunted stoppers collected five sacks and forced those three first-quarter turnovers to counter the 318 yards of total offense collected by the Browns...

...consistently coming up with stops when the chips were down, dominating on third-down and getting off the field, holding the Browns' potent offense to just three conversions in twelve attempts while the Browns fell apart, collecting thirteen penalties for 85-yards in the process.

That's what the Patriots do to everyone, and in the end, ugly or not, they always seem to make the crucial plays on both sides of the ball to come out on top.

Most teams would consider holding their opponent to barely three-hundred yards of offense a good effort, but Patriots' fans have been conditioned to expect their defense to be far stingier. Fair or not, the Boogeyman defense drives those expectations from their domination of opposing offenses through the first half of the season against a schedule that featured a less-than-imposing list of foes...

...but if Sunday's victory over a talented Cleveland offense teaches us anything, it is that New England dominates through adherence to the fundamentals, staying the course through adversity and dictating play – and that, more than anything else, makes the Patriots almost impossible to beat.

Rested Browns Next Course For Surging Patriots

25 October, 2019

The New England Patriots' 2019 schedule reads like a fine dining menu.

The first part of the season has been a seven-course appetizer, with the next six games a meaty main course and the last three a delectable selection of desserts.

We've been to this restaurant many times in the past two decades, but rarely have we been looking forward to the main course like we are this time around - because as the season wears on, the meat looks easier to chew than what it appeared to be when the menu came out earlier in the offseason.

The Patriots devoured the appetizers, suffering little heartburn in victories over a selection of savory delicacies in preparation for what had promised to be a complex combination of beef and fowl; a selection of regional favorites from places like Texas, the east coast and the midwest promising to stick to their ribs...

...the teams they are preparing to face having been tenderized by the first half of their collective schedules.

Up first, a Cleveland Browns' team that stands at 2-5 on the season after being touted by friend and foe alike as the next-big-thing in professional football, but now resemble a pack of surly waiters stuck in a dead-end jobs and in need of a collective cigarette break.

That break came last week as the Browns took their scheduled bye week and hope to come back refreshed.

But anyone who has ever worked in a restaurant knows that waiters are treacherous and opinionated drama queens who can flip on the charm in front of the public, but back in the kitchen cause turmoil and eat french fries off of your plate before delivering it to the table.

Certainly the Browns' vocal chords are in fine shape. Receiver Jarvis Landry was asked by a reported from a local Cleveland rag what he expected from his team coming out of the bye week, to which Landry replied, “We're going to Foxborough to win.”. Of course, the Boston media took that and ran with it, openly wondering why Landry would say anything to incite the Patriots.

The rest of the Browns are being very complementary of the Patriots, perhaps knowing that they are walking into a meat grinder with little chance to emerge with anything more than table scraps to feed their Dawg Pound.

The main reason for that is a player that the Browns released this past offseason who became the final piece of a Patriots' defense dubbed “The Boogeyman” that has terrorized opposing quarterbacks and smothered their pass catchers with such ferocity that they lead the National Football League in so many categories that it's conceivable that they could possibly be the best unit of stoppers that football has ever seen...

...the caveat to that statement being that the offenses the Boogeyman have faced thus far aren't exactly a murderer's row of firepower, featuring young and inexperienced quarterbacks who wilt like fresh spinach under the intense heat of the Patriots' shape-shifting pass rush.

Linebacker Jamie Collins, the Browns' leading tackler last season and a former Patriot before that, has returned to Foxborough as an integral part of a defense that causes so much chaos along the offensive line that those inexperienced quarterbacks have no choice but to either deliver quick throws or become pancakes.

The proof is in the pudding, as it were, as Collins leads their pack of swift and violent pass rushers who are on pace to collect sixty sacks – and if the quarterback does happen to get rid of the ball, they still take punishment, being hit anyway and reducing them to skittish turnover machines who have collectively thrown 18 interceptions.

And even when their opponents try to catch them off guard by attempting to run the football, Collins and strong-side linebacker Kyle Van Noy set such a hard edge that the defense as a whole have collected fifty tackles for a loss, as they turn the running backs back inside where folks like Lawrence Guy, Adam Butler and Danny Shelton are waiting to obliterate them.

The secret ingredient is what is known as a cover-zero package, wherein the Patriots' excellent group of defensive backs cover pass catchers in press-man without a safety over the top – a scheme wrought with danger if the quarterback has time to make his reads and deliver a strike, as one broken tackle can turn a short throw into a long touchdown run.

That has happened just once in seven games, as the combination of the intense pressure and tight man coverage turn opposing receivers into impromptu pigs in a blanket – such an overwhelming percentage of success that Patriots' head ball coach Bill Belichick, who calls his group of stoppers an “Amoeba”, can disguise his coverages to the point that their foes can't tell who is rushing the quarterback and who is dropping into coverage.

