Leading up to this season I was most focused on the defensive rebuild that Bill Belichick was constructing. I’ve been diligent charting what packages the Patriots use and what the general defensive game plans have been.
Now, seven games into the season, trends have emerged and it’s interesting to take a closer look at just what the Patriots are doing on defense.
The biggest headline for me is the strength of the 3-4 rpackages. We have not seen any 4-3 defense this year, which is a switch from 2009 when we often saw 4-3 looks early on in the season. The reason we’ve seen all 3-4 I believe is that Belichick is trying to keep it simple for his young defense and it seems like it has paid off.
The first and foremost thing about defensive football is stopping the run, and in their 3-4 the Patriots are ranked 12th overall against the run, and have yet to allow a 100-yard rusher. The additions of Brandon Spikes, Brandon Deaderick and Gerard Warren, along with the emergence of Ron Brace have been major factors in this.
An interesting thing to me has been that all of the Patriots defensive lineman can play almost any position along the defensive line. Belichick will mix and match everyone everywhere to exploit matchups. Vince Wilfork has been the MVP of the defense, proving he’s not just a two down run stopper, he is used in pass rush situations as well.
Gone are the days of old when it was Ty Warren – Wilfork – Seymour playing their respective positions no matter the match-up. Now, probably due to the fact that none of the current defensive lineman are completely dominant other than Wilfork, the Patriots go with the best match-ups.
Inside linebacker is pretty straight forward. Jerod Mayo never leaves the field. Brandon Spikes is next to him in the 3-4, Gary Guyton is next to him in Nickel Packages. When they change to a 3-3-5 nickel package a defensive lineman comes out and Dane Fletcher comes in, usually to spy the running back.
At outside linebacker Rob Ninkovich and Jermaine Cunningham get the early work, with Tully Banta-Cain spelling them while also coming on in passing situations as a rusher. It seems that Ninkovich and Cunningham are better against the run and that gets them on the field more than TBC. All three can play either side OLB, and they are rotated depending on match-ups, though it’s usually Ninkovich at LOLB and Cunningham at ROLB. Shawn Crable has been used entirely as a hand down DPR (Designated Pass Rusher).
At Cornerback it’s been Devin McCourty and Kyle Arrington on the outside since week three. Brandon Meriweather, Patrick Chung and James Sanders have all played a lot but have had reduced snaps due to injuries (Sanders/Chung) and “freelancing” (Meriweather). Jonathan Wilhite remains as the nickelback, he’s been up and down.
Nearly halfway through the season the areas to me that most need to improve are the rush from the exterior rushers (Crable, TBC, Cunningham), and also the nickel corner spot. The interior rushers have been solid (Pryor, Wright, Deaderick). I will also be curious to see if Fletcher passes Gary Guyton on the depth chart. From his limited work he looks like the better player to me, all he needs is experience.
