This season they play five of the top six rushing QB\u2019s.\u00a0 That doesn\u2019t include Allen who they play twice and the possibility they may face Tua Tagovailoa once or twice.\u00a0 What have the Patriots done to protect themselves against these running threats and high powered offenses?<\/p>\n
Let’s start with the type of defense the Patriots play.\u00a0 They play a hybrid defense that is based upon their excellent secondary play. \u00a0They play primarily a Cover 1 with a single high safety.\u00a0 Occasionally, they will play the dangerous Cover zero with no safety.\u00a0 The idea was to put pressure on the QB and force a throw by an inexperienced QB under pressure.\u00a0 It worked well in the 1st<\/sup> half of last year.\u00a0 By playing the Cover 1 they take away the middle of the field, and force the longer, tougher throws to the sidelines.<\/p>\n Up front they are a hybrid of 4-3 and 3-4 defenses.\u00a0 The players they have and those drafted have flexibility in and out of those defenses without having to change personnel.\u00a0 Let’s dive into the three areas of the Defense.<\/p>\n Secondary<\/strong> – There isn\u2019t a better secondary top to bottom than the Patriots in the entire NFL. \u00a0Year in and year out the Patriots secondary players are either traded at the cut-down date or picked up by other teams because they are just that good. \u00a0That starts with Defensive Player of the Year, Stephon Gilmore.\u00a0 He is a shutdown corner, enough said.\u00a0 JC Jackson, an undrafted free agent, became a legitimate threat in the secondary.\u00a0 When other teams are throwing away from Gilmore they are getting Jackson in their face. \u00a0In the slot there is none better than Jon Jones.\u00a0 Jason McCourty is a valuable backup that would be a starter on most teams.\u00a0 Last year’s second-round selection, Joejuan Williams, is a lanky 6\u20193\u201d corner with good coverage skills, especially against those big WR\u2019s.\u00a0 Williams is reported to be playing some safety this year too.\u00a0 Justin Bethel is listed as a CB but he is the other ace Special Teams gunner. \u00a0Myles Bryant, a smallish CB from Washington, was signed as a UDFA and will look to make an impression for a PS spot.<\/p>\n Devin McCourty is the high safety.\u00a0 McCourty was drafted and played as a CB, then was converted to Safety. \u00a0He will be 32 this year.\u00a0 A fact not overlooked in the draft when the Patriots made DII Safety Kyle Dugger their 1st<\/sup> pick at #37.\u00a0 Dugger is a freak athlete with terrific Punt Return skills.\u00a0 The Patriots traded away Duron Harmon and I see Dugger getting some of his reps. \u00a0Patrick Chung just received a surprise contract extension. He and the McCourty twins are 32.\u00a0 Chung will actually be 33.\u00a0 He may potentially be suspended by the league for the drug charges last season. Chung is best as a in the box safety \/ LB hybrid.\u00a0 Dugger is projected as the same type of player, with even more physical gifts.\u00a0 <\/p>\n The Patriots had the oldest Defense (29.5 years of age) in the league. \u00a0They signed UFA Adrian Phillips from the Chargers and still have Terrance Brooks who is going into his 7th<\/sup> year at age 28.\u00a0 Brooks played some at Safety last year but was relatively ineffective.\u00a0 Brooks is a core Special Teams player that could be easily be replaced by Phillips.\u00a0 Last year UDFA Malik Grant made an impression before getting hurt and put on IR for the year.\u00a0 Cody Davis was signed as a UFA and is another player that plays all four Special Teams.\u00a0 Don\u2019t overlook the possibility of Joejuan Williams playing some safety too.<\/p>\n They are stacked in the secondary and this will allow them to remain in games while younger players at other positions on defense and offense learn how to play in the NFL.<\/p>\n Linebacker \/ Edge <\/strong>– \u00a0This is a hybrid position that Willie McGinest made famous.\u00a0 The Elephant.\u00a0 Maybe he is a DE maybe a Linebacker.\u00a0 John Simon and rookie Anfernee Jennings look to be starters at this position on either edge.