Picked-up pieces from first-half review – New England Patriots Blog – ESPN Boston

I’m finding it hard not to be overly positive about the defense. To be honest I don’t really care that much about the loss. Things that interest me most are severity of Hernando’s injury, Welker’s diminished role and our young badass D continuing to ascend.

The Patriots’ secondary was sensational in holding Larry Fitzgerald to just a single catch for four yards, which occurred early on in the game. It would be oversimplifying what was great work to try to chalk it up to a single factor, but there were a couple of common threads that seemed to exist throughout the first half as it related to defending Fitzgerald: the Patriots did a good job of being physical with Fitzgerald near the line of scrimmage, while also keep a safety over the top of Fitzgerald to prevent him from driving deep.