It’s hard to know where to start when breaking down the New England Patriots dismantling of the New York Jets, so to kick it off here are some observations from the Pats defensive side of the ball.
The first player I’d like to talk about is Darius Butler who suddenly emerged as the teams nickelback last night. Patrick Chung had been playing that spot in place of Jonathan Wilhite, but it was not his strength. Putting Butler in forced Chung back into a rotation at safety, meaning less playing time for him.
Jarrad Page also suddenly emerged, making it a four man rotation at safety. I will need to look more closely at how exactly all of them were used, the snap counts should give some insight into it. Page looked like he was playing fast and physical last night, we forget that he was steadily getting more and more play time before getting hurt.
Dane Fletcher saw time as a 3-4 OLB for the first time this season. It wasn’t his traditional pass rush/spy role. This sheds a little more light on the decision to let Shawn Crable go. I’ve always been curious to see if Fletcher could play OLB in the base defense, it seems like he has the length and smarts needed. Hopefully he will continue to improve, but chalk another undrafted rookie up on Bill Belichick’s success list.
Devin McCourty… what can you say. I don’t think it’s too early to say we’ve finally got an elite corner. Partner him with Leigh Bodden next year and I guarantee this unit won’t be ranked last in anything. But that’s next year, for now McCourty is really the difference maker in the secondary.
Brandon Spikes’ interception is a huge sign of progress. Had he bit on the play action it would’ve been a touchdown. Instead he stayed in his zone and Sancheesy threw it right to him.
To think that this defense held the Jets to 3 points without Ty Warren, Leigh Bodden, Mike Wright, Myron Pryor and Jonathan Wilhite… wow.
More to come later…