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Patriots vs. Colts All-22 Thoughts: Defense Edition

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The Patriots had a lackluster start on defense in this one, but once the second half came around they tightened up before allowing a late drive that allowed the Colts to make it close at the end. Still, there was plenty of good and bad to digest in this one, including the use of safeties in more traditional cornerback roles.

The first drive certainly wasn’t very pretty but with the Pats defense it often seems the case that the opposition puts together a good first drive. Then BB locks in on what they’re doing and adjustments come.

The first drive was Branch/Siliga inside and a mix of coverages including Cover-1 and Cover-2. Looked to me like Freeny was often the target, and deservedly so. He’s just a step late in coverage and doesn’t see things as quickly as Hightower might’ve. Ryan and Butler were competitive in coverage, but still gave up some well-executed passes. Mayo continues to look ineffective, for lack of a better term. 

Second drive they went to Easley and Brown inside, Sheard in for Ninkovich, and seemed to get a bead on what they wanted in coverage: Butler-Moncrief, Ryan-Johnson, Chung-Hilton. Easley got great pressure on 2nd down, forcing a bad throw. Interesting look on third down with four safeties, Mayo on the RB. I’d posit the Pats thing Hilton is soft and just want to put physicality on him. Moncrief seems their biggest concern, which is somewhat unconventional.

Third drive Chandler comes off and Nink is back in with Hicks and Branch inside. Solid work by Hicks on first down to stack and shed to make the tackle, but gets turned two plays later for a decent run gain. One of these DTs might get cut loose when Chris Jones comes back. Pats send 5 on 3rd-and-5 and it’s Easley showing good patience to finish the play. That’s a good development for him showing some rush awareness.

Now, the 12-play touchdown drive that would be their final points until the end of the game. This time we’ve got Brown and Siliga inside, with Sheard and Chandler. Frank Gore’s 18-yard run really got this drive going and another tough play for Mayo who couldn’t get off a block to make the play. Seeing a bit more of Jordan Richards here and I have to say I really like how he looks. Plays with a great base, flips hips well. We seem to be seeing more of him each week and it’s not an accident. Colts made the easy plays and this is always what scares me because it works so well. Taking the checkdowns, scrambling for first downs, keeping it simple. Touchy PI call on McCourty set up the touchdown as it was 1st-and-18 before that. Not a great red zone day. Should’ve held them to a field goal as Siliga missed a clear shot at Luck. See below.

Second Half

Hicks and Brown inside to start the second half. Brown is showing some decent development, he gets really low and wins the leverage battle. Good pressure by Nink on second down forces a bad throw incomplete by Luck. Third down Butler has great pursuit of a free running Moncrief to tackle him short of the 1st down.

Next drive it’s Hicks and Branch inside and Branch draws an early holding call to set the Colts back. Chandler Jones just misses an interception, does he think he’s Malcolm Butler? Seems like more of a concerted effort to press the receivers off the line and I think it made a big difference. Good closing burst by Logan Ryan on a deep corner route to Andre Johnson. Ryan’s not making that play on 5-years-ago Andre, but still a nice job to force a third down. Critical third down with the game on the line and Easley gets the sack. This is the kind of play I’ve been dreaming about for two years. Luck had no chance to step up and that’s not something we’re used to seeing.

Next possession Brown is back in and puts together a great series, looking strong holding his ground. Pats mixing Cover-1 Man and Cover-2 Zone. Once again on third down Easley gets in Luck’s face and forces an incomplete. This is making me very happy.

Colts getting more and more holding calls called against them as the game wore on. I’d like to think this is a result of the Pats front seven depth and their ability to rotate and keep guys fresh.

The final drive got off to a good start for the Colts with a 17-yard pass to Moncrief with Butler playing off coverage. Pats shifted to Cover-2 Man which was effective until Hilton caught a pinpoint 27-yard pass. That’s a tip the hat play.

Last two Colts plays were to Whalen with McCourty in coverage. The problem was the three-man rush wasn’t getting any heat on Luck. Something to consider going forward when protecting a lead.

Patriots’ offensive success fueled by deft play, clever schemes

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Patriots’ offensive success fueled by deft play, clever schemes

Very fun read if you like how dominant the Patriots offense has been through the first four games. Dallas got the first part of the test right against them, but didn’t have enough of a second-half change-up to put the Pats back on their toes. Brady will figure out what you’re doing, you’ve got to have a third quarter gameplan that is unique. But I still think the primary principals are press man coverage while only rushing three (but consistently disguising which three). Take away the quick passing game, even if it means giving Brady more time in the pocket.

