Could this be the year the defense returns to championship form?

We've all said it.

All we need is a stop. Just one stop and get the ball back to the offense. Just praying that the defense could just make one stop in a critical situation and then rely on the offense to put it away. But could those days be over?

The buzz in training camp, and really since free agency, has been about the defense.

The signing of Revis and Browner, plus all the players coming back from season ending injuries last year have this defense poised to be a force to be reckoned with. Feared even. Belichick has proven that he can be a defensive mastermind and given the big athletic pieces he can make a defense damn near impossible to beat (See Mcginest, Willie and Law, Ty). Pieces he hasn't exactly had in a decade or so.

Albert Breer, having been a Patriots beat writer in the past, has seen the Patriots up close and personal for a while and sees a clear difference with the defense.

1) Patriots look big and athletic everywhere on D. Been around that team for 10 years. Been a while since they physically looked like this.
— Albert Breer (@AlbertBreer) July 29, 2014

A big, strong and athletic defense sounds a lot like the ones employed by the Patriots championship teams and also the defense that the Seahawks used to embarrass the Broncos in the last Super Bowl. Players that can be used as chess pieces and moved around the board to take away the offenses ability to move the ball.

In Revis, Belichick has his shut down corner. His queen on the chessboard if you will. With Revis's ability to shutdown his side of the field a huge portion of the field is taken away while only employing one player to do so. That allows the other 10 players to work in a smaller area. Making mismatches more easily exploited and margin of errors larger.

So in theory this should the most beneficial to the front seven. Better coverage on the back end leads to more time for the front seven to get to the Quarterback. While also allowing for more players to be available on any given play to stop the run.

More sacks and shorter runs on early downs lead to more three and outs. Which will give the offense more chances to score. And given that the offense stands a good chance at being improved over last year and this is a team that will be a nightmare for opponents.

Also it seems like you can put to bed any worries that Darrelle Revis isn't over his torn ACL

2) Revis looks all the way back. And the Bucs felt he was late last year, too. Talking to players, you sense his presence in expectations.
— Albert Breer (@AlbertBreer) July 29, 2014

So while it may be too early to call checkmate the Patriots at least have the NFL in check.

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