FOXBORO, Mass. — The New England Patriots have just four days to move past their Week 4 loss to the Carolina Panthers and prep for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers before playing Thursday. That means the Patriots won’t actually hold a formal practice before playing the Buccaneers in Tampa.
So, can the Patriots fix the communication issues that beset their defense while only holding walk-through practices?
“It’s ideal,” safety and defensive captain Duron Harmon said Tuesday. “All we can do right there is communicate, walk through, see different things, kind of slow everything down. Make sure everybody’s on the same page, and I think it’s been beneficial to us today.”
A walk-through might allow the Patriots to break their defense back down to the basics. The risk is if the Patriots can take what they’re doing at half-speed and apply it in a game with crowd noise and other variables.
Harmon believes New England’s defense, which currently ranks last in the NFL in yards against and 31st in points allowed, can turn it around against the Buccaneers, however.
“Confident. Very confident. I’ve got a lot of confidence in the guys I go to work with and go to war with each and every weekend,” Harmon said. “And I’m excited to see how we can put what we did this past Sunday behind us and go out and prove it this Thursday.”
Thumbnail photo via Bob DeChiara/USA TODAY Sports Images