Patriots vs. Cowboys All-22 Review: Defense Edition

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Lots to like in this game even though the Cowboys were without Tony Romo, Dez Bryant and others.

The headline has to be the heavy dose of press man coverage. Everyone thought this would be a zone defense after Revis and Browner walked but that has not been the case and personally I’m thrilled. You just can’t play zone defense and expect to stop a good QB.

But especially nice was to see the defense being aggressive against a lesser quarterback, when they’d often just sit back in zone and wait for mistakes against these kind of guys in the past.

Here are some general observations on a small sample size:

Logan Ryan
 was the regular CB with Butler, but in sub packages he came off for Brown in the slot and Coleman in the outside. I think this might be because Ryan is probably the best against the run of that group, but is more limited in coverage perhaps. Coleman continues to get chances and looks like he belongs. He’s feisty and was one of my favorite Patriots fits coming out in this draft.

Dominique Easley
 continues to impress me more against the run than the pass, which isn’t really what we expected. He’s just so fast off the ball that he has an instant leverage advantage on an offensive lineman looking to pull. He’s just so disruptive in those situations (see below), but when he’s straight-up pass rushing he wasn’t really winning, at least not like Sheard did a couple times.

Malcom Brown
 had his best game as a pro, holding strong at the point of attack but also being active on the move. It’s a good sign that he’s starting to show positive signs. He tied with Branch for leading defensive tackle snaps with 23.

Jamie Collins was everywhere in this one. Hard to pick out just one play illustrating how he dominates in every facet, but look at the screen shot below and know Collins makes that tackle for a 3-yard gain. Could’ve gone for 30 if he wasn’t so athletic in beating blockers.

McCourty was used on Witten and they doubled him with Jordan Richards quite a few times as well. Not really as outside the norm for McCourty as I might’ve thought. We saw him manning up tight ends last year, with Antonio Gates one example that comes to mind.

I don’t want to keep hammering a guy coming back from injury but didn’t see much out of Mayo in his 29 snaps. If Hightower is out for a while I have real concerns about who’s going to be next to Collins. Mayo still has okay speed, but is generally pretty easily blocked and doesn’t really make much of an impact. Maybe it’s just being next to Collins anyone would look average. But there’s just a lack of strong direct force from Mayo, if that makes sense. Not so much tentative, just a step behind where he was and unable to navigate the wash.

Jabaal Sheard is such a beast I’m not sure how much longer he’s playing less than Ninkovich. He’s the perfect weapon for this defense and if you want to talk about offsetting the loss of Revis, he’s your guy.

It was nice to see the defense go down to the end of the game playing man coverage and not sitting back in prevent zone like they often have in the past. They weren’t quite as aggressive and mixed in some Cover 2, but still had a majority of man coverage concepts.

I keep coming back to one thing – why haven’t the Patriots committed like this to pass rush about five years ago? Now we’re seeing more and more defensive personnel with one or even no defensive tackles. Just the LBs and LB/DE hybrids lining up all over the place and causing havoc getting to the QB. This is why the defense is better now, I don’t care who the corners are. 

Patriots All-22 Review vs. Bills

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It’s All-22 Tuesday! Trying to make this a little easier to read and follow, so I’m shortening it a bit and doing both offense and defense in one post, just divided by halves to look for adjustments. 

Lots of great stuff in this one but I still think the Pats have much better football ahead of them on both sides of the ball.

Let’s dive in, defense first of course…

Defense

1st Half

The Bills had a nice first drive, with the Pats playing Cover 1 Man on 6 of 9 snaps. The problems were primarily early-season sloppiness, not getting off blocks, not causing havoc. The coverage shift that occurred after that was switching to Cover 3, which matched up well with the long-developing routes the outside receivers were running. That led to five-straight three and outs.

After the first drive I had them in Cover 3 on 16 snaps, Cover 1 Man on 8 snaps. Again, it’s Tyrod Taylor, and there were some open receivers in the zone holes, but generally this coverage was perfect for forcing indecision and check downs.

The Patriots also started to use McCourty closer to the line of scrimmage whether as a zone defender or spying the quarterback. 

