Tom Brady has done a fair share of covering up underwhelming defenses over the course of his Patriots tenure.
But thus far in the 2019 NFL season, it’s been New England’s defense that’s carrying the load.
While Brady and Co. continue to work through their struggles, the defense remains ironclad. The Patriots arguably boast the best secondary in all of football, and unlike the past few seasons, New England actually is getting to the quarterback and registering a high number of sacks.
For these reasons and more, NFL analyst Gil Brandt believes the reigning Super Bowl champs currently feature the league’s top defense.
“How high is this defense setting the bar? Consider that the Giants’ first-half touchdown pass on ‘Thursday Night Football’ last week was the first allowed in the air by New England this season,” Brand recently wrote for NFL.com. “The Pats proceeded to force two more turnovers after that score, holding New York to 83 yards for the remainder of the game. Smothering performances like that have become par for the course this season for a team that has yielded just 48 points total, 21 of which were scored on turnovers by opposing defenses. Stephon Gilmore, Devin McCourty and Jamie Collins are leading a stellar back seven, and it doesn’t hurt that Bill Belichick is calling the defensive shots this year. The quality of the opposition has played some role in New England’s dominance, but even so, the Pats are on pace to finish 2019 with 128 points allowed over the course of the entire season, easily surpassing the 2000 Ravens (165 points allowed) as the stingiest defense since 2000.”
We’ll likely see more of the same from New England’s defense in Week 7. Even though Sam Darnold is back under center for New York, it’s tough to imagine the Patriots will have much trouble with the 1-4 Jets when the AFC East rivals meet Monday night at MetLife Stadium.
