Alex Barth and Matt Dolloff examine the Patriots defensive performance in their 20-13 loss to the Raiders in Week 1.
Thumbnail photo courtesy of USA Today Sports.
#nfl #football #patriots
Thumbnail photo courtesy of USA Today Sports.
#nfl #football #patriots
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00:00I will say this about the defense.
00:01I want to get into the pass rush because you mentioned it.
00:03It felt like it ran hot and cold.
00:05It was either a five-second pocket for Geno Smith
00:07or he was on his ass right away.
00:09There was not a ton of sustained, like, just general pressure.
00:13They blitzed a lot.
00:15You know, anywhere you look, the number,
00:17because all these outlets, PFF, next-gen stats,
00:20they all grade a little differently.
00:22Anywhere from the high 40s to even 50%, which is a lot.
00:25That's a lot of times to blitz.
00:28That game plan, to me, makes a lot more sense
00:32when you have Christian Gonzalez.
00:34Yeah.
00:34All right, we've got Carlton Davis on this side.
00:36We've got Christian Gonzalez on the other.
00:37We're not expecting these receivers to break open quickly.
00:40And so we can send more pressure and we can get right on him
00:44because he's not going to have a quick outlet.
00:46Marcus Jones in the slot being a part of that as well.
00:49I think they may, and there were times, so, for instance,
00:53the deep ball to Dante Thornton,
00:55that was kind of the dagger there late in the game
00:58on the third and 20.
01:00Carlton Davis plays that relatively well.
01:03I do want to give some credit to Smith and Thornton.
01:05It's a great throw.
01:06It's a great catch.
01:06But, like, that's probably Christian Gonzalez
01:09in another situation.
01:11I've seen Gonzalez play that ball differently.
01:13They might have missed Gonzalez.
01:16And you saw at times Alex Austin and, you know,
01:20other corners get beat.
01:21I think they missed Christian Gonzalez more than we thought they would.
01:26The game plan was a little all over the place.
01:28There were some things where they just got too cute.
01:29Dropping Milton Williams and Christian Barmer in a coverage
01:31on a third and 11.
01:32And sending Spillane and Ellis.
01:34Yeah.
01:35That was the first touchdown, by the way.
01:37Right.
01:37That's too cute.
01:38That's too cute.
01:39But, like, there are other things I think will make more sense
01:42once they have Christian Gonzalez back.
01:44And they are going to get Christian Gonzalez back at some point.
01:45So, but within that, like, you're going to lose people
01:49over the course of the year due to injury.
01:51How do they adjust?
01:52And so that's where I come away from the defensive game plan.
01:55Maybe not quite as down as you, but there is a little bit of, like,
02:00I see how this is going to work when everything's going right.
02:03But not everything's going to be going right 100% of the time.
02:06And how are they going to adjust when that happens?
02:08Yeah.
02:08I think Davis is getting a little too much crap for that play.
02:11I thought he was fine in this game.
02:13They said, I thought he was fine overall.
02:15Yeah, right.
02:15Like, he made the pass breakup that led to the Hawkins interception.
02:19He almost had an interception of his own, if you remember.
02:22It was over the middle of the field, and he couldn't quite corral the ball there.
02:25So I didn't think Davis was that bad.
02:27And, like, he's not even going to be there.
02:28He's supposed to be their number two corner.
02:30He's not going to be their number one corner, hopefully.
02:33Like, hopefully Gonzalez comes back and he doesn't.
02:34Sooner rather than later, we hope.
02:36But I think he's even getting too much crap for that one, that third and 20 play.
02:39They sent six rushers, and they couldn't get to him.
02:42And, like, the lack of pressure is what's concerning to me on that play.
02:45Like, that – but, like, I think Geno Smith does deserve credit.
02:48Like, there were plays where – yes, there were plays where he had the clean pocket.
02:52I might have said this already.
02:53No, there were plays where he stood in the pocket, and they did have some pressure.
02:57He just stood in the pocket and delivered the ball accurately on time.
03:01Like, he put Drake May – Drake May was in similar situations with the pressure
03:05and, like, standing in the pocket, but he was inaccurate.
03:07Like, Geno Smith was accurate on a lot of those plays.
03:10I think he deserves a lot of credit for how he threw the ball in the phase
03:13of some of that pressure.
03:14But that one play, like, they weren't really that close to him.
03:17And they sent six guys.
03:19Yeah.
03:19And he got rid of the ball quickly.
03:20And I get it.
03:21Davis shouldn't have bit on the double move there.
03:23Like, he got beat.
03:24Well, but I think you bite on that double move because you're not expecting
03:28there to be enough time to be a double move when you blitz as many as they did.