Chandler is up and down in run defense and it seems teams do target him, but his athleticism as a pass rusher is excellent and he’s a very solid piece. 

On the long PI call on Bradley Fletcher he was playing Cover 3 so he wasn’t trying to jam and it quickly became a foot race that he was losing. Expect teams to target him on deep shots frequently now. 

2nd Half

As expected the defense stuck with mostly Cover 3 in the second half and it continued to be mostly effective. The Bills adjusted by hitting some sideline comeback routes to attack the coverage, but they really didn’t start doing damage and mounting a comeback until Taylor started getting out of the pocket and make throws on the run late in down when the coverage had broken down a bit. 

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How about that hole?

The 32-yard Woods TD was a prime example of this as Malcolm Butler was left essentially alone covering two guys in the end zone and the pass just snuck through his hands.

Would’ve liked to see a better game out of Siliga. He’s probably their best tackle right now but he’s not playing like it, getting easily blocked too often. Alan Branch bounced back and made some plays while Malcom Brown was just okay.

The 24-yard Watkins TD again just beat Bradley Fletcher with speed over the top. This is a major area of concern.

Offense

First Half

The Patriots always have a feeling out period at the start of a game, especially on offense. They spread the field on the first possession, then went to a jumbo package early on the second drive, but still threw it. Just seeing how the Bills would play them. 

Rex’s favorite thing is to only send three in the red zone, but credit the protection and Edelman on his touchdown as he beat the double team and Brady found room to scramble and deliver the perfect ball. Edelman makes so many tough plays we’re almost starting to take them for granted.

Loved Dion Lewis’ hard touchdown run, the first time the Pats handed off in the game, on their third possession! He lowered his shoulder to get into the end zone, the kind of play the coaches surely love. I know I do.

Never a good sign when there’s visible confusion on the defense’s side on how to cover Gronk just before the snap. That’s what happened on Gronk’s touchdown not surprisingly.

Michael Williams is an interesting player who seems to skew more tackle than tight end but the Patriots are using him all over the place. His rise could mean the end of the Hooman.

On the failed fourth-down conversion in the second quarter they tried to sell the fly sweep that they had just run earlier with Edelman. Nobody bit and Brady just had to fling and pray.

On the second-quarter sack of Brady, that was nullified by a hold on Buffalo, it’s clear where Vollmer hurts his finger. Andrews and Mason missed the stunt and Brady had to hit the deck.

Dion Lewis’ 40-yard catch up the sideline was reminiscent of Vereen but he’s got even more wiggle to him. Excited to see how they start to scheme even more to get him open in space. Dead on balls throw from Brady.

Second Half

What a throw by Brady on third-and-1 to find Gronk for 28 yards on the first possession. This is just as he’s throwing the ball, most QBs would have a loaf in their pants long before this.

Seemed like an effort to get Chandler more involved in the second half, of course him not coming up with a touchdown those two times they targeted him in the end zone were no bueno.

Lewis has such side-to-side agility and is so hard to tackle in tight spaces. That part of his game is very Woodhead-y.

Didn’t even realize Vollmer returned to the game until now.

Edelman’s touchdown was so Edelman, just all out effort. Can’t say enough about the player he’s developed into.

Definitely a few miscues by the offensive line but all things considered this was an impressive performance by all of them. Yes, Brady got the ball out quick but we’ve seen even that gameplan get disrupted by immediate pass rush. 

Dobson did have one kinda gross drop but otherwise it was just the kind of game he needed to build some confidence. His chances will continue, I just want to see him do something special.

Didn’t love the 4th-and-1 play call but Edelman was open, Brady just missed. I prefer aggressive play calling but I think a punt would’ve been the right call there instead of trying to over-finish, if that makes sense.

On Brady’s fumble that made all our butts pucker up it was on Solder a bit for missing the cut block but also for Brady thinking he could reload. Good pursuit by Hughes and good coverage on Gronk to force Brady to not throw.

Pats were up five with 4:04 when they got the ball back and what a drive they put together to seal the game. Big part of it was the unbelievable Amendola catch.

Pats offense looked really good in this one, with Gronk, Edelman and Lewis making most of the big plays but Amendola and Dobson chipping some key ones as well. Still, they left some plays on the field and are still learning what they do best. But right now I see no reason this offense won’t be better than last year’s outside of injuries.