Hard cheese for young quarterbacks to swallow, but it remains to be seen if Cleveland's Baker Mayfield, a second-year signal caller, will be able to decipher it in time to get the ball out to his top-shelf group of receivers.

Under normal circumstances, those pass catchers comprise one of the most dangerous downfield threats in the league, but given the relentlessness of the Patriots' pass rush, Baker's big arm and gunslinger mentality should be rendered inert, or taken advantage of in other ways, so the Browns would be wise to become a more methodical, move-the-chains attack, with short throws and trap draws to the running backs.

The Patriots' defense dictates to opposing offenses what they can be – and usually when a defense is that dominating, the offenses simply take what the defense gives them, which can work to their advantage. But this Patriots' defense gives absolutely nothing to those offenses, so there's nothing to take.

Further complicating matters, the Patriots' offense is already the aforementioned methodical, sometimes plodding entity that will lull defenses to sleep with possessions that feature double-digit snap counts and eat game clock like a starving man would a free cheeseburger, both wearing them down and setting them up for a sporadic big gainer.

And the whole time this is happening, that vicious Patriots' defense is sitting on the sidelines resting up, staying fresh and plotting their next assault on the poor geeks charged with trying to move the ball against them.

In the past, Patriots' fans reached for the Xanax when watching teams drive the field on the defense, but also with the knowledge that Belichick's designs made them a bend-but-don't-break entity, hoping that the defense would surrender only a field goal attempt...

...but now the stressor is in hoping that this defense can pitch a shutout, something that they've done three times already this season (if you count their first meeting with the New York Jets, when the Jets' defense and special teams tallied touchdowns), and have allowed only three touchdowns in total.

The Browns represent the best collection of talent that the Patriots will have faced all season long, and are coming off of their bye week, so they should be fresh and ready to give New England their best shot – and whether that best shot will be good enough to net them anything more than a purple heart is doubtful.

And should the Patriots be able to keep Mayfield and his All Pro receivers in check, perhaps their pundits will start to acknowledge that perhaps this is the best, most complete team in the history of the game – but anything less and the naysayers will continue to hammer on New England, saying that they still haven't played anyone.

Not that it matters to Belichick or his players, because either way, the chances are very good that the Patriots will run their record to 8-0, topping off the first half of their 2019 season with whipped cream and a cherry.

Defense Dominates Yet Again As Patriots Annihilate Jets

Sam Darnold claimed that he was seeing ghosts on Monday night while his New York Jets were hosting the New England Patriots and their bedlam-based defense.

Actually, Sam, you weren't seeing Ghosts; you were seeing Boogeymen..

The Patriots' self-dubbed "Boogeyman" defense had the second-year signal caller so wide-eyed and rattled, that he looked like a teenager in a bad slasher flick, forced into making the type of fatal decisions that cause the audience to grip their arm rests in suspense, knowing that the poor geek was doomed.

No matter how fast he ran, he knew the Boogeyman was going to catch him - and in true thriller fashion, the New England defense terrorized the young quarterback, wearing him down psychologically to the point that his throwing mechanics broke down and he started throwing off his back foot and floating balls to where he thought his receivers would be...

Devin McCourty returning an interception

...but no one except Patriots defenders were there, picking him off four times enroute to their second shutout of the season, a 33-0 blowout that elevated New England to 7-0 on the season and caused Jets' fans to flee MetLife Stadium in horror.

A common term for when a quarterback starts feeling so pressured by the pass rush that he sees targets that aren't really there, "Seeing ghosts" is the only explanation for why the second-year signal caller was throwing passes to places on the field where there was not a receiver in sight.

Hallucinatory episode aside, Darnold simply suffered the same fate of every other quarterback thus far on the Patriots' schedule. Pressured by a relentless, shape-shifting pass rush that was in his face all night long, Darnold completed only eleven of his thirty-two pass attempts, four of those misses ending up in the hands of New England defenders, who have now logged 18 thefts on the season.

The superlatives being tossed around about the Patriots' defense – and deservedly so – have clouded from most folk's view that the offense has its stake in their success.

When quarterback Tom Brady entered the field of play after the Patriots received the opening kickoff, he didn't leave it until nearly nine minutes of game time had elapsed 16 plays later and with a the eventual winning points on the board.

The Jets were doomed after that, their defense already exhausted. But Brady and the Patriots' offense continued to pour it on, with a huge assist from the defense.

Once the Jets' offense finally saw the field, their first possession lasted a whole two plays as Darnold saw his first ghost and was picked off by safety Devin McCourty, who returned the ball deep into the red zone. That possession resulted in only a field goal but the Jets' defense had little time to rest and recover, now on the field for 10 minutes and only twelve minutes into the contest.

