FOXBORO, Mass. — The New England Patriots’ secondary has the potential to be one of the best in the NFL. But it certainly hasn’t played like that so far.
Though two games, opposing quarterbacks have completed 68.8 percent of their passes for 724 yards and six touchdowns with zero interceptions against a New England defensive backfield that remains, as safety Devin McCourty called it, “a work in progress” following the offseason addition of cornerback Stephon Gilmore.
Informed Thursday that the Patriots currently rank 31st in the NFL in passing yards allowed, McCourty responded, “Thanks for telling me,” before adding, “sounds about right, though.”
The Patriots have allowed the most 40-plus-yard passing plays this season (three), and only the New Orleans Saints and Indianapolis Colts have allowed more passes of 20 or more yards than New England’s nine.
“We haven’t played the best football that we know we can,” McCourty said. “Obviously, you give up big plays, that’s not going to rank you pretty high in pass defense. So obviously, we have a lot of work to get done, and it’s something we’ve just got to keep improving.”
The Patriots’ secondary has loads of talent, but its communication has been suspect thus far. The clearest example of this came on Tyreek Hill’s 75-yard touchdown reception in Week 1. Gilmore, who is replacing the departed Logan Ryan, appeared to believe Hill was McCourty’s responsibility on the play, and vice versa.
The result: A wide-open receiver and an easy six points.
The Patriots’ defense as a whole looked much better in Sunday’s win over New Orleans, but Saints quarterback Drew Brees still was able to complete a number of deep passes, several of which came on pick plays.
“I realized (Thursday) that we’re still bonding together, and we’re still learning each other,” said cornerback Malcolm Butler, who lost his starting spot to Eric Rowe on Sunday. “We’re not playing our best football right now. But if we were playing our best right now, it wouldn’t do any good, because it’s going to wear out. So we’re still building.”
That building process has been an ongoing series of adjustments, many of which actually have come away from the field.
“I think one of the best things for us always is after practice in the meeting rooms,” McCourty said. “Defensively we’re always communicating, talking. We’re making the calls we made out on the field. Sometimes, we make a call that at the moment, we thought was right, but we get in there and we watch it, and it’s like, as a safety, I might say, ‘Hey, I called this, but I think this would work out better.’ And we’ll talk about that right in the meeting room.
“I think that allows us to develop communication off the field, because once you get in the season, we can’t practice everything that’s going to come up in the game. … But it’s something that we’ve got to keep doing, and hopefully each week and each game, it improves, and we to the point where it’s second nature.”
If anything, the Patriots’ defensive passing stats should improve this Sunday. Their opponent, the Houston Texans, ranks 31st in the NFL in passing yards and will start a rookie, Deshaun Watson, under center.
Thumbnail photo via Greg M. Cooper/USA TODAY Sports Images
