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I’ve kind of been operating under the assumption that opponents of the Patriots picked on their slot corners (Wilhite, Chung and Butler) more than any other area of the defense.

Kyle Arrington and Devin McCourty seemed to be fairly solid, despite getting occasionally beat deep. But when looking at Football Outsider’s breakdown of Defense vs. Types of Receiver rankings there are some surprising revelations.

The Patriots overall pass defense was ranked 15th overall. Let’s start with who they were best against:

5th overall vs. Other WRs (3rd/4th/5th WRs)

• That’s right, they were actually one of the best teams in the league against 3rd/4th/5th WRs. Shows how much I know right? Perhaps this means our criticism of Jonathan Wilhite, and those who filled in for him after he was lost for the season, might’ve been a little misplaced.
• I still believe that having an elite slot corner would be something

11th overall vs. 2nd WRs

• Now FO’s decision between who’s the #1 and #2 WRs is somewhat subjective, but still not a bad job.
• The Pats keep their corners on the same sides traditionally, so it’s hard to really say that this was because Arrington or McCourty specifically did a good job.

21st overall vs. TEs

• Offhand I can’t really recall any tight ends that really destroyed the Pats this year. Dustin Keller was great in the September game, but after that?
• Primarily you have to look at Gary Guyton, and perhaps Jerod Mayo somewhat as those most responsible in this area.
• The slot corners could also bear some of the responsibility here, along with even some of the safeties.
• Clearly covering TEs is done by committee, and that committee was not getting it done in 2010.
• Important to note thought that difference between the Pats 21st ranking and the 49ers #1 ranking was only approx. 4 yards per game.

23rd overall vs. 1st WRs

• Okay clearly this isn’t good, and the return of Leigh Bodden along with the progression of Devin McCourty should help in this department.
• Another interesting stat to point out: an opposing WR had game-high receiving yards in 13 of the Patriots 17 games.

30th overall vs. RBs

• This kind of shocked me. Who knew the Patriots were so horrible in coverage against opposing RBs? This certainly shines a light on Gary Guyton who was most often the coverage linebacker against both RBs and TEs.
• This also tells us that a lot of times the coverage down the field was good, but it was the coverage underneath that was lacking.
• Dane Fletcher is an interesting player to watch in this area. Him vs. Guyton could be a major camp battle to watch, because in limited time Fletcher certainly made some big plays in pass coverage, including a third down tackle that forced a punt in the playoffs. 
• The Bengals were the best coverage team versus RBs, giving up 28.9 yards per game, that’s half of what the Patriots were giving up (56.6), so clearly here the difference is significant.