Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots’ defensive coaches have their work cut out for them this week. The Patriots’ defense needs to improve, and they have to do it fast.
The Patriots are 1-2 on the season and have let the Jacksonville Jaguars and Detroit Lions march down the field with ease in consecutive weeks.
Some things aren’t fixable. The Patriots aren’t suddenly going to get younger, faster or turn into an elite unit. It would be nearly impossible for the 2018 Patriots to become the 1985 Chicago Bears after what we’ve seen through three weeks. But there are ways to improve. And even one small tweak could help turn things around.
UP FRONT
New England should see an immediate improvement when defensive end Trey Flowers returns to the field. Flowers was limited Wednesday in practice with a concussion and indicated he expects to play Sunday against the Miami Dolphins. Flowers is the Patriots’ best defender. Getting him back is bound to help.
The Patriots’ defensive tackles simply need to be more stout at the line of scrimmage. Lawrence Guy has played well, but Malcom Brown and Danny Shelton have been pushed around at times. We’ve seen Brown play two-gap before, so it might be something as simple as a technique fix to get him going again.
The defense’s biggest uncertainty might be at the other edge spot opposite Flowers. Deatrich Wise, Keionta Davis, Derek Rivers, Geneo Grissom, Adrian Clayborn, newcomer John Simon and linebackers Dont’a Hightower and Kyle Van Noy all are competing for reps there.
We like the idea of moving Hightower to the edge, but that could cause more problems at linebacker with Ja’Whaun Bentley on injured reserve. The first three weeks have not been kind to Davis, so we expect his snaps to continue decreasing. Wise has been up-and-down, but he was probably the Patriots’ best defender Sunday against the Lions. It would be worth seeing how he would respond to a full workload. The Patriots only gave Rivers 13 snaps Sunday, and 12 of those came when the Lions were passing. He’s the team’s most athletic edge defender, and New England certainly could use some speed and agility against the run. We’d like to see how he holds up on the edge.
We expect Clayborn to serve as a situational pass rusher and Grissom as a special teamer. Simon is intriguing. Perhaps he could provide a boost as a rotational player.
There’s enough to experiment with here that not all hope is lost.
LINEBACKER
The Patriots’ linebackers have to do a better job of getting off blocks at the second level. Even when the defensive linemen are holding their ground up front, the linebackers simply aren’t disengaging fast enough, leaving too much room.
With Bentley out, that likely means more work for Elandon Roberts. He had more good plays than bad Sunday, and he actually made some of New England’s biggest impact tackles of the game. Hightower and Van Noy likely will continue playing as the team’s top linebackers unless one moves to the edge permanently.
Hightower has looked slow at times this season. Unless he suddenly knocks off the rust permanently, this group has a limited ceiling barring a trade or free-agent signing. The Patriots could add free-agent safety Eric Reid and transition him permanently to linebacker. Navorro Bowman also is still available as a free agent.
SECONDARY
The Patriots still have a solid core here in cornerback Stephon Gilmore and safeties Devin McCourty, Duron Harmon and Patrick Chung, even if the safeties haven’t played quite up to their standards so far this season.
Jason McCourty has been solid as a No. 2 cornerback, and Jonathan Jones has held up in the slot. We’re not going to pretend New England’s secondary has been elite, but it’s the least of this defense’s worries. The Patriots also have depth in cornerbacks Eric Rowe, Cyrus Jones, JC Jackson and Keion Crossen.
