Gap Integrity, Edge-Setting Key For Patriots Defense Against Texans

The Houston Texans are an enigma.

On defense, they possess perhaps one of the best front sevens in the National Football League, yet they can't stop the run when opposing offenses spread them out. They sport a secondary that is so injured that they are being held together with duct tape and prayers, yet they are a top five pass defense unit.

Offensively, their passing game is just plain offensive, ranking dead last in the league and averaging 104 yards per game, being barely outgained by their running game, which would also be in the toilet were it not for a nifty, long touchdown run by their quarterback last week against the Bengals.

So on paper, the New England Patriots' defense should be able to put the beatdown on the Texans in Foxborough this coming Sunday.

Wise (91) and Flowers should be able to get to Watson this Sunday

Hell, they should be able to punch them in the mouth, take their lunch money and stick bubble gum in their hair for good measure - but only if the Patriots play their game, dictating to the Texans' offense instead of falling for the inevitable trickery and unconventional approach that coach Bill O'Brien will try to cook up in order to go blow-for-blow with the powerful Patriots' offense.

Because despite their abysmal play in 2017, the Texans are built to compete against the likes of New England, and the things that they can still do well on both sides of the ball feed directly into what the Patriots struggle with both offensively and defensively.

For example, the Patriots traditionally struggle defending against mobile quarterbacks (Hello, Alex Smith) and give up a frustratingly significant number of first downs to such - and the Texans' just happen to employ a fellow by the name of Deshaun Watson, a rookie who feels pressure in the pocket whether it's there or not, and will tuck the ball and run like a like a pooch that just stole a hot dog at a bar-b-que.

His success ratio after being flushed out of the pocket is hit or miss, but he showed how elusive he can be against Cincinnati last Sunday, weaving through their secondary for a 49 yard touchdown scramble - but he's also been sacked seven times in six quarters of play.  In fact, Texans' quarterbacks have been sacked 13 times in two games, and given the fact that three of their starting offensive linemen have been out of the lineup, that's not too surprising.

New England's top two pass rushers, former Arkansas teammates Trey Flowers and Deatrich Wise, have to be salivating at the prospect of facing such a depleted line, especially given that against the Bengals, the Texans played predominantly with a six-offensive lineman set, sacrificing their tight end play (They were down to a fourth-string tight end anyway) for an extra blocker to try and keep Cincinnati's monstrous pass rush off of Watson, but to no avail as the rookie took several mean shots and is listed as questionable on the Texan's injury report.

But when Watson did find time in the pocket, he was single-minded in targeting DeAndre Hopkins on over half of his throws and used running back Lamar Miller as his safety valve.  Houston was hoping to get wide receiver Will Fuller, who has been inactive due to a broken collarbone, back this week - and he has returned to practice but has already been ruled out for Sunday's game...

...which means that Watson's targets will consist of Hopkins, Miller, tight end Ryan Griffin and wide receivers Bruce Ellington and Braxton Miller - not exactly a Murder's Row of downfield threats, though Griffin returning from the concussion protocol could spell trouble for New England's Patrick Chung, who appears to have lost a step in coverage.

While it shouldn't be a difficult task to generate pressure on Watson, the edge rushers will have to be alert to the Texans' tackles powder-puffing them, allowing them to rush upfield around the pocket, leaving the flat open for both the screen and for Watson to scamper off into.  Like they would against any mobile quarterback, the Patriots will try to keep him in the middle of the field...

...where the Patriots defense could counter by mixing things up a little in their coverages, perhaps playing in their Big Nickel alignment but with cornerback Malcolm Butler playing in the stead of Chung as an impromptu "strong safety".

Butler has benefitted in the past by teams picking on a weaker set of corners opposite him, but now that the team employs bigger corners in Stephon Gilmore and the up-and-coming Eric Rowe, Butler is being exposed by teams that have the edge in mismatches, particularly underneath where he is not always able to fight through pick plays.

Butler brings the wood against the run, is great at sniffing out screens and has elite closing burst, plus he matches up well in size with running backs and has the speed advantage over tight ends - he seems to be more in his element when he sees the play unfold in front of him, and with Jonathan Jones making a case to take over in the slot, it's going to take some finagling to get Butler involved, perhaps at the expense of Chung.

One ploy we could see from the Texans is coach Bill O'Brien taking a page from the Kansas City Chiefs' bag-o-tricks, implementing a series of shuffle passes to get the ball to receivers crossing the face of Watson, which the Chiefs were moderately successful doing.  The Texans don't have the overall talent like Kansas City does, but they will have Allen back this week and Braxton Miller could be a candidate for a little trickery...

