{"id":20683,"date":"2018-12-05T08:40:13","date_gmt":"2018-12-05T13:40:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patsfans.com\/patriots\/blog\/?p=20683"},"modified":"2018-12-05T08:40:13","modified_gmt":"2018-12-05T13:40:13","slug":"no-yeah-buts-patriots-defense-is-coming-together-right-on-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patsfans.com\/patriots\/blog\/2018\/12\/05\/no-yeah-buts-patriots-defense-is-coming-together-right-on-time\/","title":{"rendered":"No \u201cYeah Buts\u201d Patriots Defense Is Coming Together Right On Time"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">With the Patriots win over the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday, the Patriots are 9-3 and are currently the #2 seed of the AFC. They can clinch their division with a win over the Dolphins on Sunday, the first \u201chat and T-shirt\u201d game of the season.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Nothing is guaranteed yet, there are still four games left to play and they could finish anywhere from the #1 seed to out of the playoffs if they drop all four. But is there anyone really out there that can see that scenario? <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Things you can set your watch\/calendar by: <\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Pats laying a stinker or two in Sept. <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">National media rushing to be \u201cfirst\u201d to predict the end of NE\u2019s run<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Patriots fans screaming on social media every time an opponent completes a pass of more than 10 yards, \u201cThey\u2019re trash!\u201d <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The team slogging thru the midway point of the season stringing together wins<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Post-Thanksgiving, the team is suddenly among the AFC\u2019s top seeds&#8230;again<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">After every win, especially against big opponents, the \u201cyeah buts\u201d come out <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">That \u201ctrash\u201d defense begins to come together<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Did we miss any? One fan who follows us on social media proclaimed during the Lions game that the team was \u201cgoing 5-11 as Bill has gutted this team with terrible drafting\u201d, and yet here we are again.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The best thing to watch on Sunday was the work of the Patriots defense. The one constant about the Patriots defense is that it is always changing. They don\u2019t have the one signature aspect that everyone can point to and say, \u201cTeam \u201cA\u201d is going to have to deal with this\u201d or that \u201cTeam \u201cB\u201d can\u2019t match up with that\u201d. It is, under Bill Belichick a unit that changes from week to week depending on the team and can morph into totally different entities. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Against the Jets, they went to a heavier package trying to stop the running game that was base-heavy. Against Minnesota, they went to nearly all sub-packages, at times having Trey Flowers as the only down lineman, daring them to run, while trying to stop the pass. They did a masterful job of disguising their blitzes and the safety group was moving all around which confused Kirk Cousins to where he was forced to check down time and again to outlet receivers where the defense cleaned them up.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This requires a massive amount of work and study and having players that are smart and versatile, especially the secondary which gets far too little credit. The Patriots have quietly amassed a very talented group in the secondary and they are getting better each week. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Last week, facing the Vikings talented duo of Adam Thielen and Stefon Diggs, the Pats defense, didn\u2019t do their normal M.O. which is to try to take away their top threat and make you beat them elsewhere, they DID take away both.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Thielen, who had amassed nine 100-yard games was held to just five catches for 28 yards and a 5-yard TD. Diggs had five catches for 49 yards. And right smack in the middle of it all was Stephon Gilmore. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Gilmore is a corner who doesn\u2019t get nearly the credit that he deserves for being the player that he is. Other than the Titans game where he and everyone else played terribly, he\u2019s been lights out since the earliest days of OTAs. Joining him is Jason McCourty, who not only is playing meaningful games for the first time in his career, is also playing some of the best football of his career. Jonathan Jones and the surprising rookie emergence of J.C. Jackson has to be a source of confidence moving forward. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The safety group now has four players that the team can use in just about any situation. Pat Chung and Devin McCourty are both ramping their games up to an extremely high level with Duron (The Closer) Harmon and newcomer Obi Melifonwu providing depth and versatility for the coaches to throw different looks at the opposition.