He gave up the 3rd most TD's in the NFL last season, QB's had a 111 rating when throwing his way and generated zero turnovers. The 2nd half of the season he was more invisible (good thing), but being Jekyll and Hyde is who he is - either he plays well enough or gets beat badly.
The #1 CB is his to lose, but he won't be able to stay invisible anymore as he will take the assignments of defending every team's best WR.
Where are you getting these stats?
The reason I ask, is one has to look at what the Patriots were doing last year defensively. They ran more zone than I can remember in recent memory. Why is this important?
Zone is the definition of
"bend don't break," it says keep the receiver in front of you, don't give up any big plays and be a sure tackler. And this is certainly frustrating for fans who bemoan the loss of yards, we've seen that in game threads over the last two decades when the Pats have generated a large lead and play soft cushiony zones in the 4th quarter and fans are watching their fantasy football defense lose points by giving up yards during an otherwise meaningless point in the game.
Here's where the Patriot's D ranked in 2021
in the entire NFL:
Passing Yards Allowed: 2nd fewest
Passing TD's Allowed: 4th fewest
Interceptions: 2nd most
Yards Gained Per Pass: 2nd fewest
Opponent's Completion Percentage: 2nd best
Overall Passes Defensed: 2nd most
Opposing QB Percentage: 2nd best
Why are these ^ pass defense stats particularly impressive, the defense ranked 18th in sacks, 23rd in QB Hits... they were below average in creating sacks and pressure. The defensive backfield fell apart when Jon Jones got injured and they had no speed in the middle of the field, it was made worse when the LB'ers stopped playing after the bye week.
If ^ that's
"bad" pass defense, then I don't want to be good.