...Ellington as well, though those are some mighty big trees for the 5' 9" speedster to have to navigate through, especially coming off of injury.  Ellington is pure smooth hell on the bubble and counter screens, however, which feeds right into the game plan that the Texans will have to employ to have any chance of generating enough points to make a game out of it.

The Texans switched from veteran quarterback and stationary target Tom Savage midway through their season opening loss to Jacksonville and inserted the mobile rookie in hopes of being able to generate offense, but it has been a work in progress, with the progress being marked with baby steps.

Given the injury situation in Houston and the likelihood that New England comes into the game relatively healthy on defense, holding the Texans down like both Jacksonville and Cincinnati did could be a big morale booster for a defensive unit that has it's doubters.

Much of that doubt comes from the communications issues the secondary had against the Chiefs that resulted in three chunk plays that turned a tight game into a laugher that Kansas City took advantage of - and even though that same secondary gave up 350 yards to Drew Brees and the Saints last Sunday, the majority of those yards came in the second half with New England leading comfortably.

So, in a nut shell, Houston must attack the Patriots' defense by establishing a running game, which would bring Chung (or whoever is playing the Big Nickel) up into the box, then targeting Miller and rookie back D'Onta Foreman in the short passing game to both spread the field horizontally and keep the heat off of Watson - then they can use the play action to pick and choose their shots downfield.

Part of the game plan should include some of the aforementioned shuffle passes, though with an emphasis on the running game being a given, having seldom-used veteran run stuffer David Harris in the middle of the defense may mitigate that type of play with his instincts and experience.

The key is for the Patriots to stay in their gaps up front, don't fall for the powder-puff approach from the tackles and keep Watson inside the hashmarks.

It goes without saying that this will be a game where the Texans' defense will have to hold the Patriots well below their 31.5 points per game average to have any chance of winning, and we'll cover that in the next piece...

The Patriots' 53: Knee Jerk Reaction To Thursday's Loss To The Jaguars

Coaching points.

That's what the preseason is all about, putting players in certain situations and to see how they respond to them.  It's not unlike Pavlov's experimentation with conditioned response, only in football the subjects are human beings, and the ringing of a bell doesn't elicit a drooling response.

Well, maybe some drooling is involved, but that is neither here nor there in the grand scheme of football.  What does matter is that players with little or no experience in the professional game are put into actual game situations, giving the coaches a body of work from which to do things like correcting mechanical flaws, improving technique and just plain making things become routine for them.

Jacob Hollister with one of his seven catches

For every player coming out of college that makes a roster in the NFL, there are a dozen others who don't - and much of the difference comes in whether they take to coaching or not.

Players like Jordan Richards and Cyrus Jones have held onto roster spots despite no improvement in their game while players with developmental potential have been cast by the wayside in order to give the two second round draft picks the benefit of their draft position - but this year there are too many good players pushing them and if they don't show vast improvement next Saturday night against the Texans, they could find themselves on the bread lines come September.

But something that has to be remembered is that none of the Patriots starters on either side of the ball played in the game, and the gameday roster was pieced together - the result was a delay in the lineup achieving the type of cohesiveness that allows them to meld with the talents of their teammates, so some of the poor play around the roster can be attributed to that, but some of it, like what is covered in the following position sections, is all technique.

Quarterbacks:  Training camp is pretty much business as usual for Patriots' quarterbacks: Tom Brady looks in mid-season form, Jimmy Garoppolo is "struggling" and Jacoby Brissett is hot and cold.

Hearing that Garoppolo is struggling in training camp is like hearing that the sun always sets in the west - you can count on it, but sure as shooting when the guy gets into an actual game situation, he steps up and delivers.  He explained this very phenomenon a couple of weeks ago by claiming that he takes more chances in practice to put receivers in situations where he can determine such things as what their catch radius is, their willingness to go after high or low balls, etc, etc...

...which he saw plenty of on Thursday night while running for his life behind a make-shift offensive line and throwing to a gaggle of rookie receivers.  He was stuck in neutral in the first quarter while trying to find his gears, but once he did, he put on a show in the second and third quarters.

As far as Brissett is concerned, Belichick sliding past a question in regard to him in his Tuesday presser could be taken as a sign of things to come.  Usually when asked a question about a player, the Dark Master gives his usual, "He's a hard working kid, does what we ask, meow, meow, meow", but when cornered about Brissett and his development in his second camp, Belichick was unusually abrupt, even for him.

"Well, it's a work in progress." Belichick offered hastily. "We'll see."