Patriots vs. Steelers All-22 Review: Defense Edition

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All in all, not a great night for the Patriots’ defense, but they’re a lot better than they showed in this one. Generally it was the same old early season problems they usually have – not playing on the same page, not getting off blocks, missing tackles. It’s really how it looked vs. KC last year, but there’s no reason to panic. 

The Pats were willing to concede a lot in the running game. Once Easley went down it was telling that they went to Grissom for most of the rest of the night. If they were worried about stopping the run it would’ve been easy to put Siliga/Branch/Brown in there in some combination. No, they wanted to have athletes to pass rush in there, for better or worse. Doesn’t mean it will continue and I think Easley is a much better option for this kind of defensive philosophy than an undersized rookie like Grissom. The Steelers took the bait and ran over and over against the defensive right side.

Defensively not much changed from last year in terms of coverage. It was almost all man except for long situations where they’d play it safe in zone. They were slightly less aggressive off the line, pulling back to off man more often than we saw last year. But for those of us who thought they were going back to zone, they didn’t here and thank Hoodie they didn’t because playing man defense in today’s NFL is vital. I’m still not sure how well they’ll be able to do it against the deeper passing teams, but we’ll see.

The pressure was mostly non-existent and it was clear they were missing a dominant inside player like Wilfork. Overall I thought Siliga was probably the best DT followed by Brown and then Branch, who looked slow to me out there. Hopefully he really didn’t drop off the cliff that much, but he looked like he could be gone if that play continues. 

Each of the LB/DEs had their moments good and bad, but generally they were all pretty average, and some of that is because one guy was doing too much. Hightower, Collins, Ninkovich are all a lot better than they played in this one.

Here’s my notes on each defensive possession while reviewing the All-22 film.

Drive #1: 9 plays, 54 yards. Missed Field Goal

This one was about how you might expect the first defensive series of the season to go. Guys overplaying, not getting off blocks nor defeating blocks at contact. They used a fair amount of three safeties, with Chung in the box essentially playing linebacker covering the tight end. Mixed in some Cover-2 Man, Cover-1 Robber Man, and Cover-2 zone on third-and-long. Easley showed good penetration before getting hurt, glad he’s only supposed to be out a week or two, though I’d rest him until Dallas.

Drive #2: 6 plays, 24 yards. Punt

Branch in for Brown, Grissom in for injured Easley and it would seem to indicate that instead of the “double nose” the Pats are now more interested in having a one-gapper defensive tackle in there. Grissom showed some strength, despite being undersized for this role. It would be Easley or Chris Jones probably down the line. On third down the went Cover-1 Man, a popular coverage last year and not one we expected to see much of this year. We were wrong. Up front there was no defensive tackle really, unless you count Grissom as one. They’re really going athletic with things. Nice sack on second down by Hightower. Once again the coverage is Cover-1 Man with High on a delayed blitz where he just juked the center and finished Roethlisberger off. On third down they drop everyone into zone and get off the field.

Drive #3: 7 plays, 52 yards. Missed Field Goal

Sheard in for Nink (yay on getting him some rest), Siliga and Grissom the DTs now. Grissom gets some pass rush to force an incompletion on second down. On third down, Siliga comes off, Nink comes on. This is a pure pass rush front we’ve all dreamed about, but no one gets pressure. 42-yard pass to DHB. Wasn’t horrible coverage by Fletcher, he ran well with DHB despite not getting a jam on him. Just enough separation and a great throw from Roethlisberger. Harmon was favoring Brown’s side and had no chance to get all the way over to break up the pass. Sheard losing contain on the next down was surprising, he seemed a little flat compared to what we saw in preseason. Him and Siliga make up for it next down, stuffing a run for minimal game. Siliga has popped the most of Brown/Branch heavy DT spot so far. Good double-A gap pressure as they send 91 and 54 forcing a quick throw on third down. They sent 5, dropped Nink in the hot read. 