By the time the second quarter rolled around, New England already had a 17-0 lead when two plays in, linebacker John Simon strip-sacked Darnold, and fellow 'backer Kyle Van Noy recovered at the New York 38 – but rather than going for the quick strike, Brady opted for keeping the Jets' defense on the field for another five minutes, eventually taking a 24-point lead on a Sony Michel one-yard blast.

In the end, New England held the ball for nearly two-thirds of the game, their grinding, move-the-chains style a perfect complement to the manic defensive entity – and if the offense does bog down, which it did after taking a three-score lead, there's always Jake Bailey and the Stormtrooper punt coverage team, who routinely pin the opposing offense deep in their own territory, forcing them to cover the length of the field to obtain any points at all.

That's not happening for the opposition – and if the other guys happen to cause a turnover to get great field position, the Boogeymen shift into high gear and drive them backwards.

It's now a familiar refrain in New England, but there is much work left to do, particularly on the offense, which leads the league in points scored, but tend to bog down for long stretches. At issue is the 30th ranked ground game of the Patriots, which is collectively gaining just just 3.3 yards per carry...

...which sucks, but the main culprit is Michel's get-only-what's-blocked-for-him style, which also is an indictment of the play of the offensive line, a unit that isn't getting push when Michel is in the backfield because the opposition stacks the box due to his one-dimensional opportunities – and dropping a screen pass that had touchdown written all over it doesn’t help how defenses perceive him.

That's a topic that needs a little more attention, because it happened again on Monday night, as after the Patriots had taken that 24-0 lead midway through the second quarter, the Jets' defense rose to the occasion and forced seven punts and one interception of Brady the rest of the way...

...mostly due to the Patriots attempting to dictate to the Jets in the four-minute offense against the aforementioned stacked box - the only glitch in their effort another clock eating drive by the Patriots that resulted in Michel's third rushing touchdown of the game and the final points of the game.

Good Stuff:

1. Jakobi Meyers blocking ability: Meyers is tall and thin, but certainly not frail, nor afraid to take on defenders while blocking down the field. Twice on Monday night Meyers exhibited excellent technique in opening the edge on screen plays, solidifying his status of an up-and-coming talent, especially in light of the fact that he catches everything thrown at him and appears to have Brady's confidence. This rookie looks to be another great bottom-of-the-barrel find by Belichick.

2. Patriots may have found a new "Fullback": Or maybe three or four, as linebacker Elandon Roberts, reserve lineman James Ferentz and tight ends Ben Watson and Eric Tomlinson all had turns at lead blocking from the fullback position. Roberts offered up the best audition tape, as on the last of Sony Michel's three touchdown runs, Roberts leveled two defenders, taking them high and low and clearing a path for Michel. Belichick may choose to use a by-committee approach for the position, but for the moment, Roberts appears to be the best option.

3. Ben Watson's seamless debut: After Watson caught a third-down chain mover on a slant route, he rose from the turf with an “I told you so” scowl on his face, perhaps sending a message to Belichick that he should never have cut him in the first place. We'll probably never know if there was a message to be had for anyone, but Watson looked both pissed off and redeemed at the same instant. Regardless, New England now has a legitimate NFL tight end again.

4. A Damien Harris Sighting: Finally. It was in garbage time – well, the game was in garbage time after the Patriots' initial drive, but you get it – and the kid ran with purpose. A third-round draft pick out of Alabama, the Patriots have the luxury of bringing him along slowly, and that's exactly what they are doing. That said, he needs real-game reps, so let's hope that Monday night's appearance isn't an anomaly.

Curious:

1. Why do the officials continue to pick on J.C. Jackson? In last season's AFC Championship game, Jackson was flagged three times on one drive, leading to a Kansas City touchdown. On Monday night, Jackson was again flagged three times on one drive, but the Patriots' defense emerged unscathed when safety Duron Harmon intercepted Jets' quarterback Sam Darnold at the one-yard line. Just as last year, the penalties seemed a bit ticky-tack, or even downright wrong. No harm, no foul I suppose.

Bad Juju:

1. Sony Michel still bogged down: He scored three touchdowns, but only averaged 2.2 yards per carry and dropped a screen pass that probably would have gone for a touchdown, given the wall of blockers that were set up to escort him into the end zone. He broke off a couple of tough runs, but continues to get only what's blocked for him.

Boogeyman or Amoeba, Call The Patriots' Defense The Best in Football

Everyone's heard of the Boogeyman.

It means something different to just about everyone, but the classic interpretation as I know it is of a demonic nymph that stalks folks, particularly small children, and terrifies them from dark recesses. So ingrained in culture and in the written works from some truly twisted minds that there are times in everyone's lives that we have all laid paralyzed in bed and staring in horror at the closet door...

In the National Football League, the notion of the Boogeyman has the same effect on professional football players, but their nightmares happen on the field whenever they line up against the New England Patriots' defense.