Yikes! Well, Brissett didn't get much work in the loss to the Jaguars and, in fact, confirmed that his mechanics are still an issue, overthrowing folks badly on anything more than a dump off.  Some believe that Brissett's late entry into the game combined with his poor showing makes him camp fodder, but despite his cryptic evaluation before the game, Belichick isn't going to slice a guy from the roster over this poor outing...

...but if he struggles against the Texans with his mechanics and decision making, you could see the depth chart at quarterback look like it does below:

Tom Brady
Jimmy Garoppolo

Running Backs: Bill Belichick wants to keep the defense guessing, but he knows that he needs more than just an effective running game to complement the passing game.

To truly open up the playbook, he needs a back on the field that can run the ball with authority, willing to pick up the blitz and be a consistent threat out of the backfield in the passing game.  Gone are the days when backs were labeled as power backs or passing backs, as the only label needed for his kennel of young greyhounds is "all-purpose".

But what we saw on Thursday night was Dion Lewis and Brandon Bolden splitting some carries and undrafted rookie free agent LeShun Daniels making a few decent plays down the stretch.  One thing that was consistent with the Patriots over the years is them using their backs as vital cogs in the passing game, and Thursday night was no exception as Lewis worked the flat and D.J. Foster got some good looks over the middle.

Overall, there wasn't anything happening to cause any changes to the list of locked in backs.

James White
Mike Gillislee

Dion Lewis
Rex Burkhead
James Develin

Receivers: The Patriots receivers are a fragile bunch early in camp, with seemingly everyone plagued with one malady or another, all except, that is, for Brandin Cooks who is instead making the defensive backs sick from eating his dust.

But none of the "roster locks" played against the Jaguars, healthy or not, as Thursday night was about exposing the youngsters to the professional game - and in the process, the Patriots were able to get some good film on some prospects, especially much-hyped rookie Austin Carr, who made some dazzling plays on some rockets launched by Garoppolo.

Carr showed some veteran savvy in showing Grop his numbers in the back of the end zone, then showed his athleticism in high-pointing the ball in traffic and coming down with it for six, then pulled a Julio Jones on a toe-tapper along the home sidelines.  Not enough, mind you, to bump a veteran at this stage, but a similar performance against the Texans next Saturday could have impact on the roster.

The one thing that could introduce a youngster to the roster is the injury incurred by special teamer Matthew Slater.  If it is significant enough, Slater could be placed on the IR with a designation to return, giving a player like Carr or Devin Lucien a chance to see the regular season.

Julian Edelman
Brandin Cooks
Chris Hogan
Malcolm Mitchell
Danny Amendola
Matthew Slater (IR)
Austin Carr

Tight Ends: The only question mark for the Patriots' tight ends is whether or not they are going to keep three tight ends on the roster, and if so, who will that third one be?

Gronkowski is a given, and Brady is targeting Allen like a mad man in the scrimmages, but Thursday night was all about the race for the number three tight end, and while rookie Sam Cotton showed up well on the inline blocking mode, it was Jacob Hollister that made the big splash, displaying solid route running and a willingness to break off route and to high-point balls in traffic...

...even taking some nasty shots coming back down to earth that cost the Jaguars 30 yards in personal fouls - and while that is just football, Hollister popping right back up, going back to the huddle and performing again has to be given some serious consideration.

Rob Gronkowski
Dwayne Allen
Jacob Hollister

Offensive Tackles:  Perhaps Belichick was giving us all a lesson in appreciation for the starters on the offensive line as none of them played, leaving Cam Fleming, LaAdrian Waddle and rookie Conor McDermott to shoulder the load as bookends, the the results left us wanting Nate Solder and Marcus Cannon.

Solder, however, is dealing with some mysterious malady and has missed a sizable portion of camp, and whether it is a recurrence of his previous medical issues, be it cancer or torn bicep, the prognosis for the offensive line is not good, if last night's performance has any bearing on the situation.

Now, we don't know what Solder is dealing with, so it would be unfair to speculate, but what we do know is that if he can't go in the regular season, the job will most likely fall to rookie Antonio Garcia who has a nasty streak a mile wide - but while the other tackles had a poor night against the Jaquars pass rush, they did perform well in the running game, all except rookie Conor McDermott, who tried to cut block a would-be tackler on a running play in the first quarter and whiffed badly.

It was good thought, putting McDermott at right tackle as he is a better run blocker than a pass protector, but he did himself no favors last night.

Nate Solder
Marcus Cannon
Cam Fleming
Antonio Garcia
LaAdrien Waddle


Interior Offensive Line: Joe Thuney seems to be figuring out what his lot in football is, as he has shown up as a solid pass protector in camp - which in comparison to his well-documented struggles last season isn't saying a whole lot.  But there seems to be an edge to his game now.