Drive #4: 11 plays, 57 yards. Field Goal

First play of the drive and the Steelers run the Super Bowl INT play (you know which one), right at Butler but he’s just a moment late. That would’ve been a game-winning Super Bowl touchdown had that been February. Brown back in at DT, Grissom still at the other DT spot, showing how much the Pats were daring the Steelers to run. Steelers pick up a first on 3rd down with a 37-yard pass to Brown. Butler just whiffs on any jam and then can’t catch up. Pitt runs the same Super Bowl pick play again on 4th-and-3 and again they pick up the first down. On the third down stop before the field goal the Pats went to Cover-3 man, something we haven’t seen much of before. Seemed like it helped confuse Roethlisberger who pumped then threw incomplete.

Second Half

Drive #5: 7 plays, 80 yards. Touchdown

Tone on this drive was set immediately with a 28 yard run up the defensive left side, the side the Steelers rightly targeted most in the running game. Not a great look from Alan Branch who was slow off the ball then easily pushed out of the way. Not Ninkovich’s best game either, struggled getting off blocks quickly enough. Defense fought down to third down at the goal line but couldn’t hold. Just a sloppy first defensive possession to start the half. Needed one of those “do your job” speeches from BB because the entire defense was out of sync.

Drive #6: 13 plays, 67 yards. Field Goal

Another 12 yard running play to the defensive right. Pats not adjusting to this makes you think they wanted the Steelers to run. One adjustment though here comes moving Siliga to 0-tech NT, Sheard and Chandler playing DT. This allows Siliga to control the A gaps and puts reinforcements on the B/C gaps. Wheaton’s 26-yarder was good coverage but no pressure from the three-man rush. Despite being so ugly, getting the red zone stop here was a highlight of the game after Chung’s PI set the Steelers up 1st-and-goal fro the 1. First down – McCourty/Collins recover from play action to break up pass. Second down – Siliga with a nice slide move around his block. Third down – shift forces false start. Third down again – draw snuffed out by Sheard.

Drive #7: 3 plays, 7 yards. Punt

The goalline stop must’ve helped spark this possession because they looked a little better here, playing within the defense. A shift to Cove2 Off man was a bit of a twist here, as the Pats backed off the crossing routes underneath and it helped them force two incompletions.

Drive #8: 2 plays, 18 yards. Interception

Simple corner route to Wheaton was a good start on this drive with the Pats again going Cover-2 Off Man. Harmon was the deep safety on his interception play but was running for the route at the snap. Great break on the ball that looked to be a little underthrown. Fletcher had great technique to totally cover this pass as well.

Drive #9: 12 plays, 70 yards. Touchdown

Patriots only rushing three guys here and it wasn’t very effective, but the two deep safeties only allowed passes underneath so they were okay. Sheard finally gets a sack coming off the edge. Classic Patriots last drive, good thing they were up by two scores. The effectiveness was in draining the clock.

Patriots vs. Colts AFC Championship All-22 Thoughts: Defense Edition

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Lost in the blowout of this game was how the Patriots defense put in perhaps their best defensive effort of the season against Andrew Luck and the Colts. The only scoring drive the Colts put together was one that got two key penalties and a miraculous catch by TY Hilton. Otherwise it was shut down city and that bodes well for a team that will face another huge challenge in Russell Wilson and the Seahawks.

Here’s the drive chart:

Pats counter the Colts 12 personnel with their base nickel, and the same CB-WR matchups from the first game (24-87, 39-80, 25-13). Strong interior play to stop the run on first down, then get penetration with Collins on a second down blitz, set up a third-and-long.

Colts go to 3WR/2TE on third down, with an 87-10-80 bunch formation in the right slot. Hilton (25 cover) is iso X on the backside, while Allen (91 cover) is sent out far right.

The Pats bring in Ayers on the defensive right edge, shifting Chandler to the left edge with Nikovich sliding inside. Jones/Nink run a stunt, with Nink looping to the outside and getting just enough pressure to force an off throw from Luck. Defer, three-and-out, no better way to start a game.

After the botched punt return, the Colts are now in a 0-7 hole and put together a 12-play drive.

Revis slides to Moncrief on this drive but that’s because Wayne isn’t out there. Otherwise the matchups and personnel remain the same. Colts have some success early running the ball, but the Pats recover after they get 12 yards on an off-tackle on first down.

Third-and-3, Ayers comes on, Chandler slides inside. Malcolm Butler makes his first appearance on the outside with Revis out and does a good job on Moncrief, while they double Reggie Wayne with Ryan and Ayers, who dropped. Would’ve been a stop but BROWNER HOLDING!

