The New England Patriots’ defense stayed stout Sunday despite facing their biggest test of the season.
The Patriots limited Baker Mayfield, Nick Chubb, Odell Beckham Jr., Javis Landry and the Cleveland Browns offense to just 310 total yards in New England’s 27-13 win. In the midst of that performance, the Patriots forced turnovers on three straight Browns offensive snaps. Don’t prepare yourself to see that again, but it is all in a days work for the Patriots historically great defense.
Here’s our full list of takeaways and advanced metrics, via Pro Football Focus, from Sunday’s game.
PASS RUSH
LB Jamie Collins: two sacks, three hurries
OLB Kyle Van Noy: sack, four hurries
DT Adam Butler: three sacks, hurry
LB Dont’a Hightower: sack, three hurries
OLB Chase Winovich: sack, hurry
OLB Shilique Calhoun: two hurries
DE Deatrich Wise: two hurries
DT Lawrence Guy: hurry
DT Danny Shelton: hurry
OLB John Simon: hurry
SS Patrick Chung: hurry
— Collins has played half a season, and he already has a career-high six sacks.
— Butler was a beast with one full sack and two half-sacks. Pro Football Focus credits full sacks for half-sacks.
— Winovich continues to make an impact on limited snaps. He now has 4.5 sacks on the season.
— Those boogeymen keep racking up the sacks.
PASS COVERAGE
CB Stephon Gilmore: three catches on five targets, 42 yards, PBU
CB Jonathan Jones: 4-7, 34 yards
LB Jamie Collins: 5-7, 32 yards
LB Dont’a Hightower: 2-2, 28 yards, TD
LB Elandon Roberts: 1-1, 21 yards
CB Jason McCourty: 2-4, 19 yards
DE Deatrich Wise: 1-1, 8 yards
FS Devin McCourty: 1-1, 7 yards
SS Patrick Chung: 1-2, 3 yards, PBU
DT Lawrence Guy: INT
— Gilmore excelled despite his toughest assignment of the season against Beckham.
— Jones spent most of the game on Browns slot receiver Jarvis Landry.
— The touchdown Hightower allowed was just the second passing score the Patriots have let up this season.
— Guy picked off a shovel pass attempt from Browns QB Baker Mayfield to Landry.
— This was the first time an opposing quarterback hasn’t thrown more interceptions than touchdowns against the Patriots this season.
TACKLING
LB Jamie Collins: six stops, two missed tackles
DT Lawrence Guy: three stops
DT Danny Shelton: two stops
DT Adam Butler: two stops
OLB Shilique Calhoun: two stops
OLB Kyle Van Noy: stop
SS Patrick Chung: stop, two missed tackles
CB Jonathan Jones: stop, forced fumble
CB JC Jackson: stop
DE Deatrich Wise: stop
OLB Chase Winovich: stop
FS Devin McCourty: missed tackle
CB Jason McCourty: missed tackle
LB Dont’a Hightower: missed tackle
FS Duron Harmon: missed tackle
— Collins led the team with 12 tackles. He was in on two tackles for no gain.
— The Patriots’ run defense had a tough task stopping Browns running back Nick Chubb, who is hard to bring down. Chubb ranks fourth in PFF’s elusive rating metric on the season. Still, the Patriots’ tackling could have been better.
PASSING
QB Tom Brady was just 5-of-15 for 53 yards with a touchdown while under pressure. He was 15-of-21 for 206 yards with a touchdown with no pressure.
He was 2-of-3 for 59 yards on deep passes. Dorsett and tight end Ben Watson caught deep passes.
He went 20-of-36 for 259 yards with two touchdowns overall. Among those 16 incompletions, four were thrown away, two were dropped and one came as he was hit while throwing.
Brady released the ball in 2.47 seconds on average. That’s up from his season average of 2.44 seconds.
Running back Brandon Bolden and wide receiver Mohamad Sanu had drops.
Sanu was in the slot for 15 of his 26 routes.
PASS PROTECTION
LT Marshall Newhouse: two sacks, QB hit, three hurries
LG Joe Thuney: clean
C Ted Karras: clean
RG James Ferentz: five hurries
RT Marcus Cannon: three hurries
TE Ben Watson: hurry
— Running backs Rex Burkhead, Brandon Bolden, Sony Michel and James White and tight end Eric Tomlinson all were clean.
— Ferentz stepped in for starting right guard Shaq Mason. It was a bit of a surprise to see Ferentz starting over Jermaine Elumunor, whom the Patriots acquired for a fourth-sixth-round swap this summer.
— The wet conditions caused some low snaps from Karras to Brady.
RUSHING
Rex Burkhead: 2.67 yards after contact per carry
Sony Michel: 2.38 yards after contact per carry, four forced missed tackles
James White: 2 yards after contact per carry, one forced missed tackle
— It’s slightly damning praise to say this was one of Michel’s best games of the season when he averaged 3.5 yards per carry. He did at least have a 16-yard run. He also didn’t fumble. And while Chubb, who had 131 yards on 20 carries, ran better, he also lost two fumbles.
For more grades, advanced statistics and more at Pro Football Focus, go to ProFootballFocus.com.