We won't know for certain until he sees the field against the Texans next Saturday night when the Patriots should be starting their regulars - unless they really want Watt, Clowney and company to get free shots at their quarterbacks - and there is no better way to discover where your line is in terms of cohesiveness than going up against the best.

Joe Thuney
Shaq Mason
David Andrews
Ted Karras


Defensive Line: The Patriots have the ability to morph into anything they want, or need, to be, and the defensive line is no exception.  Who remains on the depth chart isn't so much a question as is where would they line up on each play?

At the moment, it would appear that the Universities of Texas and Arkansas are dominating the top of said depth chart, with nose tackle Malcom Brown (Texas) and defensive ends Trey Flowers and rookie Deatrich Wise (Go Hogs!) displaying excellent form, though we didn't see Brown at all last night and Wise's night ended early when he suffered a concussion taking a knee to the helmet.

The depth was atrocious otherwise, and the linebackers were forced to set the hard edge most of the night on the outside.

Malcolm Brown
Alan Branch
Trey Flowers
Vincent Valentine
Kony Ealy
Lawrence Guy
Deatrich Wise

Linebackers:  Just a few months ago, this group was considered a weak link in the defense.  Now we're trying to figure out what to do with all of the talent.

Elandon Roberts went helmet-to-helmet with someone in the middle of a scrum and had the look of a fighter on wobbly legs.  Harvey Langi filled in ably and Jonathan Freeney showed that he's not quite ready to surrender the roster spot he's held for a couple of seasons, as he an Langi were setting the edge all night long.

Unfortunately for the Patriots, the middle of their run defense was like jell-o and the Jaguars ran roughshod on them without any of their starters playing in the game - so last night certainly wasn't an indication of what we will see when the games are for real, nor did it change any minds on what the final depth chart will look like, unless injuries mount in camp.

Dont'a Hightower
Kyle Van Noy
Shea McClellin
Derek Rivers
David Harris
Elandon Roberts
Harvey Langi

Cornerbacks: Oh, what an awesome problem to have!  The Patriots sport three starting-quality corners on the 2017 roster, with second-year speedster Jonathan Jones making all kinds of waves in mincamp, taking most of the slot reps, but he also got repeatedly torched by the Jaguars, mostly on the same dig routes that he sees all the time in practice...

Butler is more than capable in the phone booth, where Cyrus Jones could also see some action, because it is becoming increasingly more obvious that Jones can not stick with receivers on the outside - in fact, Belichick used him as a safety on Thursday night, in part so that he could keep the action in front of him because as a boundary corner, he looked lost.

Gilmore and 2016 pickup Eric Rowe are taller corners and could get the call on the outside against the bigger receivers that New England is likely to see this year, though Butler will see time on the outside against the likes of Antonio Brown and Jarvis Landry.

The diversity of the cornerback corps gives Patricia many options in the Patriots' week-to-week game planning, and if either of the Joneses contribute, Gillette Stadium could easily turn into a no-fly zone...

Stephon Gilmore
Malcolm Butler
Eric Rowe
Jonathan Jones
Cyrus Jones

Safeties: There is not a better combination of safeties in the league than Devin McCourty, Patrick Chung and Duron Harmon, and all three are signed to multi-year contracts - while Nate Ebner and Brandon King more than earn their bones on special teams.  The problem is that in order for the Patriots to run their preferred Big Nickel alignment (one high safety and two in the box), they need McCourty, Chung and Harmon healthy and on the field.

Injuries haven't been a huge problem, but if one of them hits the shelf, it disrupts the entire defensive philosophy, so the search is on for players who can fill in at any of those positions.  While not drafting any blue liners, Belichick did pick up Big Nickel-type defensive backs in Richmond's David Jones and Minnesota's Damarius Travis, with Travis being the versatile box safety that could potentially spell Chung.

And Travis actually accounted well for himself on Thursday night, starting the game and contributing three stops and a pass defended before being replaced by Jordan Richards, who had a night he wishes he could forget, particularly since he appeared to dislocate his wrist in the fourth quarter, forcing Belichick to use Cyrus Jones to replace him.

This means that Richards is the odd man out no matter which undrafted player remains, with Jones making his way to the practice squad...

Devin McCourty
Patrick Chung
Duron Harmon
Nate Ebner
Brandon King
Damarius Travis

Specialists: The only question here is if Stephen Gostkowski is going to rebound from his less-than-stellar 2016, when he missed several extra points, seeming to push everything to the right, which if put in terms of physics, means that he isn't striking the ball as consistently as he should be.