Dubbed so by linebacker Jamie Collins, the Patriots' defense stalks ball carriers, and terrorizes them under stadium lights. They are not demonic and they don't hide in closets, but their methods are created by the twisted mind of Bill Belichick, and are now not only part of the NFL culture, but are constantly evolving, becoming whatever they need to be in order to scare the bejezus out of opposing offenses.

Kyle Van Noy

Because they are no longer the bend-but-don't-break entity that won in the past. These Patriots' stoppers are an aggressive, unpredictable, manic unit with no weakness - and history will show that Bill Belichick methodically built this defense over the past three years with the dark intent of a mob boss looking to take rival turf by force.

This latest incarnation of the Patriots' defense can be traced back to 2016, when defacto general manager Belichick pulled off an under-the-radar trade with Detroit to acquire the services of linebacker Kyle Van Noy, who was floundering in the Lions' stringent 4-3 alignment and losing playing time.

Van Noy is the perfect example of how Belichick views football players. While most  teams look for players to fit in to a particular scheme, Belichick prefers players whom he can build a scheme around – and he envisioned Van Noy as a guy whose skill set, self-discipline and versatility as a cornerstone of a 3-4 attack...

...playing on the strong side with superior edge-setting and pass rushing ability and the diagnostic skill and athleticism to do both at the same time – sort of a poor-man's Jamie Collins, whom the Patriots' eventually jettisoned in favor of the more disciplined Van Noy.

That same season, cornerback Jonathan Jones made the final roster as an undrafted free agent, joining sixth-round run-stuffing interior linebacker Elandon Roberts as key depth pieces – but Belichick's evil plan that now manifests as a shape-shifting “amoeba” entity wasn't evident until 2017, when he signed free agent Lawrence Guy away from Baltimore, brought in undrafted free agent Adam Butler from Vanderbilt and drafted Deatrich Wise in the fourth round out of Arkansas – defensive linemen all, but with no natural position along the front.

I called them “Five-techs” back then, wondering aloud if the Patriots were gravitating towards abandoning their four-man fronts in favor of a 3-4 look. Since then, we've seen all three playing inside and out, but true to Belichick's vision, they line up wherever they can cause the most chaos, but always with the thought of double-gapping to set up the linebackers with defined holes to fill.

That became easier with the addition of free agent cornerback Stephon Gilmore that same season, who regularly shut down the opposition's best receiving target, forcing quarterbacks to their second and third reads, giving those linemen and linebackers an extra split-second to pressure the passer.

The scheme didn't produce a lot of sacks - but in the Patriots' scheme, sacks were considered gravy for their potatoes anyway, as getting into the passing lanes and dictating where the quarterback could go with the ball were paramount.

That became incrementally more difficult for opposing offenses last season, as Belichick hit it big with another outstanding preseason, finding cornerbacks J.C. Jackson, an undrafted free agent, and veteran free agent Jason McCourty – adding them to a trio of safeties who were already in amoeba mode with what was termed as a “Big Nickel” package...

...Duron Harmon rounding into form as one of the best single-high safeties in the league, which freed up strong safety Patrick Chung and free safety Devin McCourty to help the secondary disguise their coverages by reducing down into the box and becoming part of the maw that made it difficult for the opposing offense to set their protections, not knowing for sure who was going to cover whom.

Be that as it was, the Patriots defense struggled at times as injuries decimated the linebacking corps, forcing Belichick to use more four-man fronts and only two linebackers, making them more predictable, susceptible against the run and unable to consistently cover backs and tight ends in the pattern. Fortunately, New England's defense entered the post-season relatively healthy and were able to shut down high-powered offenses on their way to a sixth world title.

Belichick didn't learn any lessons from 2018, instead staying the course and completing his defense by bringing back Collins to team with Van Noy on the edges, returning interior linebacker Ja'Whaun Bentley from the injured/reserved list and drafting the manic Chase Winovich to provide versatile depth all over the front seven.

So sporting the best secondary in the league, the most disruptive linebacking corps in the game and a nomadic line made up of players that would be odd-fitting anywhere else, Belichick's defense is finally realizing it potential – and many would say that they are just scratching the surface of their collective ability, which is a scary thought, given that through six games, this 2019 unit leads the league in every major defensive category.

Some will argue that New England's initial success correlates to the fact that have played a schedule full of cupcakes, and that their true identity will be revealed when they get to the meat of their schedule in November...

...but, fundamentally, defense is defense. The opponents change from week to week, but the Patriots now have the ability to dictate to offenses, not only taking away from them what they do best, but to force those offensive units to literally take what is given to them, which isn't much.

It's pretty whether you possess that old-school mentality when defensive units were big and violent and relentless, or are more a fan of the modern-day slick athleticism – because the Patriots' defense can do both and the beauty of it is that the offense never really knows where and how the defense is going to attack.

 Belichick calls it an "amoeba", constantly shape shifting to not just take advantage of where their foes are weakest in the formation, but to dictate their will and exploit opposing offenses from many different angles and punishing anyone they come across.

