The New England Patriots have boasted the worst defense in the NFL through the first month of the 2017 season, but their next opponent does not believe those struggles will persist.
Speaking with reporters Tuesday in Tampa Bay, Buccaneers head coach Dirk Koetter and offensive coordinator Todd Monken both said they expect the Patriots’ defensive issues — which primarily have stemmed from poor communication in the secondary — to be remedied by the time New England and Tampa Bay square off on “Thursday Night Football.”
“If you watch that Carolina game, Carolina did a great job, but there (were) some fluke plays in there where they just turned some guys flat loose,” Koetter told reporters, referring to the numerous coverage breakdowns the Patriots had Sunday in their 33-30 loss to the Carolina Panthers.
“You just don’t see that, and that’s not indicative at all of the Patriots on defense. It looked to me like they were trying to do some different pickups in their bunches and stacks, and they got messed up a couple of times. You just usually don’t see that. It’s just unusual. If you look at who their cover guys are, they’ve got fantastic cover guys. I would expect that those issues will all be taken care of Thursday night.”
Koetter and Monken both correctly pointed out that teams have been able to confuse the Patriots’ defensive backs with motions and bunch formations this season. Those problems were glaringly evident on Cam Newton’s 28-yard touchdown pass to Fozzy Whittaker on Sunday.
On that particular play, cornerback Stephon Gilmore, safety Devin McCourty and linebackers Elandon Roberts and Kyle Van Noy all keyed in on motion man Christian McCaffrey, leaving both Whittaker and tight end Ed Dickson wide open on the back side.
“I don’t think you count on that every week,” Monken told reporters. “Obviously, Carolina did a nice job with some of their motions and stacks that got them out of sorts a little bit that led to explosive plays. Sometimes that happens, and the quarterback gets pressure or he is looking in another direction. It just seemed like every time they got misaligned, it worked out that they were going that way.
“You can’t anticipate that. You can’t scheme for that and say, ‘You know what, if they bust this, hey, we are going to go here.’ You anticipate them getting it cleaned up. They’re too well-coached (and have) too many good players to not.”
The Patriots enter the Thursday night matchup ranked 31st in points allowed, 32nd in yards allowed, 32nd in passing yards allowed and 32nd in yards allowed per pass attempt. The Bucs rank third in passing yards per game and seventh in yards per pass attempt, and they reeled off six plays of 25-plus yards Sunday in a win over the New York Giants, five of which were pass plays.
Thumbnail photo via Greg M. Cooper/USA TODAY Sports Images