Some attribute that to Belichick's preference of easing up on kickoffs to force the opposition to return kicks rather that take a touchback out to the 25 yard line, perhaps throwing off his natural leg swing on field goals and extra points - but he is excellent at pinning the other guys deep on his kickoffs, so the trade off is congruent.

But against the Jaguars, "Ghost" was shaky once again, pulling a 56 yard kick that had no chance from the second it left his foot, though his kickoffs were money.

Allen is a field position weapon that has gotten the offense out of plenty of holes in his career, and is clutch when he absolutely needs to be, while Cardona's worth is in never hearing his name, which means he is spot on in his long snaps.

Joe Cardona
Ryan Allen
Stephen Gostkowski

Patriots' Team Building Process On Full Display Against Jags

We've all heard it a thousand times.

When asked about the progress of any player at this point in the team building process, we usually get a canned response from New England Patriots head ball coach Bill Belichick, something to the effect of a combination of "He works hard", "He's a smart kid" and the ever popular, "We'll have to see."

But on Tuesday when asked about second-year quarterback Jacoby Brissett, we got something straight from the depths.

"He's a work in progress." Belichick deadpanned to the glee of bored beat writers.

When Brissett is in the game on Thursday night against the Jaguars, it will most likely be with all manner of position battles happening all over the offensive line, so we are going to be able to witness first hand if Brissett has made that essential second-year progression in regard to his mechanics.

You see, the North Carolina State alum has a penchant for throwing off his back foot when being pressured up the gut, a natural knee-jerk reaction that produces overthrows without much on them, especially up the sidelines, making them ripe for interceptions by centerfielders in the worst-case scenarios, and wasted downs in the best-case.

Thus far in camp, it's obvious that he still has the issue and has thrown the aforementioned high ball off of his back foot release and it seems as though he is trying to compensate for the poor mechanics rather than correcting them.  It will be interesting to see if Jacksonville makes it a point to pressure him up the middle to force those floaters, and also to see if they align a single-deep safety as a ball hawk to pick him off.

This is what camp and preseason are for.  Brissett has an absolute rocket for an arm when he can step into throws and does have good accuracy on the intermediate and short throws, making him an adequate short-term backup, but the issues with his mechanics make him a poor choice as a long-term fill-in, as teams would easily be able to game-plan against his weaknesses.

Needless to say, tonight's game is going to be important to his future with the team.

Other players we will be watching closely:

Dion Lewis - From all accounts the "Human Joy Stick" is back to his old elusive self, breaking ankles and causing would-be tacklers to grasp at thin air.  How much he used in the preseason - and even early in the regular season is anyone's guess, but it makes sense to limit the demure all purpose back's exposure to things that might rip his legs apart, so if he does play, we really can't expect it will be for very long.

Rex Burkhead - On the other hand, we will probably see plenty of Burkhead, who has a little bit of every type of running style known to man inside of him.  He can play the power guy, he can catch the ball, he can protect the passer - which may turn out to be a godsend to Patriots quarterbacks in the preseason - and once he's in the open field, he looks like a newborn fawn trying to find it's footing, with elbows and knees everywhere.  Regardless of how it looks, he's been effective with it in the past.

Devin Lucien - Lucien has generated plenty of press clippings the past few weeks, and now it's time to see if he's just a workout warrior or if his star rises when the bright lights come on.  You can read more about the Arizona State product here...

Jacob Hollister - The Patriots generally carry three tight ends, but the third guy is normally more of an inline blocking machine than what Hollister presents, but his receiving skills can't be ignored.  Of the candidates for the roster spot, the Wyoming product is far and away the best pass-catching prospect, but he offers little from a blocking perspective, certainly less than what the other candidates bring.

For that very reason, Hollister is going to have to bring the "Wow" factor in the preseason if he wants to make this team.

Conor McDermott - Does the athletic McDermott have the sand-in-his-pants anchor to play the blindside protector?  Either Brissett and/or Jimmy Garoppolo is going to find out on Thursday night when the UCLA product goes up against names like Yannick Ngakoue and Dante Fowler.

Blessed with a basketball player's size and slide step, McDermott looks every bit a tight end - but one can't help noticing that he is a far more effective blocker on the move in the running game pulling into the interior on a "wham" assignment, using a killer cut block to take down rogue linebackers while his set and slide technique screams "tackle" in pass protection, he just doesn't have the anchor - or does he?

We'll probably get to see tonight...

Deatrich Wise - The Jacksonville offensive line is a hot mess everywhere except at the pivot, so the Patriots coaches should reasonably expect to see their defensive linemen dominate - but in a preseason game in which the coaches are looking at form and technique, domination is not always going to be apparent to the naked eye, nor will it necessarily show up on the stat sheet.