Collins calls it the Boogeyman, but whatever label you wish to pin on New England's defense, the fact of the matter is that the aforementioned shape-shifting is a waking nightmare for opposing offenses – one that they can't run from and one that they can't power through, because no matter what they try, the Patriots' defense will smother the life out of them.

Not just eventually, but from the very start – and when combined with Josh McDaniels' emerging offense, New England will be very hard to beat, no matter who they face.

"Boogeyman" Defense, Special Teams Dominant in Patriots' Win Over Giants

The New England Patriots are winning with defense. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

There is something refreshing about seeing the Patriots leaning on their defense, with a huge assist from their punt teams. Combined, they flip field position, ensuring that their offense enjoys decent field position. They have had this capability for a long time, well, at least as long as they've had Kyle Van Noy...

...adding Jamie Collins in the offseason and drafting wildman Chase Winovich, playing the edges in compliment to the heavies on the inside of what may well be the best linebacking corps in the National Football League.

Van Noy scores on a fumble return

On Thursday night against the New York Giants, the defense that collectively calls itself "The Boogeyman" put on a performance that should scare the rest of the offenses on their schedule as much as the legendary living nightmare little frightens children.

Van Noy raced for a touchdown with a fumble forced by Collins and Winovich returned a blocked punt for another score as New England's defense and special teams outscored the Giants' offense, combining with an erratic-but-determined Patriots' offense to run their undefeated record to 6-0 with a 35-14 victory over New York at Gillette Stadium.

As if that wasn't enough, the Patriots' defense also collected three interceptions of Giants' rookie quarterback Daniel Jones, who did manage to throw one deep touchdown pass to receiver Golden Tate for the Giants' offense's only score, a juggling catch over New England slot corner Jonathan Jones, who got a hand on the ball but not enough to knock it away.

The other New York score came on defense, a strip sack of Brady scooped up by linebacker Markus Golden and returned 42 yards to even the score late in the second quarter.

The Patriots' defense and punt return unit are actually outscoring their collective foes on the season 42-27, leading the league in forced turnovers and blocked punts while holding those offenses to an average of 4.5 points per game. Overall, opposing teams have scored 44 points in six games - an average of 7.3 points per game, but have found the end zone on offense just three times in that span...

...the first a one-yard Josh Allen run for Buffalo in week three, the second last Sunday on a 65-yard Steven Sims sprint at Washington and then a 64-yard pass from Jones to Tate on Thursday night, which happened to be the first passing touchdown given up by the Boogeyman all season.

The Giants found no real success on the ground, averaging only 3.2 yards per carry and had an equally tough time through the air, a combination of Jones's overconfidence in his arm and lack of receiving options. In fact, if one to omit his touchdown pass to Tate, the Giants' passing game totaled just 97 yards.

The Patriots' offense, despite having limited options of their own in the passing game, managed 331 yards through the air and 427 yards overall and held the football for a full two-thirds of the game, putting together six drives of over three minutes, four of those covering at least fifty yards.

Even so, New England's offense had a rough go of it early, moving the ball but unable to finish drives with points until running back Brandon Bolden found paydirt from one yard out halfway through the second quarter, set up by rookie receiver Jakobi Meyers' tough 23 yard catch - a gem considering that New England's offense had stalled in ugly fashion on their previous five possessions...

...but found their wheels after that, scoring twice in the second half on identical Brady sneaks, putting together long drives to dominate time of possession. The Giants ran just 18 plays in the second half while New England doubled that total and held the ball twice as long as New York.

To put the numbers into perspective, the Giants managed no sustained drives of three minutes or longer, just one of fifty yards or more (the quick-strike touchdown to Tate) and had no possessions lasting more than six plays. That kind of inefficiency kept the Giants' defense on the field for an astonishing 81 plays that eventually wore down New York's stoppers.

The Patriots will now enjoy ten days off before travelling to New York to take on the Jets a week from Monday - a much needed break to hopefully heal from their many injuries and to try and get the offense on the same level as the defense.

But that may never materialize, as the Patriots' offense has suffered attrition at every level of the unit and are now working on their backup facilities. Good thing New England has a dominant defense to lean on.

Good Stuff:

1. The more Brandon Bolden is incorporated into the offensive scheme, the more value to the team he displays. On special teams, Bolden's haunt for the majority of his career, he forced punt protector Nathan Stupar so deep off the line of scrimmage with an impressive bull rush up the middle that punter Riley Dixon's kick hit Stupar in the back, bounding sideways and right to Winovich, who gathered it in and scored easily from six yards out - while on offense, Bolden scored a touchdown for the third straight game.

2. Tight end Ryan Izzo is proving to be a decent checkdown weapon, showing solid hands and sharp route running - both of his catches resulting in crucial first downs. His pass protection and blocking in general are works in progress, but overall he is proving to be an asset.

