FOXBORO, Mass. — The New England Patriots were deemed visionaries early in the season when their offensive line still was healthy enough to be rotated from series to series.
Swapping players in and out is typical for NFL defensive lines, but no one had seen a team with a new combination of blockers each drive. It’s gone under the radar, but the Patriots are even taking their defensive line rotations to the extreme this season.
The Patriots are the only team in the NFL that hasn’t played a single interior lineman for at least 45.6 percent of defensive snaps. The Detroit Lions are the only other team that hasn’t played a single interior defensive lineman for at least 50 percent of snaps, and their top player at the position, Haloti Ngata, missed two games with an injury.
Rookie Malcom Brown leads Patriots interior defenders by playing just 36 percent of defensive snaps. Behind him is Dominique Easley (32.5 percent), Sealver Siliga (31.6 percent), Alan Branch (31.1 percent) and Akiem Hicks (16.1 percent). They each play between 15 and 35 snaps per game and have specialized roles each week.
“All of those guys have done a good job for us,” Belichick said. “They’ve all kind of — I think we’ve settled into a bit of a — certain roles or a rotation dependent on the particular game, but it’s given everybody a chance to focus a little more specifically on one area as opposed to all of them. Maybe not one area, but a little bit more of a definition of what they need to do rather than just doing everything. They’ve all embraced that. They’ve all worked hard. Their playing time has been balanced. We’ve got good production from really all of those guys, really all five of them including Easley. That’s primarily where he plays. They’ve done a good job for us.”
It’s possible the Patriots picked up this idea from the 2014 Seattle Seahawks, who had a similar rotation with Kevin Williams, Tony McDaniel, Brandon Mebane and Jordan Hill. The Patriots are taking it to another level, however; Williams played 44.7 percent of defensive snaps last year.
Easley, 6-foot-2, 285 pounds, primarily is used as a pass rusher. Of his 211 total snaps, only 41 have come against the run. He usually enters the field on third downs, lines up on the nose and attempts to get after the passer.
Brown, 6-foot-2, 320 pounds, and Branch, 6-foot-6, 350 pounds, typically start, but neither’s role is set in stone as either the nose or under tackle.
Siliga, 6-foot-2, 325 pounds, swaps between the nose and under when playing alongside Hicks, 6-foot-5, 324 pounds, but sometimes the Patriots play without a nose altogether and let their linebackers protect the middle of the front. All four players are stout enough to take on two gaps and athletic enough to get into the backfield in pass-rushing situations.
The Patriots rarely play two defensive tackles on third down, which also drags down each player’s total snap percentage. Easley usually is on the field with either three defensive ends or two defensive ends and a rushing linebacker.
The Patriots’ idea to reduce their 300-plus-pound players’ snaps is savvy. Big men get tired more quickly, so why not spread around the playing time and make sure everyone is fresh at all times? It also forces opposing offensive linemen to prepare for four players evenly.
It’s also a big departure from past seasons. Vince Wilfork played 73.6 percent of snaps last season, Chris Jones played 67.9 percent in 2013 and Wilfork was on the field for 81.2 percent of snaps in 2012.
The Patriots weren’t expected to have a stout front four this season after letting Wilfork walk in free agency, but the rotation is working exceptionally well so far. The Patriots have allowed the second-fewest rushing yards per game this season, with 88.2, and they’re 10th in yards per carry, sixth in touchdowns allowed and seventh in first-down percentage.
Over the last four games, the Patriots have allowed just 221 yards on 80 carries for 2.8 yards per carry. Since allowing 5.4 yards per carry in Week 1 against the Pittsburgh Steelers, when the Patriots spent most of the game with just one defensive tackle on the field, showing no interest in stopping the run, they’ve allowed just 3.8 yards per carry.
The Patriots currently don’t have a standout player at defensive tackle, like Wilfork in the past, who demands over 50 percent of their snaps, so instead they’re rolling with the rotation.
Brown and Easley, both former first-round picks, could evolve into that type of player, but taking it slow is working so far since Brown is becoming a standout in run defense and Easley is rapidly improving at rushing the quarterback.
Thumbnail photo via Kevin Hoffman/USA TODAY Sports Images
