IN FOCUS: Patriots 3rd Down Defense Through Week 1

[PatsFans.com Article]

IN FOCUS: Patriots 3rd Down Defense Through Week 1
By: Ian Logue

Here's a closer look at how the New England Patriots' defense performed on third down through week 1 of the 2012 NFL season....

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[AzPatsFan]

The third down results were colored by their previous runing game failures which created third and long situations rather than third and short situations.

When you can crush the run, then it helps you in your subsequent pass defense. TheTitans completed three passes on third down that did not go for enough to make the first down.

 

[BananaRepublican]

OVERALL NUMBER OF 3RD DOWNS WITH 6 OR MORE YDS TO GO:
Total: 11 Situations
Results: 3 Passing first Downs, 1 Rushing first down, 1 Sack (With a turnover for a TD), 3 Incompletions

11 situations and 4 first downs is still too close to 40%, but I think they were over 40% last year. If that had been 4 first downs on 12-13 situations it would have gotten them down closer to 30%. I would think that is the goal? It's a big improvement if they can keep it down to 30%.