Patriots defensive grades - Week 12: Game plan works to perfection
Like a heavyweight boxer, they take the opponent's best shot and always respond in the style of a mean counter-puncher. They may not pull out the win every time, but the opposition knows that no matter how big a lead they have, it's not going to be enough - they need to push forward and keep scoring...
...which can be difficult. It's not like the Denver Broncos reached a certain point total that they felt comfortable with on Sunday night, it was simply a matter of the Patriots taking their best punch, then overwhelming them.
This is the Patriots' method of operation. They are the best coached team in the league, and that coaching staff is led by the best game planning and in-game tactician in football - and, despite opinion to the contrary, is one of the best talent evaluators in the game.
If Bill Belichick wasn't, Sunday night doesn't happen.
Belichick's whole body of work was on display against the Broncos, just like it has been in every game since November of 2010, the last time that the Patriots entered the last five minutes of a football game without a realistic chance at pulling the game out.
Yes, the weather was a factor, but it was a factor for both teams not just the Broncos - and when push came to shove, the Patriots were able exert their will on offense and to shut down Peyton Manning on defense.
But the question the entire football world is asking is, how does a defense give up 280 yards rushing and still win the game - but the answer comes from second grade math: They allowed less points that their own offense scored.
Of the 14 Broncos' possessions, the Patriots' defense allowed only three sustained drives. Three.
In the first half when New England's offense was playing hot potato with the football, practically handing the ball to the Broncos' defense, the Patriots' defense allowed 17 points on Denver drives of 10, 35 and 70 yards, the other touchdown scored by the Broncos being on a fumble return for the first score of the game.
In the second half and overtime, the Patriots defense surrendered one scoring drive - a 10 play, 80 yard clutch drive that one would expect from Manning when the certain Hall of Fame signal caller is faced with a do-or-die situation. The other seven drives resulted in a lost fumble, a Logan Ryan interception and five punts...
...that's seven drives totaling 120 yards with only one of those drives going for more than six plays.
That is domination. Don't look at the rushing yardage and wonder what happened - Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots defense happened.
Rush Defense: B
Specific to the game plan, the amount of yardage really is just a matter of course - but, of course, 280 yards is a bit excessive.
Ideally, one would like to see no more than half of that number, but there are some mitigating factors. First, credit Denver's offensive line and running back Knowshon Moreno's vision and cut-back ability. Moreno more than once avoided the rocket-propelled mortar shell that is Patriots' linebacker Brandon Spikes by cutting back against the grain...
...and with the blocking scheme allowing for such, it's no mistake that there were gaping holes for the second year back to sprint through for huge chunks of yardage. Moreno is a special runner.
Secondly, the Patriots were in a small six-man box, utilizing a 4-2-5 nickle as a base - and with tackle Isaac Sopoaga leaving with an injury and linebacker Dont'a Hightower being lifted after getting used by Broncos' tight end Jacob Tamme on a 10 yard touchdown pass in the second quarter, New England was playing the run with what amounted to almost entirely backups.
Still 280 yards is a lot - but the most important numbers were the ones on the scoreboard, the numbers that read Patriots 34, Broncos 31.
Game plan specific, to remind you, and no one should expect the same type of numbers from any other opponent going forward.
Pass Defense: A
It's tough to determine which number is more shocking, the 280 yards given up by the Patriots' run defense, or the 150 yards that the Patriots' pass defense limited Peyton Manning to - but for the sake of historical preservation, lets go with the pass defense...
...because it wasn't just the wind that had Manning's ducks looking like butterflies.
As discussed in the preview to the game, "Eighty percent of Manning's passes travel less than 10 yards past the line of scrimmage, but his receivers gain such separation and Manning gets the ball out so quickly that the yards after the catch make up much of the yardage total."
The wind took care of Manning wanting to go deep, as his goose egg on five deep targets will attest - besides the fact that "the accuracy and velocity on his deep ball went bye-bye sometime in the last couple of years" - which left the New England nickle salivating at the prospect of punking the Broncos' receivers at the line, knowing that they weren't going very far.
But having knowledge and executing the game plan are entirely different things, particularly with three rookies - safety Duron Harmon as the big nickle, corner Logan Ryan on possession receiver Eric Decker and linebacker Jamie Collins flying around all over the field - playing major roles against the experience of Manning and his pass catchers.
But execute they did, giving plenty of hope for the Patriots' banged up secondary going forward.
The Pass rush held it's own against the beastly Broncos' line, with Collins having a role in Ryan's interception by stunting inside on a blitz and getting in Manning's face as he threw, and with Chandler Jones just being Chandler Jones...
...who, by the way, earned the NFL's Defensive Player of the Month for November for his professional work not just in this game, but recognition for his protracted excellence and, now, is practically a shoe-in for the Pro Bowl, provided the Patriots aren't doing something more important.
Like playing in the Super Bowl.
Photo credit - David Silverman/New England Patriots
