Patriots vs. Rams: Drawing Up a Game Plan for New England | Bleacher Report
Good stuff from Frenz, including some great all-22 video!
The pass game in general is very problematic for them,” the AFC executive said. “They’re getting no pass rush in some of these situations, and with the matchup situation and concerns in coverage, they’ve been exposed on the back end. They’re better against the run than they were last year, but the liability remains there. You block them up – the Jets went max-protect – and the Patriots can’t stop you.
Patriots defense can’t get off the field on third-and-long
The Patriots defense has been destroyed by analysts for the better part of three years now for a myriad of specific reasons, and lately the big problem everyone wants to talk about is the back end of the defense.
There’s no question the Pats have struggled against the deep ball, however another area that they’ve had problems in is their defense in third-and-long situations. For our purposes here we’re defining “long” as 6 or more yards.
Here’s a look at some Patriots teams in the past, and how they’ve fared on 3rd down with 6 or more yards to go. These numbers signify the percent of time the Pats defense failed and gave up a first down:
- 2001 – 30.2%
- 2003 – 29.1%
- 2004 – 28.4%
- 2007 – 24.8%
- 2008 – 35.7%
- 2009 – 28.2%
- 2010 – 34.5%
- 2011 – 30.9%
- 2012 (thru 7 games) – 41.7%
As you can see so far in 2012 getting off the field on third and long has been a problem. And even when you look at the Pats in situations where it’s 3rd-and-7-plus yards they’re still at a 41.0%.
Let’s compare to a few other teams around the NFL this year for some more context:
- Ravens – 23.6%
- Saints – 27.9% (32nd in yards/game given up)
- Bills – 32.7% (32nd in yards allowed)
- Texans – 15.4% (what a match-up vs Pats O this will be)
- Jets – 41.1% (well that makes me feel slightly better)
- Dolphins – 22.0% (what?)
Ironically the Pats have had fewer 3rd-and-longs than any of the other teams mentioned above, which is clearly indicative of how many long balls they’re giving up. But even when they do get teams in a favorable 3rd down situation, where they can force a punt and get the ball back to the offense, they’re not delivering like they have in the past.
Of course for me this comes back to getting more pass rushers on the field in these situations, however at this time the Pats just don’t have the personnel to be able to replace Vince Wilfork with a more up-the-field type.
It seems that Wilfork has been left out there for protection against the run, but it’s not the run that’s been the problem. Just once has a third-and-long been converted via run this year and that was a scramble by Jake Locker. Otherwise no team has even attempted a run when it’s less than 10-yards to go.
Perhaps Myron Pryor is the answer, but who knows if/when he’ll be back and at what capacity. This should surely be an area the Pats need to address during the bye week.
It’s a good day to Do Your Job! Pick up one of our red BB tees over in the right hand column.
https://www.patspropaganda.com/patriots-belichick-do-your-job-tee/
Hi Mike, what do you think of the Patriots linebacker’s ability to cover opposing teams’ running backs and tight ends? It seems like large majority of throws to those players are completed, and the only exception is when the RB/TE drops the ball.
This is an interesting question, because if there’s one thing our All-SEC linebacking corps is a little deficient in it has to be coverage. Losing Dane Fletcher for the year certainly hurt in this area. Jerod Mayo runs well, but just doesn’t seem to that savvy in coverage. As we’ve discussed many times here, plays like the Cruz touchdown in the Super Bowl are a prime example of this.
Spikes’ shortcomings in the passing game are evident at times but I’m okay with that tradeoff, he makes enough of an impact in the run game that it offsets as far as I’m concerned. If he can just make a couple more plays like he did on the interception in the AFCCG he’ll be fine.
The jury is still out on Hightower but he was rotating in the nickel with Spikes so it’s possible he has some potential there. We’ll have to see how it plays out as he returns to full time.
It would be nice to have a specialist linebacker who can really run and cover. Gary Guyton was almost that guy, but now the closest thing we have is Tracy White. It could very well be an area they address next off-season depending on what their plans with Fletcher are.
[F]or players in that locker room, what you’re doing is buying time. You’re buying more time to improve, especially when it comes to pass coverage. This team will continue to get better. The coaches are making changes, trying to find the answers, such as moving cornerback Devin McCourty to safety. But I think this would be the right way to look at it: While you have these problems, and you see coach Belichick doing everything he can to fix them, you still won a game, and you are still in first place in your division. That’s a sign of a good team, that when you have a glaring weakness – which is what we’ve seen in the secondary with giving up the deep ball – you’re still able to squeak out a win and make the play when you really need it.
