Bill Belichick Interestingly Details Patriots’ Plan For Stefon Diggs

Stefon Diggs, by his standards, endured a quiet Sunday afternoon at Gillette Stadium.

Diggs was limited to 58 yards on six catches in the Bills’ Week 7 loss to the Patriots. Yes, one of those snags went for six points, but that was mostly due to horrendous tackling from New England. The mild outing marked only the second time the star wide receiver was held under 60 regular-season receiving yards when seeing 10-plus targets as a member of the Bills.

Everyone and their mother loves to point out how what makes Bill Belichick’s defenses so effective is completely taking away the opponent’s best play-maker. But as the Patriots coach explained Monday morning on WEEI, taking away Diggs wasn’t New England’s wire-to-wire plan Sunday.

“There were times where we took him away,” Belichick said on “The Greg Hill Show.” “There were other times we tried to look like we were taking him away, but we really weren’t, hoping that we could kind of discourage the quarterback from throwing over there. Tried to get the coverage somewhere else and tighten it up there. Mix up some man, mix up some zone and try to make it as difficult as possible for him to get cleanly into the release and into his route. Those guys did a good job on him, but he got a couple on us. He’s a great player.”

Patriots defensive backs echoed Belichick’s remarks and added how they maintained a “high awareness” for Diggs and were physical with him throughout the game. The anger-inducing physicality also had an impact on Josh Allen, who clearly was bothered by consistent pressure from New England’s defensive line.

All told, it was a frustrating day for one of the NFL’s premier quarterback-receiver tandems.