Colts roll out their 3 TE set and the Pats counter with their regular 4-3 defense with Casillas at LB. Ninkovich tips the Luck pass to force a third down. So far Nink has been balling.

Colts convert a 3rd-and-5 to Fleener as he gets a free release and doesn’t have Browner on him for what seems like the first time this game. Collins tackles him immediately, but it’s a case where the pressure and coverage are just a moment too slow.

Two drops by Herron and an incomplete to Wayne and the Colts have to try a field goal that they miss. Targets going at Collins downfield and Logan Ryan are not surprising.

Another deep shot on Ryan covering Nicks is overthrown. Small window there, but the ball had to be on the money and it wasn’t. Colts generally sloppy as the Pats are rotating guys in and out and not giving anything away matchup wise.

I think part of what the Pats learned in games like Green Bay is that if your CB-WR matchups are predictable it’s easy to gameplan. Packers knew they were going after Ryan and had seemed to be ready to throw heavy to his one receiver all game. With a constant rotation from almost down-to-down, it makes the offense figure it out at the line. This should be a similar plan against Seattle.

Now comes the best drive of the day for the Colts. Let’s see what went right besides some penalty calls.

Colts go back to their 3-TE set then try to spread the field and have some success, coupled with Wilfork’s kinda dumb penalty.

Just an absolute sick throw-and-catch on Hilton’s 36 yarder. Pretty much unstoppable. Look at the coverage by Arrington.

Colts get another break on a third down with a hold on Collins. Which I couldn’t really see.

Another two broken-down play completions to Fleener sets the Colts up for their only touchdown of the game.

From here on out in the second half they don’t have another possession longer than 6 plays, for the most part in this early going, the tone was set as was the defensive gameplan.

Nothing was easy for the Colts, most of their big plays were either one-time things or came off penalties. Even some of the 10+ completions were on breakdowns where the guy just got open late after the coverage had held.

The physicality has been impressive to watch, the Patriots defense was dictating for the first time in the playoffs in a long time.

Patriots vs. Dolphins All-22 Thoughts: Defense Edition

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It’s been a crazy week, wrapping up at the real job and getting everything in order for a nice long two-week break. Finally got a chance to look at the All-22 for the Pats defense and they continue to impress me on every level.

The high-round draft picks and high-price free agents are finally all coming together. They have the spectrum of speed and athleticism to physicality and toughness completely covered on all levels and it’s been a lot of fun watching a defense that can dictate, not just hold on.

Here’s what stood out in the All-22 review, defense edition…

Never want to start the game with a 50-yard bomb, but not that surprising given Malcolm Butler was so isolated against Wallace on the left side of the field.  Butler misses any jam, then stutter steps again playing the Dig/Out. A better throw and Wallace might’ve been gone. 

Zone running plays just weren’t there for the Phins like they were in Week 1, with Vince Wilfork dominating inside to stop the first one.

Third-and-six and the Pats go with a pass rush front, with Chandler at DE and Hightower at OLB. Dolphins go toss left but Hightower is strong on the edge, blowing up the play. 

Dolphins have to settle for the field goal, which is blocked by Collins and returned for a TD by Arrington. Such a classic Patriots defense start – give up a big play, then force a turnover for six.

The Chris Jones-Siliga-Wilfork front is a new look for the 34 regular. More zone reads with no success. Pats were ready for those, but also for the play action that came off of them.

Two possessions into the game and we’ve already seen Chandler Jones standing as the edge player, hand down at defensive end and inside as a defensive tackle. They threw him right into the fire and he was clearly ready to go. With the development of Ayers now, the Pats have a lot of athletic options. This just might be the most athletic and versatile the front seven has been since 2005.

Third-and-15, you tell me who’s coming and who’s dropping…

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Correct answer is Nink and Ayers dropping on the edges with Collins/Hightower rushing up the gut. Phins actually do a good job picking it up, but Tannehill’s deep shot falls incomplete.

After Brady’s interception, Miami takes over at their own 34, then 29 after a false start.

Best drive of the day by the Dolphins as they had a good mix of runs and passes that found the soft spots in the Pats’ defense. Once again the Patriots stiffened in the red zone, led by a dominant stop for no gain by Siliga on first down.

The Pats swarmed to a bubble screen on second down, that’s the kind of pursuit and aggressiveness that is becoming a trade mark for them.

