Kontradiction
On my retirement tour.
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Pats were masters of disguise on defense
The results were spectacular and led to more sacks for the D. Definitely not the kind of front you're going to see against a more mobile QB with more of an emphasis on contain.
On eight passing downs -- typically third-and-five or more, but also on second and fourth-and-long plays -- the Patriots had just one down lineman. On those plays they often had two corners out wide. The other eight players? They'd stroll around between the tackles and within 10 yards from the line of scrimmage, talking to each other and refusing to declare their intentions to either rush or cover.
The players you'd expect to rush in those situations often did: Trey Flowers was typically the lone lineman on the nose; Van Noy and fellow linebackers Dont'a Hightower and John Simon were frequent rushers as well out of that look.
But the defensive backs on the field were the ones who were hard to pin down, particularly the safeties. At times, the Patriots used four safeties at a time -- Duron Harmon, Devin McCourty, Patrick Chung and Obi Melifonwu -- and they all rushed at different points.
The results were spectacular and led to more sacks for the D. Definitely not the kind of front you're going to see against a more mobile QB with more of an emphasis on contain.