03:32I think it's crazy to look at it.
03:33They send six guys.
03:34They just can't get anyone near the quarterback.
03:36Did they send six?
03:36I thought it was more.
03:38Oh, they might have sent more.
03:39I thought it was more.
03:40At least six guys.
03:42There was an engage eight late in that game.
03:44I don't remember.
03:45It might have been a different play.
03:46They said – okay, minimum six guys going on in that play.
03:49However many they sent, they should have gotten pressure and they didn't.
03:52They should have gotten home.
03:53And it's just crazy that the amount of guys they sent,
03:55and then you're looking at Carlton Davis like, what'd you do?
03:57It's like they should have gotten the pressure on that play.
03:59You know what it reminded me of?
04:00That's the concerning part to me.
04:02Was it last year or two years ago?
04:03So they did this – it was last year against the Rams here.
04:07They sent an all-out blitz, and Cooper Cupp got kind of behind Jonathan Jones,
04:13and it was a similar thing where Jonathan Jones kind of sat down on the route
04:16expecting a quick throw.
04:17And Jelani Tavai – it was Jelani Tavai and another linebacker
04:21like ran into each other on the blitz.
04:23And so they sent eight.
04:25They got no pressure.
04:26It was like, what's Jonathan Jones doing?
04:28I'm like, he's expecting there to be a rush throw.
04:30You're not supposed to throw from a clean pocket when you send eight.
04:32It reminded me a lot of that one.
04:33And that was like a 60-yard touchdown.
04:35He was all alone for the touchdown on that play.
04:37I count – yeah, they sent seven on the Dante Thornton one.
04:45So to the pass rush point, though, another thing that was hot and cold.
04:49I'm thinking of a different – there's other plays where they sent six.
04:51No, they – I mean, they blitzed a lot.
04:52Maybe I'm thinking of the Brock Bowers' 39-yard catch and run, I believe it was.
04:57They sent at least six guys on that play.
04:59Couldn't get anywhere close to them.
05:00One of these guys comes on a little delay, too.
05:02So you might have just – it's – the point stands.
05:05Your point's absolutely correct.
05:08The pass rush bigger picture, too, was interesting because Milton Williams
05:12and Harold Landry were really, really good in this game.
05:15Really, really good.
05:15Per next-gen stats, both had seven pressures.
05:18Patriots only had one game last year where one player got seven pressures,
05:22and that was Keyon White against San Francisco.
05:24I thought – and they're playing on the same side of the line.
05:26They're running a bunch of games off each other.
05:28There's chemistry there between the two of them, playing with a hot motor, all of it.
05:32I thought those two delivered.
05:33I was actually really encouraged by what I saw from two of their bigger free agent signings.
05:38On the other side, Barmore didn't do as much.
05:41I know you maybe have something on that.
05:43Caleb on chase on did not carry over what he did in camp.
05:46I thought he got pushed around a little bit.
05:48Keyon White didn't play a ton.
05:50Played more than you think.
05:51He really didn't show up.
05:52He didn't record a single pressure.
05:53So, they got it from some spots, not from others.
05:56They're going to need a more balanced attack as the season goes on.
05:59I know you kind of – you can talk about this a little bit more.
06:02Barmore seemed to be the focus of the blocking scheme.
06:04So, okay, if he's going to just occupy bodies, if the production's not there,
06:08he's still doing his job.
06:10You need somebody, whether it's chase on, whether it's Keyon White, whoever,
06:14off that other side from Landry and Milton Williams to continue to collapse that pocket.
06:19But I'm curious what you saw from Barmore.
06:20Well, yeah, I came out of the game thinking Barmore was pretty much invisible.
06:24It's almost a non-factor as a pass rusher.
06:26The Raiders made him invisible.
06:27We were watching it.
06:28Like, they double-teamed him.
06:29They chipped him.
06:30Like, they were making sure every single pass play, like, we got to take care of Barmore.
06:33He was the guy that they went and said, this guy's not going to beat us.
06:36Exactly.
06:36Honestly, good for Christian Barmore for commanding that respect.
06:39Yeah, yeah.
06:39I mean, like, yeah, good for him.
06:41But, like, good for the Raiders to go into the game and say, like,
06:44we need to take care of this guy.
06:45But that's what you want.
06:46Week one, like, Chip Kelly being out of the league nine years, like, even he knows,
06:49like, we got to take care of Barmore.
06:51But that's what you want in that.
06:54And we talk about this with the receivers a lot, right?
06:56The coverage dictating wide receiver.
06:58Okay, if the defense is going to have to focus on this guy and send other resources here,
07:01that should free up other guys, give them more true one-on-one opportunities to win.