With Wise, who has long arms and enormous hands, he should be rag-dolling tackles early in the game with a savage initial punch, and bull rushing him back into the pocket.  Like Trey Flowers before him, Wise dominated as a defensive end at Arkansas with uncommon strength, but unlike Flowers, he's not quick-twitch so a lot will depend on his pad level as the game wears on.

If he plays into the late stages of the game and he's still stacking up tackles like cord wood, it may be an indication that the Patriots have struck gold twice in drafting hogs.

Derek Rivers - Rivers was an All American defensive end at Youngstown State, but in the pros, his best destiny is at strong-side linebacker, as his size and skill set whispers "Jamie Collins".

Rivers has been working on his pegs on both sides of the second level all through camp, and when rushing in tandem with Wise, who has worked exclusively as a down lineman, they have been nearly unblockable.  Rivers' issue is that he has zero experience as a stand-up linebacker, so the learning curve is protracted - but if his production in camp is any indication, he's well ahead of that curve.

Cyrus Jones - Naturally, everyone in the civilized world and Canada will be watching with a blood-lust to see if Jones muffs a punt or makes some sort of crazy, knee-jerk decision of some sort that will result in a turnover, but Jones seems to have regained much of his confidence on fielding kicks, so in addition to his special teams play, he will be getting some reps at corner, perhaps a bunch.

Damarius Travis - strong safety Jordan Richards is in the fight of his career for a roster spot, but every kid in the mix that gets injured makes him closer to a lock to hold on to his spot for a this season.  The only player left in his way?  Damarius Travis.

Travis is an undrafted box safety with a reputation for going after the big hit, eschewing proper wrap-up technique required for run support.  He also is reported to have issues with handling tight ends on seam routes, which belies his extraordinary height (6' 2") for the position.  That said, we'll be looking to see if the Jaguars can cause those deficiencies to manifest, of if he has taken to professional coaching.

The Art Of Football, Part 6: Big Nickel Defense In Full Effect

The 2016 draft class supplied the New England Patriots with two cornerbacks named Jones.

The Patriots' top pick of the draft, Alabama corner Cyrus Jones had what can only be described as a mostly disappointing rookie season as he treated the football like a microphone after a hot take, while Jonathan Jones made a name for himself on special teams after edging out several other candidates to make the team as an undrafted free agent.

Neither saw many snaps on defense, as Jonathan - blessed with 4.28 speed - became a core-four special teams demon and Cyrus got benched and ultimately deactivated for his inability to hold onto the football when returning punts.

Patriots McClellin, Flowers, Branch, Hightower and Harmon celebrate

Now that the 2017 organized team activities and mandatory mini-camp are underway, Cyrus has done nothing but continue to pull gaffes on fielding punts and looks to be in danger of being perhaps the biggest draft bust of the Bill Belichick era, but Jonathan Jones is serving notice that he's ready to compete for the nickle corner slot left vacant by the defection of Logan Ryan in free agency.

If he can pull it off, the Patriots, who already have one of the top corner tandems in the league with Malcolm Butler and Stephon Gilmore, would become the lone team in the NFL to employ two undrafted free agents as starters in their secondary, given that Belichick and defensive coordinator Matt Patricia run out of the nickel about eighty percent of the time.

Granted, the Big Nickel - a five defensive back alignment that utilizes three safeties rather than three corners - is in play a lot of the time to give the Patriots a more flexible unit to match up against teams with bigger personnel, but in a standard nickel, it is Jonathan - not the more widely heralded Cyrus - that looks to be in position to gain significant playing time this season.

But let's pump the brakes a little bit here.  We're talking about dime depth here, with names like Gilmore, Butler and Rowe ahead of the Joneses on the cornerback depth chart, and names like McCourty, Chung and Harmon filling out the Big Nickel before either of the youngsters get an opportunity in the defensive backfield, making the lineup a tough egg to crack.

Because the Big Nickel alignment dictates the Patriots' defensive philosophy.

For the uninitiated, the Big Nickel is an alignment that features flexibility on all levels of the defense. Originally, the alignment was nothing more than a desperation sideline adjustment made by the Philadelphia Eagles way back in the early 1960's, defensive assistant Jerry Williams,bringing in rookie safety Irv Cross to cover Chicago Bears rookie tight end Mike Ditka, who was too big for a standard nickle corner to cover and too fast for a linebacker.

Ditka was the prototype for what was to be known as the "move" tight end, and he was running roughshod all over the league until Williams put the clamps on him, in what he called the "Chicago Special" defense - and then some years later Los Angeles Rams' defensive coordinator Fritz Shurmer resurrected the alignment to defend against the juggernaut San Francisco 49ers offense...

