defense

In what has become an alarming trend, especially noticeable last week against the Bills, the Patriots are struggling more and more defending the middle of the field.

As evidenced by these rankings from Football Outsiders, the Patriots are ranked 11th and 3rd respectively covering #1 and #2 wide receivers. Those are obviously the guys who are usually lined up on the outside of the formation.

As for the other receivers they rank:

• vs. TE – 26th
• vs. 3rd/4th WR – 32nd
• vs. RB – 26th

The struggles of the linebackers in coverage are clear, and that should include the slot corners and box safeties somewhat as well.

But the linebackers are an easy place to focus on. Everyone was high on the all-SEC trio, and they are certainly skilled in a lot of areas, but coverage is certainly not their strength.

The only hope is that Jerod Mayo, the only one with enough speed to excel in coverage, suddenly elevates his game in this area, but given his history I’m not holding my breath.

Perhaps Dane Fletcher might’ve been of assistance in this area. The Pats should definitely look to bring him back next year. But I’d still put a sub-package coverage linebacker/special teamer as a personnel need to be addressed.

My current list of needs for Draft/Free Agency:

1. Defensive Tackle (penetrator)
2. Interior Offensive Lineman (center/guard)
3. Safety (back end type)
4. Wide Receiver
5. Coverage Linebacker

Nice breakdown here of all the breakdowns. Look I know that was a travesty of defense on Sunday, but let’s also chalk it up to just a game where an already suspect defense was off, making it look even worse than it already is. You need to look no further than tackling, something that the Patriots are good at. This defense is what it is and that was a painful game to watch, but they’re really not that bad.

Run game struggles? No easy answers there, as a number of components played a part, from not “setting the edge” on a month’s worth of lost force plays, to poor tackling pursuit angles, to the actual tackling itself, to the quality of the pursuit, to the inability to get off blocks at different times on all three levels. The secondary is its own briar patch, and coverage matchup problems within the linebacker group were every bit as prevalent as guys getting beat at the corner or safety position. Are linebackers not a part of the coverage? Both groups had problems. Multiple corners seemed to develop a newfound love for “peeking,” or taking their eyes off their coverage for just enough time to lose their receiver — something that through all the growing pains thus far with this young group, I hadn’t seen as a persistent issue.