3. Rookies Gunner Olszewski and Jakobi Meyers accounted well for themselves in the passing game after being elevated on the depth chart following a game-ending injury to Josh Gordon. Already without Phillip Dorsett, Gordon's knee injury promoted Meyers and Olszewski to numbers two and three, respectively. With injuries piling up like cord wood in the Patriots' pass catching corps - they also lost tight end Matt LaCosse early in the contest - the rooks figure to see more opportunities. Brady had no choice but to target them, and their performances have to give the goat a little more confidence in them.

Curious:

1. Why Daniel Jones seemed obsessed with picking on Stephon Gilmore is somewhat of a mystery. There could be no other reason other than Jones wanting to prove his mettle against the best corner in the league, but the results were predictable as Gilmore defended five throws, two resulting in Patriots' interceptions - one by Gilmore himself and one that he deflected into the waiting arms of linebacker John Simon. Chalk it up as a painful learning experience for Jones, who otherwise has the talent to label himself a franchise quarterback.

Not so good:

1. The New England kicking game continues to be a concern. Replacement kicker Mike Nugent provided some harrowing moments in grooving his extra point attempts barely inside the left standard, then nailing the same post with his lone field goal attempt of the night. To be fair to the embattled kicker was fighting a strong crosswind on all his kicks, with the added disadvantage of holder Jake Bailey facing the laces directly at Nugent on the field goal attempt. Belichick had so little confidence in the kicking game that he opted for three 4th and short running plays instead of sending Nugent on the field for intermediate-range attempts - resulting in disaster on two of them.

2. Gordon and fullback Jakob Johnson left the game with injuries. At present there is no word on Gordon's status other than the team "dodged a bullet" in that his knee injury doesn't appear that severe, but it has been reported that Johnson is headed for the IR, ending his season. That leaves the Patriots without a fullback, which is an essential element in their running game.

Van Noy Named AFC Defensive Player Of The Week

"...linebacker Jamie Collins ended any chance Buffalo had of overtaking New England with his third pick of the season, a fluttering butterfly caused by linebacker Kyle Van Noy's pressure of Bills' quarterback Matt Barkley that landed right in Collins' waiting hands.

Van Noy was the most productive and visible of the Patriots' stoppers on the day, logging two sacks among his eight tackles and three quarterback hits, While Collins, John Simon and rookie Chase Winovich collected the other three sacks."

Foxborough Free Press - 1 October, 2019

New England Patriots' linebacker Kyle Van Noy has been named the AFC's Defensive Player of the Week for his game-saving performance in the Patriots' 16-10 victory over the upstart Buffalo Bills on Sunday.

In truth, Van Noy was not the only Patriots' candidate for the award, as cornerback J. C. Jackson picked off two Buffalo passes and also blocked a punt that special teams gunner Matthew Slater returned for a touchdown, and linebacker Jamie Collins collected a sack to go along with five tackles, three quarterback hits and an interception which secured New England's fourth victory in as many tries.

But Van Noy outdistanced his teammates by forcing the errant throw that Collins hauled in on his third, and last, quarterback hit, and his two sacks were apparently enough to trump Jackson's athletic thefts.

In his sixth season out of Brigham Young University and in his third season with the Patriots, Van Noy has produced a literal highlight reel of defensive stops, particularly late last season when he dominated folks in the playoffs - including Super Bowl 53 in which he almost single-handedly wrecked the Los Angeles Rams' high octane offensive attack.

The award is the first of Van Noy's career and comes on the heels of rookie punter Jake Baliey's AFC Special Teams Player of the Week for his impressive launches against the New York Jets last Sunday.

Defense, Special Teams Carry Patriots To Win In Buffalo

Tom Brady and the New England Patriots' offense had a miserable time of it on Sunday afternoon in Orchard Park, New York - but that's ok.

In seasons past, a bad game out of Brady may have been the death knell for the Patriots, who have leaned on the future Hall of Fame quarterback for the past two decades to bail them out of tough spots - but this year the roles appear to be reversed as New England's defense has caused opposing signal callers to have performances just as bad...

...and on Sunday afternoon the trend continued, the defense forcing four turnovers and sacking Buffalo Bills' quarterbacks five times as the Patriots, ran their undefeated record to 4-0 in a 16-10 victory over Buffalo at New Era Stadium.

Patriots' Jackson (27) blocks a punt in the first quarter

But so poor was the offensive attack for the Patriots that their top-ranked defense also needed a big-time assist from their special teams to pull out a win.

Cornerback J.C. Jackson blocked a punt deep in Buffalo territory, which star special-teamer Matthew Slater picked up and returned for a score to provide what proved to be the winning points, and punter Jake Bailey consistently flipped field position to bail out the bogged-down offense with long, booming kicks that forced the Bills to drive the length of the field to acquire points.