\u00a0 Second-year player Chase Winovich is expected to be even better in his 2nd<\/sup> year.\u00a0 Rookie draft pick Josh Uche should get time at both the edge on passing downs and at Inside LB in a rotation with Ja\u2019Whuan Bentley who is strictly a 2 down LB.\u00a0 The Patriots lost Kyle Van Noy and Jamie Collins to Free Agency, but spent a 2nd<\/sup> and 3rd<\/sup> rd picks on Uche and Jennings to replace the Free Agents, who the Patriots didn\u2019t have the cap space to re-sign.\u00a0 Dont’a Hightower is the rock of the LB corp and is coming off his best season.\u00a0 Patriots also lost back up MLB Elandon Roberts, but they have signed UDFA De\u2019Jon Harris ($140K guaranteed) and Kyhava Tezino. \u00a0\u00a0Brandon King is listed as a LB but is known more as a core Special Teams player.\u00a0 Draft Choice Cassh Maluia may put King\u2019s position at risk.\u00a0 Maluia ran a 4.53 40 at the Wyoming Pro Day.\u00a0 This for a MLB.\u00a0 It may take some time for this unit to gel especially since they are not getting any reps in what would have been OTA\u2019s going on this week.<\/p>\n Interior Line<\/strong> – \u00a0\u00a0This was the Achilles heel of the defense last season.\u00a0 They were in the lower half in defending the run.\u00a0 This offseason they haven\u2019t done much to improve themselves.\u00a0 Danny Shelton was not resigned.\u00a0 In his place they signed Beau Allen from Tampa Bay, another big body player at DT.\u00a0 Lawrence Guy returns as their best interior lineman.\u00a0 Adam Butler and 2019 5th<\/sup> rd selection UDFA Byron Cowart return, but neither have the girth to make an impact.\u00a0 Dietrich Wise is in danger of losing his roster spot.\u00a0 A couple of UDFAs are interesting.\u00a0 Nick Coe, at 6\u20195 291 lbs, was projected a year ago to possibly break into the 1st<\/sup> round.\u00a0 He fell all the way to being undrafted.\u00a0 The player I am most interested in is Bill Murray.\u00a0 He is a little light for a NT (280). \u00a0He is strong (30 reps at 225) and very fast, running a sub 5 forty.\u00a0 He is relentless but played at FBS level competition.\u00a0\u00a0 His most outstanding stat is that he blocked 10 kicks in his college career.\u00a0 The film I have seen of him reminds me of Joe Klecko of the Jets.\u00a0 He has narrow shoulders and wears undersized shoulder pads and tight fitting shirt.<\/p>\n So this defense must keep the Patriots in games.\u00a0 I think the offense will rely on the run game and try not to put Jarrett Stidham in 3rd<\/sup> and long situations.\u00a0 Control the ball and clock, keep the defense off the field and\/or give them plenty of rest.\u00a0 This is the tried and true game plan of Bill Parcells (Giants) and Bill Belichick (early success when Tom Brady took over when Drew Bledsoe got hurt and Matt Cassel when Brady went down). Hopefully, it will lead to similar success in 2020.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Defense is the hallmark of Bill Belichick led teams and this year\u2019s team will likely win or lose based upon how well the Defense plays.\u00a0 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":20905,"comment_status":"open","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":[2216],"tags":[21780,1467,2313,849,2041,2311,2008,21783,121,154,534,1783,2007,1838,2305,2199,21782,2303,21781,44,787,1354],"class_list":["post-30869","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-2020-patriots-offseason","tag-2020-patriots-defense","tag-adam-butler","tag-anfernee-jennings","tag-brandon-king","tag-byron-cowart","tag-cassh-maluia","tag-chase-winovich","tag-cody-davis","tag-devin-mccourty","tag-donta-hightower","tag-jason-mccourty","tag-jc-jackson","tag-joejuan-williams","tag-john-simon","tag-josh-uche","tag-justin-bethel","tag-kyhava-tezino","tag-kyle-dugger","tag-myles-bryant","tag-new-england-patriots","tag-patrick-chung","tag-stephon-gilmore"],"yoast_head":"\n![](\"https:\/\/www.patsfans.com\/images\/us-presswire\/600w\/2019-Week-15-Chase-Winovich-GZHoV-600w.jpg\")
Winovich should be even better in 2020.<\/span><\/p>\n
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