...particularly against tight end Brent Jones and running back Roger Craig as both were too much for his group of linebackers, and used it as the defensive coordinator of the Arizona Cardinals in the early 90's when his linebacking corps was beset by a myriad of debilitating injuries

The philosophy had been dormant for several years since then, and only resurfaced in 2010 when Patriots' head ball coach Bill Belichick drafted a pair of elite tight ends in Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez.  Knowing that the success the two would bring to his offense would spur copy cats around the NFL - and also to find a way to cover the two in practice - he started collecting safeties through the draft.

That would account for the seemingly weird reaches in the draft, taking what many scouts considered to be undraftable, including safeties Tavon Wilson in the second round of the 2012 draft and then Duron Harmon in the third round of the following season.  Wilson never really panned out, but Harmon became the centerpiece of the Big Nickle...

...the sideline-to-sideline centerfielder whose speed and other-worldly range enabled Belichick and defensive coordinator Matt Patricia to run with one high safety, and to drop cornerback-turned-free Safety Devin McCourty and strong safety Patrick Chung closer to the line of scrimmage, where they could pick up man coverages on tight ends and running backs while filling the box in run support.

One of the main advantages of this alignment is that the Patriots are a rare team that has good enough coverage play from their safeties to line them up in the slot, if need be, causing confusion for the opposing quarterback and his offensive line - confusion as to who is actually in coverage and who is coming on the blitz, because in the Big Nickel, they are able to disguise their intent like no other team in the league.

This has a curious effect on the rest of the defense.  Since a weakside linebacker and a strong safety require similar skill sets - ie,. lateral agility, field vision and tackling skills to key on the running back - in the Big Nickel, especially against an offense that features good passing game production out of the backfield, a safety will take the place of the weakside linebacker.

Against offenses that rely more heavily on spread formations, the strong safety will still reduce down into the box even though the situation would normally call for a standard nickel because the defensive line has the ability to morph between 3 and 4 man fronts, and on several occasions last season we saw this play out, fans bitching about the pass rush not being able to get to the quarterback.

This offseason, however, Belichick stocked the line with players who can rush from the outside, and can also reduce down to a five-technique on a three man front and even to a three-technique on four man fronts - so the defense can essentially transform into whatever they need to be at the drop of a hat - and he didn't just stock the line, he stocked it with proven, veteran talent.

Lawrence Guy is a great example of what Belichick was seeking on the market.  Guy is an early-down run-stuffer who graded out as Pro Football Focus's eighth-best in that category last season, and was a vital cog in the Baltimore Ravens fifth-best rush defense, and now joins forces with the likes of Malcom Brown, Alan Branch and Vincent Valentine on a Patriots' run-busting rotation that ranked fourth in 2016.

Guy is just one of several Patriots' defensive linemen with the versatility to produce in both three and four-man fronts - the breakdown for which is forthcoming in the next piece in this series - which gives even more flexibility to Belichick and Patricia in the Big Nickel, particularly given the quality of the linebacking corps.

Last season we saw a lot of the 4-2-5 alignment in the Big Nickel - four down linemen, two linebackers and five defensive backs - but the preferred option this season may be the 3-3-5 look, given the fact that Belichick now seems to be collecting five-technique, 3-4 defensive ends and eschewing traditional 4-3 rush ends.

There is really only one of those on the roster, rookie Derek Rivers, but in this scheme he projects to be more of a stand-up rush linebacker, what with his 4.61 speed and penetration skills to force running backs to the sidelines laterally as an edge setter - and no one would be surprised to see Rivers execute much like departed Jamie Collins did on the strong side.

In fact both Rivers and fellow draftee Deatrich Wise were projected to be attractive to teams looking for 3-4 fits, with Wise having tons of experience in Arkansas three-man line as a five-tech. Everyone else on the line has the versatility to play on shifting fronts, and all of the linebackers have the flexibility to play any of the positions on the second level, led by clutch veteran Dont'a Hightower and flanked by names like McClellin, Van Noy, Roberts and Ninkovich.

The players that make the 2017 New England Patriots defensive unit are going to be the players that fit the Big Nickel scheme, which is not necessarily players who would be considered elite, all-around athletes - rather, the players that fit the scheme are those identified by Belichick as the ones whose skill sets can be incorporated into the game plans on a rotational basis...

...long a staple of Belichick defenses, the rotation allows for a wide open play book as well as keeping players fresh for the fourth quarter, both of which were on full display in the fourth quarter of the Super Bowl, as the Patriots' defense matched up fresh players with the Falcons' offense and eventually got to Matt Ryan to turn the game in New England's favor.