On third down, Tannehill looked for Clay in the back of the end zone, but he was perfectly covered by McCourty.

Ninkovich got run out of his hole on second down of the next possession, we’ve seen this frequently this year. I think it’s somewhat of a function of the stunts they like to run with him, but they get burned on running plays, often losing the edge.

The Pats are one of the lowest-ranked defenses covering tight ends this year, and as we’ve gone along we’ve seen more of McCourty manning them up. He’s seeing plenty of off-coverage on Charles Clay in this one.

On Harmon’s interception, the Pats showed Cover-1 presnap, but dropped into Cover-2 Man post-snap. Just a too-high throw by Tannehill that Gibson couldn’t corral.

Pats plated a lot more zone in this one it seems, specifically Cover-3, with elements of press bail. This is similar to what the Seahawks did and I think it’s function of not necessarily needing to matchup on the receivers like they did when Revis/Browner fit receiver styles better.

Dont’a Hightower is so fast for his size and so strong. He seems to grow on me every game. Reminder – I’m the guy who left him off my big board because we already had Brandon Spikes. Swing and a miss there, Duss.

Third-and-9, with the Pats up 14-3 and the ball on the Pats’ 35. Pats play pure Cover-2 Man, sending 4 on pass rush. Collins goes out wide to cover Williams out of the backfield, then bites on his double move leaving him with a ton of separation. Williams drops the pass but it was wide open. Some might want to kill Collins for this but it’s about the hardest thing you can ask a linebacker to do, especially when the double move comes right at the stick. Collins has been great this year but let’s not expect him to suddenly be playing perfect cornerback too.

Phins get the ball back just before the 2 minute warning and we all remember what a nightmare the last two minutes of this half were. But this possession was fine, forcing a punt with :47 left.

Miami did take a shot to Matthews in this series, but Butler showed a good ability to flip his hips and run with him. Pass was off but it was a marked improvement from the first play of the game.

After three runs by Vereen that went for a total of 2 yards, the Pats punt back to Miami and a great return by Landry gets them to the New England 35 with :11 seconds left. It was right here that I tweeted “just not a TD”, but of course that’s what happens.

Butler is playing off and does an okay job of flipping and running again, but the throw is dead on and the catch is even better. Great sequence from the Phins before half time that made it seem like this would be a close game.

Second Half

Pats defense puts the clamps down now. Get ready for a bunch of three-and-outs.

First third down – third-and-three – Miami tries a zone run, but Hightower throws the center into the backfield and there’s just nowhere to go.

Miami now down 24-13 as they get the ball back, only for a tipped ball interception by Chung. Chung faked Cover-1 presnap then dropped into Cover-2, but it was Browner’s hit as the ball arrived that sent it into the air for Chung to snag.

Pats score another TD on the next play, now Miami gets it back down 31-13. Chung probably should’ve picked Tannehill’s first pass too. 

Third-and-12 now, Miami tries to hit the crosser to Landry but Logan Ryan sticks with him and makes the tackle short of the first down. Good example of a team targeting the guy not named Revis/Browner, but that player making the play.

Pats blitz Ryan on the first play of the next possession, but Tannehill sees it and finds the open Landry for 8 yards. At least they’re still sending blitzers now, like the aggressiveness.

Jamie Collins slices through the line and stops a run for a loss of 4, timing it perfectly and showing the explosiveness he has. Collins and Hightower are such a good 1-2 punch together. I had concerns about them when Mayo went down, but not anymore.

Collins brings the heat on the next play too, handing Siliga a sack in the process. 

Miami now in desperation mode and the Pats bust out a 0 DT, 4 Safety look. Don’t see that one very often.

Pats snuff out a 4th-and-18 and this one is pretty much done.

The Patriots defense is as good as it’s been since 2007. Seems like anything they give up is just a perfect (or broken play) by the other team where they hit on it. But once the Pats gets a lock on what the opponent is doing, they are shutting it down in the second half every week.

The coverages are varying more than earlier in the season, as are the usage of pass rushers and droppers. With Chandler back it gives even more options but teams are still being overwhelmed by the strength/speed combo of Hightower and Collins.

As Logan Ryan, Patrick Chung and Malcolm Butler, along with Duron Harmon, play better in coverage, the ceiling for the defense is limitless. They have talent and athleticism at every level and can play any kind of game, mixing and matching their front seven to create advantages.