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While everyone south of the North Pole laments the amount of yardage that they allow. But yards passing doesn\u2019t win football games&#8230;points do. Otherwise, the Pats would have cruised in the SB against the Eagles. And don\u2019t look now, but that \u201ctrash\u201d defense of the Patriots? They\u2019re currently tied with Seattle for 9th best in points allowed with 21.6. Right on time. And the opposing passer rating, they\u2019re currently 6th, with opponents QBs having a passer rating of just 85.9.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>They aren&#8217;t the most talented group in the front seven, with the exception of Trey Flowers on the defensive line, there are a bunch of workmen who bring their lunch pails to the stadium every day. Lawrence Guy, in particular, has been a great pickup for them.<\/p>\n<p>The Linebacker group is the same. Are Dont&#8217;a Hightower and Kyle Van Noy All-Pros? Nope but in this defense, they are as valuable as them. Elandon Roberts is someone we frequently criticize but he has the confidence of his coaches and on Sunday was flying around the field which is a good thing. They miss their rookie Ja&#8217;Whaun Bentley but who should be even better next season.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Are they now a Top-10 defense? Nope. But they\u2019re competitive and with a confidence level that they feel they can match up and slow down anyone they meet. We all heard the noise (all year) but especially before last week\u2019s game. \u201cThey can\u2019t stop Thielen\u201d, or \u201cDiggs will eat them up\u201d, \u201cWho is going to cover Cook underneath.\u201d It was the same when they faced Aaron Rodgers but of course, after that game, there were the endless&#8230;yeah buts. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">One of the things that Bill Belichick talks about, and one of the hardest thing to do as a coach, is getting a team to \u201cbuy-in\u201d to what they\u2019re trying to get across with a team philosophy. We saw that fail in 2009 when he lamented on the sideline in New Orleans that the team wouldn\u2019t do so. Judging from what we saw on Sunday, this team is all-in. What happens from here? Nobody knows, they could run the table or get booted in the first round. \u201cYeah but what about the Steelers\u2019 offense?\u201d But just this time, for once, sit back and enjoy the ride. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Follow me on Twitter <\/span><\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SteveB7SFG\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">@SteveB7SFG<\/span><\/i><\/a><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> or email me at <\/span><\/i><a href=\"http:\/\/patspub.patsfans.com\/stevebpatsfans@gmail.com\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">stevebpatsfans@gmail.com<\/span><\/i><\/a><\/p>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Listen to our <\/span><\/i><a href=\"http:\/\/www.blogtalkradio.com\/patriotsfourthandtwo\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Patriots 4<\/span><\/i><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">th<\/span><\/i><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and 2<\/span><\/i><\/a><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> podcasts on blog talk radio as the writers Russ Goldman, Derek Havens and I from <\/span><\/i><a href=\"http:\/\/www.patsfans.com\/\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">PatsFans.com<\/span><\/i><\/a><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> discuss the latest Patriots news.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>And don\u2019t look now, but that \u201ctrash\u201d defense of the Patriots? They\u2019re currently tied with Seattle for 9th best in points allowed with 21.6.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":20569,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1826,1198,1519,11,274,10],"tags":[1703,34,121,154,353,1031,534,1783,1039,1215,44,70,1350,352,8,38,1354,35],"class_list":["post-20683","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-2018-patriots-regular-season","category-nfl-commentary","category-nfl-news","category-patriots-commentary","category-patriots-film-room","category-patriots-news","tag-2018-patriots-season","tag-bill-belichick","tag-devin-mccourty","tag-donta-hightower","tag-duron-harmon","tag-elandon-roberts","tag-jason-mccourty","tag-jc-jackson","tag-jonathan-jones","tag-kyle-van-noy","tag-new-england-patriots","tag-nfl","tag-obi-melifonwu","tag-pat-chung","tag-patriots","tag-patriots-edge-rushers","tag-stephon-gilmore","tag-trey-flowers"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.4 (Yoast SEO v27.4) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>No \u201cYeah Buts\u201d Patriots Defense Is Coming Together Right On Time | No \u201cYeah Buts\u201d Patriots Defense Is Coming Together Right On Time<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"And don\u2019t look now, but that \u201ctrash\u201d defense of the Patriots? 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