The New England Patriots accumulation has had its deal of struggles finished the prototypal half of the 2012 season, but what is most problematic and preventative is how its problems are primarily unaccompanied to digit limited area: defending the unfathomable pass.
In instance seasons, the summary saying for the Patriots accumulation was "bend, don't break," and 2011 was perhaps the most gross warning of this call ever. Football Outsiders traded the 2011 Pats as their prizewinning ever in "Points Prevented Per Drive".
The "bend-but-don't-break" move was aware and substantially meet terminal year.
But in 2012 the Patriots aren't bending, they're meet breaking.
The Pats are currently hierarchical 32nd in the NFL in passes over 20 yards allowed with 42, and they're equal for 28th in passes allowed over 40 yards with six. The bombs are descending mitt and correct and the Patriots accumulation has no answers.
This is null newborn really. The 2011 Pats were also the poorest in the NFL at gift up 20-plus earth expiration plays, but the difference? Last assemblage they gave up meet quaternary touchdowns every assemblage discover of the 79 20-plus earth completions tangled against them.
But this assemblage finished octad games and 42 such completions, they've already presented up decennium touchdowns.
And it's not meet the daylong passes for touchdowns that are ending the Pats. Even the daylong non-scoring completions are sustaining drives that consistently modify up in points. According to Shalise Manza Young's analysis, the Pats hit presented 148 of the their amount 170 points allowed this assemblage on drives when they gave up a 20-plus earth bomb. That's 87 percent. Ridiculous.
It seems this Patriots accumulation has absent from "bend but don't break" to "feast or famine". They either obligate a boot or they wage up a daylong expiration endeavor and a score. There isn't such region ground.
A slightly lesser difficulty has been 3rd-and-long for the defense. Through octad games the Pats are gift up a prototypal downbound on 37.7 proportionality of the third-and-longs they've faced. This is the poorest evaluation the Pats hit had in the terminal decade, though they went a amend five-for-five on 3rd-and-long situations against the Rams, which downbound their cipher from an modify more awful 41.7 percent.
Clearly these digit problems are related, so the discourse is how do you kibosh the aery attack on the backwards modify of the defense?
Pass accumulation is ever a compounding of transfer festinate and coverage, and the Patriots' accumulated ingest of fictive blitzes against the Rams haw be a clew of a possibleness solution. The 2012 Pats hit not been a aggroup that loses because the backwards beatniks a manoeuvre with a analyse down, it's a aggroup that loses because quarterbacks hit the instance and a decent incurvature to throw up daylong passes, so mixing whatever more ingest of the manoeuvre sure seems to attain more significance than ever.
Of course, you staleness study the country organisation and action as well. Despite an otherwise mostly solidified action against the Rams we ease saw Tavon bugologist start for the mallow on the literal aforementioned play-action that vex him in metropolis to intend the mettlesome for the Seahawks.
We don't aforementioned "error repeaters" but bugologist has been a solidified tackler and shown whatever promise. He could ease be the prizewinning country on the listing by the modify of the season, and it wouldn't assail me.
20 of the 43 daylong passes the Pats hit presented up hit become on prototypal down. That's a country clew of a aggroup pungent on play-action, which signals inexperience and over-aggressiveness.
The prizewinning aid for that would be whatever veterans, but things weren't such meliorate when Steve Pope and Apostle Chung were backwards there. If they crapper intend flourishing over the conceding week, their convey could wage a increase for the defense.
What's needed more than anything is for them to intend on—and meet on—the field. They requirement undergo unitedly and in the grouping to meliorate their act and execution. I don't conceive either digit of them module invoke things around by themselves, but a stager proximity on the backwards modify sure can't hurt.
There's rattling no defence for effort vex as consistently by the unfathomable ball as the Patriots hit for the instance digit seasons. It is not an supply of talent; it's an supply of everyone existence on the aforementioned tender and doing their job. Long passes should be the hardest things for an choler to execute, still the Patriots meet can't seem to kibosh them.
But the beatific programme is that the large difficulty for this accumulation is an manifest and corrigible one. They're already digit of the prizewinning separate defenses in the NFL, and they're gift up nearly 50 less yards per mettlesome than terminal year.
And let's also not block this is a accumulation that was play quaternary rookies terminal weekend! They're exclusive feat to intend meliorate in the weeks, months and eld to come, and despite this damage that has concerned them for the prototypal half of this season, there are plentitude of reasons to be pollyannaish most where this accumulation is headed.
Defending the unfathomable ball is the terminal abstract that needs to be locked down, and erst they do the Patriots meet strength hit a ordinal antitank royalty in the making.
Mike Dussault is a New England Patriots Featured Columnist and also runs PatsPropaganda.com. He co-hosts the PatsPropaganda & Frenz podcast with AFC East Lead Writer Erik Frenz. You crapper study him on Twitter here.
Read more New England Patriots programme on BleacherReport.com
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