Bailey's rocket launcher of a right leg is not only quickly becoming the stuff of Patriots' lore, but has proven to be a legitimate weapon in the field position battle, seemingly defying the laws of gravity and sending footballs into orbit, coming back to earth only after his kick coverage crew has had time to converge on the ball's landing zone...

With their elite defense and special teams leading the way, no longer are the Patriots as reliant on Brady's performances as in times past - and good thing, because he and the offense appear to be mired in a funk that has rendered their running game moot, their passing game erratic and the scorekeeper in a Rasputin-like trance.

And while the Buffalo defense had something to do with holding down New England's offense to just ten points on the day, the bulk of the Patriots' problems were self-imposed.

Brady completed just 18 of 39 throws for a pedestrian 150 yards, missing high and low, intentionally grounding balls and throwing a momentum-killing interception from the Buffalo two-yard line that was so easy for Bills' safety Micah Hyde to catch that it wouldn't have been any easier to simply hand the ball to him.

Had the ball found a Patriots' receiver instead of the Bills' defender, it would have given New England a three-score lead and essentially ended the game for all intents and purposes, but instead the interception had an adverse effect on the offense and inspired the Buffalo defenders.

Hyde's second quarter end zone pick put a cap on the Patriots' best drive of the afternoon, a classic Brady-led possession that covered 75 yards in 16 plays and kept the Bills' defense on the field for over eight minutes of clock time, but ultimately served to shift the momentum away from New England's offense, which managed only 76 yards the rest of the way, Bailey punting the Patriots out of trouble six times in that span with his moon shots.

In fact, were it not for the elite special teams' play, the Patriots would have ended up with their first loss of the season.

New England drew first blood on a seven-play, fifty-yard drive, running back Brandon Bolden scoring on a four-yard scamper to the perimeter, but only able to put up six points as kicker Stephen Gostkowski missed his fourth extra point in as many games. The Patriots' defense rose up and stopped the Bills on their ensuing drive, Jackson sprinting in from the left side to block Corey Bojorquez' punt from the Buffalo 14...

...Slater scooping it up and running it into the end zone. Gostkowski hit the extra point to give New England a 13-0 lead and all of the momentum.

Three possessions later, that momentum evaporated with Hyde's end zone pick of Brady, and by the time the fourth quarter rolled around, the Patriots were in a dog fight with just a three-point cushion - but the stratospheric bombs from Bailey combined with a larcenous defense were enough to hold off the Bills' offense the rest of the way.

The defensive thievery started with a Devin McCourty interception in the first quarter, and continued on a leaping Jackson theft in the second and then a toe-dragging job in the third - then linebacker Jamie Collins ended any chance Buffalo had of overtaking New England with his third pick of the season, a fluttering butterfly caused by linebacker Kyle Van Noy's pressure of Bills' quarterback Matt Barkley that landed right in Collins' waiting hands.

Van Noy was the most productive and visible of the Patriots' stoppers on the day, logging two sacks among his eight tackles and three quarterback hits, While Collins, John Simon and rookie Chase Winovich collected the other three sacks.

In the end, and despite surrendering their first touchdown of the season, the New England stoppers still rank tops in the league in total defense and in scoring defense, opponents scoring just over a field goal per game, but the offense took a step in the wrong direction with Brady's misfires, his receivers dropping many of the balls that did make it to their hands, and with their running game stuck in neutral.

Fortunately, the Patriots have time to correct their offensive woes with games against the lowly Washington Redskins on tap next Sunday, followed by the New York Giants in a Thursday night tilt and the erratic New York Jets the following Monday night - and they'd better figure it out by then, with a visit from the Cleveland Browns and a trip to Baltimore looming before the Patriots' bye week in early November...

...a point in the season in which head ball coach Bill Belichick traditionally has his charges playing at their best - and they need to be with games at Philadelphia and Houston coupled with home games against Dallas and the mighty Kansas City Chiefs completing a brutal stretch against top shelf defensive units.

If they can't figure it out, the Patriots always have their defense to ride and an inspired special teams to help them out.

Brady is still a great player at age 42, and with the old mantra that goes "great players aren't great all the time; but are great when they need to be" on the table, Patriots' fans can rest assured that he will come through in the clutch like he always does.

Well, almost always.

Outside Linebacker Should Be Priority For Patriots Regardless of Talent Set To Return From Injury

The Philadelphia Eagles exposed the New England Patriots' greatest defensive weakness in Super Bowl 52, and it really didn't take a genius to figure out how to do it.

The Eagles' offensive game plan was to attack the flats with their backs to take advantage of the Patriots' season-long issue of missing rangy linebackers to set the edge and cover the flats. On the night, the Eagles ran the ball to the edges eighteen times for 100 yards and the ball was thrown into the flat an astounding 21 times for 221 of Philadelphia's 374 passing yards and two of their five scores.