So all anyone has to do who is wondering why the Patriots are doing something that looks funky on the surface, is to remember that Belichick has been building his defense to accommodate the Big Nickel for years, and that if that confuses them, think about how confusing it is to their opponents as well.

Rivers, Wise In Mold Of Prototypical Patriots' Edge Defenders

A rich man's Jabaal Sheard.

That's how NFL.com's resident draft expert Mike Mayock referred to the New England Patriots' top draft pick, Youngstown State's Derek Rivers in the moments immediately following him being selected at number 83 overall in the 2017 NFL Draft.

What did he mean by that?  Well, when the opposite is invoked, the Webster's Online Dictionary defines a someone as being a poor man's version of someone else as being "cheaper than, simpler than or inferior to." that person - so we can only assume that Mayock believes that Rivers has the potential to be superior to what Sheard brought to the lineup.

Arkansas' Deatrich Wise

His words, not ours - and it's really an unfair comparison, for both.

If there is a comparison to be made for Rivers, it would be with former-Patriot Jamie Collins, who played both with his hand in the dirt and from a standing position in college, then went straight to being a strong-side linebacker in the pros, his athleticism showing up all along the formation.

They have similar builds, similar burst off the edge and both display the swing-them-down type of tackling technique when they reach the ball carrier.  They both set a hard edge and have relentless motors - but there are differences, of course.  For example, Rivers hasn't yet developed a feel for when to disengage from his mirror to uncover his outside shoulder to the sweep or screen...

...meaning that he strings plays out to the sidelines so that supporting safeties or linebackers can make the play.  He also isn't as stout against the run as Collins, but he has shown the ability to stunt inside and beat tackles and guards with his quickness and burst much like Collins did.

While Rivers is long and lean and built like a stand up, strong-side linebacker, the Patriots' fourth round pick, Arkansas' Deatrich Wise, is more along the line of what Belichick has sought in defensive ends of late - that being powerful, five-technique ends that can two gap on the edge of a three man front.

Wise has uncommon strength to set a solid edge with long arms and a power punch that regularly rag-dolled offensive tackles in the SEC, so many teams discovered early on in contests that a sixth offensive lineman or a tight end needed to be employed to chip Wise coming off the line before he could get his huge hands up into the tackle's pads.  If left to his own devices, Wise has the ability to put his mirror on skates and shove him right back into the pocket.

Though he generated power from both sides, he seems to be better off of the right edge as he seems to move better laterally to his left to stunt into holes created by the nose tackle's double team - and most running plays appeared to run to the opposite side of where he is lined up, as the edge is tough to get to for backs with Wise shoving the tackle three or four yards deep in the backfield.

At 6' 5" and 280, Wise fits the mold of defensive ends coming out of the Razorbacks' program, and follows in the footsteps of fellow Arkansas alum Trey Flowers in the power department.  Neither are what one would consider quick twitch, relying mainly on strength to reset the line of scrimmage in the opponent's backfield, getting the quarterback off his mark.

And that's really what the Patriots have so far as defensive linemen.

The depth chart at defensive end suggests a 3-4 or a 3-3-6 defensive alignment, with Kony Ealy and Rivers being identically sized (6' 4", 270) athletes who rush the passer better than playing in run support, so both could be considered stand up options on passing downs, Identically sized (6' 2", 320) Malcolm Brown and Vincent Valentine as two-gap run stuffers at nose tackle and four five-technique ends of varying size and skill levels...

...in the powerful and up-and-coming Flowers (6' 2", 265)along with greybeard Alan Branch (6' 6", 350), free agent pick up Lawrence Guy (6' 4", 305) and the rookie Wise, all pushing the ageless wonder Rob Ninkovich to strong-side linebacker where he will face competition for his roster spot for the first time since coming to the Patriots in 2009.

Belichick likes running his unique Big Nickel alignment with three man fronts, but he needed more out of his pass rush than he got last season, despite the late-season spark it received from Flowers - which is why he let Sheard go in free agency and sent a second round draft pick to Carolina for Ealy, the trade off being that Ealy is a more athletic and natural pass rusher.

And with New England sporting the best secondary in the league and a linebacking corps that features the best blitzing linebacker in the NFL in the versatile Dont'a Hightower as well as top-round draft picks in Kyle Van Noy and Shea McClellin, it will be tough for opposing offense to figure out where the pass rush is coming from and what coverages are assigned to whom.

Add that all up, and Belichick's draft - both the picks he actually used as well as the picks he shipped off to other teams for top talent - borders on genius once again.