07:06And that one great receiver can make everybody else better.
07:08We talked a lot this offseason about the linchpin pass rusher.
07:11Who's going to be the guy that draws the attention that limits the one-on-ones?
07:14So Christian Barmore is doing that.
07:16The production may not be there, but his gravity is still felt because,
07:19and you saw it, there's one-on-ones for Milton Williams.
07:21There's one-on-ones for Harold Landry.
07:23Those are not guys you want to leave as an offense one-on-one.
07:26But you have to pick your poison.
07:28And so I think that might be a different guy from week to week.
07:31I'd be curious to see how the Dolphins attack it next week.
07:34And maybe if Landry gets more of the attention after the game he had,
07:37because I don't think there's that much of a talent gap across the board.
07:40I don't know that, like, Barmore's not Judon.
07:42Judon was that last linchpin pass rusher they had.
07:45So it'll be interesting to see how Miami adjusts.
07:47But the fact that they have somebody that an offense felt they need to attack
07:51that way should help out, they just need more guys creating off of that.
07:56Yeah, like, this is what we've been talking about on this show
07:59when we were on the radio.
08:00Like, lacking that true impact edge guy is sort of what's sort of hurting them
08:05right now.
08:06Like, Caleb on chase on, you know, for all, he had a good summer.
08:09And I think he could have a games here where, like, he pops occasionally for a big game.
08:14But he's not going to be that guy that's, like, an every down, like, threat
08:17to really beat a one-on-one matchup.
08:19If you had that guy that could beat a one-on-one matchup, you know,
08:23and, like, Keon White, like you said, like, he had a lot of those situations
08:25where he was going up against Colton Miller for the Raiders.
08:28Colton Miller just erased him whenever he was going up against Keon White one-on-one.
08:32I mean, Colton Miller's not a bad player, but that's if Keon White's going to be that guy.
08:36I'm saying Colton Miller's a good player.
08:38And, like, Keon White is not good enough to beat him.
08:41Right.
08:41And that's—
08:42Colton Miller is better than Keon White is the point I'm making.
08:45If that was, you know, Miles Garrett over there,
08:47that would probably make a much bigger difference there.
08:49Again, I go back to, like, Matthew Judon filled that role in New England.
08:53You look at some of the—
08:54Miller Lite.
08:55The sun's gone.
08:57Bye.
08:57All right, Peter Miller Lite.
08:58You look at some of the other—
09:00Drink Miller Lite.
09:01All right, go ahead.
09:02You look at some of the other—
09:04Drink responsible.
09:05—pass rushers that had success in New England around Matthew Judon.
09:08It was because Matthew Judon was drawing all that gravity.
09:11Barmore is doing it.
09:12It just schematically, it looks different when that guy's coming off the edge
09:17as opposed to in the middle.
09:18Right.
09:19I think what we saw is kind of the issue you can have where your best hope
09:23of that impact coverage dictating pass rusher is on the interior.
09:28Right.
09:28Like, I know, like, you got—like, the Chiefs, like, have Chris Jones, for instance.
09:32I know he's their best pass—but they still have George Karloftis.
09:34Like, they have the guy that can really compliment him on the edge.
09:38I'm not sure the Patriots have that.
09:39Harold Landry's a good player, had a really good debut, but he's not going to be that guy
09:43where, like, oh, no, we can't leave him just one-on-one because he's going to blow up
09:47that matchup.
09:48Like, I don't see him as quite that guy.
09:50And I just think we saw it whenever they tried to rush four.
09:53Like, they just don't—they don't quite have the horses for that, which is, I think,
09:58justifies the amount of blitzing they did.
10:00Well, and I—but when you spend all that money on Carlton Davis to put him next to
10:03Christian Gonzalez, the plan should be to blitz.
10:06Like, their defense is built—
10:08And they built Blitz Davis a couple times, too.
10:10Yeah.
10:10Well, one of the third-and-one corner blitz I didn't understand.
10:13But when you have two elite corners, you want to be more blitz-heavy.
10:18You want to take advantage of that.
10:20So I wasn't necessarily surprised in the volume in which they blitzed because they built a
10:25defense that basically said, we're going to come after you.
10:29We're going to blitz.
10:30But you still—again, I think the—we looked this up after the game.
10:34I believe the league-high blitz rate last year was just over—or just under 50%.
10:43I don't remember if that's the blitz rate or the blitz-to-pressure rate.
10:47But, like, their blitz rate was high.
10:49And okay.
10:50But it's still—you're not going to blitz that much.
10:53Like, you're still going to need to get home at four—with four at times.
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