Leighton Vander Esch

And once the Eagles had the Patriots frustrated to the point that they brought their safeties a little closer to the line to stop that bleeding, they went over the top and gained chunk yards against single coverages.

Indeed, the Patriots were just plain bad defending the flats all season, ranked 27th in the National Football League, according to our friends at Football Outsiders, which can be taken a number of different ways - but most prominently, this can be attributed to inexperience among the depth linebackers, but one has to wonder if it would have been so had the Patriots not had so many injuries on the second level.

In a prefect world, New England had an intriguing lineup in the linebacking corps, featuring two-time Super Bowl hero Dont'a Hightower on the weak side and fellow first-round draft pick Shea McClellin on the strong side - athletic bookends for rangy and tough middle linebacker Kyle Van Noy who has the requisite instincts, feel for angles, speed and size to cover backs in the flat, but, hey, the guy can't be everywhere all at once...

...and while we know that Hightower will return after taking most of 2017 of with a torn pectoral muscle (shades of Jerod Mayo, anyone), the same cannot be said with much confidence about McClellin, who missed the entire year with post-concussion syndrome, which could signal the end of his short career.

Another player that missed the entire season was defensive end / strong side linebacker hybrid Derek Rivers, who should return full strength but still offers some ambiguity in regard to his fit in the defense as he didn't play a down for the Patriots after being their top draft pick in last April's draft, but his measurables (6' 4", 250 pounds) suggest a fit at the 3+1 "Joker" position that former-Patriot Jamie Collins nearly had down to a science.

So, realistically, Van Noy and decent potential is all New England has on the second level. If they all stay healthy and play up to their enormous potential, the Patriots are set except for accounting for natural attrition - but either way, picking up a linebacker or two in the offseason is going to be paramount to Belichick being able to field a decent defense.

The other levels are in good shape for the moment, other than maybe wanting to look into a corner to pair with Stephon Gilmore, so linebacker is the biggest need on the defense, and probably the biggest need on the entire team.

And there is no better place to start than to draft a young firepisser to jump start defense.

Boise State's Leighton Vander Esch could be to the Patriots' defense what Collins was, only even more athletic and instinctive.

At 6' 4" and 240 pounds, Vander Esch is a strong side dream: easy lateral movements to cut down running lanes for runners cutting back against the grain, elite range, knows how to use blocker's leverage to disengage on the edge and is perhaps the best coverage linebacker to come out of college since Ryan Shazier, only longer with the ability to make a play on any ball he can get a finger on.

He may be available towards the end of the first round due to having only one season of full-time starting experience and then declaring for the draft as a Junior, but his stock will climb when he owns the Combine in Indianapolis and it might take some wheeling and dealing to trade up a few spots - and Belichick should because Vander Esch is everything he values in a linebacker.

That said, the drop off after Vander Esch is pretty significant, but the players are excellent prospects in their own right.

South Carolina State's Darius Leonard is a rangy, if smallish (6' 2", 213), weak side linebacker who plays more like a strong safety than a linebacker. Is excellent in coverage and in pursuit with blazing closing speed, which gives him the ability to process and mirror running backs, then plug the gap before the back can reach it.

Leonard is best suited for an interior spot, however, as he doesn't possess the play strength desired to hold the edge, though he has shown the ability in flashes. Edge setting ability is the specialty of Georgia's Lorenzo Carter, as his 6' 6" frame and plus-lateral quickness makes him an ideal butterfly net on either edge, as well as a decent prospect in the pass rushing department.

Both Leonard and Carter should be available for New England in the second round, but barring being able to snag Vander Esch and the end of the first round, the best value linebacker in the entire draft may be Rutgers' Kemoko Turay.

The most explosive edge defender in the draft, Turay has a Chandler Jones-like spider build and perhaps the best pass rushing outside linebacker in the class. Sometimes it seems that Turay can unravel his long arms and reach the sidelines from the tackle box, which makes him a devastating back-side gap filler. The knock on him is his durability, as injury robbed him of most of his sophomore and Junior seasons - a knock that sees him fall into the third round.

Also in the third round Belichick should be able to find Auburn's Jeff Holland, a marshmallow looking fellow that is a pass rushing demon slated for success in the pros as a situational rusher, Ohio State's Jerome Baker who plays the run like a marshmallow but is hell on wheels in coverage on the weak side with tremendous speed, and Indiana's Tegray Scales is a pure middle linebacker who doesn't have great size, but plays with elite instincts, including on hug blitzes where he has registered 13 sacks in two seasons.

Baker will likely be a reach if Belichick were to tab him for the third round, but he won't be around in the sixth round, which is where his next selection is scheduled - but given the slim pickings in free agency, Patriots' fans should expect to see one of Belichick's four draft picks go toward an impact linebacker...

...because when four of the top-12 rated outside linebackers in free agency are players cut by New England in past couple of years, the prospects for finding an impact player for the second level are not that good.