It’s a valid question, but I think they really moved away from it when they had their full secondary healthy. I think “bend-don’t-break” is really more in reference to playing zone and as we saw against the Broncos, you just can’t play zone against the better quarterbacks in the NFL.
Belichick is a conservative defensive coach and I don’t think that’s going to change. He’s not going to sell out and send a ton of guys blitzing. They pick their spots, but for the most part, he’d prefer to play sound coverage and force the offense to execute without mistakes.
More often that not offenses cannot do that without throwing picks or coughing up the ball.
But it’s interesting to note that the Patriots were effectively dominated by the Broncos’ offense, yet they only lost by 10 points and were within a two-point conversion of it being just eight points and a chance to tie if they got the onside kick.
In the majority of their losses it’s been like that. The Steelers in 2011 killed the Pats, yet only won by 8.
And there wasn’t a single loss this season that they didn’t have a chance at winning going into the fourth quarter or overtime.
So I do think there is something to be said for playing this style. It’s certainly frustrating to watch at times but I think their struggles on third down and against the deep ball (as I wrote about today) are the specific things holding them back, not the conservative defensive philosophy.
Bring back Talib and keep playing more man defense and we should see progress next season, especially with a more healthy front seven.