New England Patriots: 5 observations from Week 15 win over Steelers
By Ben Porter
Stopping the outside run
Don’t let the title of this slide mislead you. The New England Patriots did not, in any way, shape, or form, stop the outside run. As a matter of fact, they haven’t been able to stop the outside run for the past two weeks.
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Today, Le’Veon Bell ripped through the Patriots defense like a cat with a new roll of toilet paper. Don’t get me wrong, not many teams have been able to contain Bell this season. He’s leading the NFL in rushing, and he’s undeniably the best running back in the league.
Bell torched the Pats defense for 117 yards on 24 carries. That’s 4.9 YPC. I’d be willing to bet, however, that only 15% of his yards came on runs up the middle.
The Patriots are rock solid between the hash marks, but when the running back chooses a side, it’s game over. When Bell was able to get around the edge he couldn’t be stopped. It’s a problem the Patriots seriously need to address if they’re going to contain teams with strong run games.
Of course, the Patriots defensive line is struggling due to some injuries to key players such as Alan Branch. In addition, the entire defense is missing Kyle Van Noy dearly, who is one of the key run stoppers for the New England Patriots.
In any case, containing the outside run is one of the Patriots biggest weaknesses right now. A rematch with the Steelers is looming, and the Patriots need to get their run defense on track. That’s priority number one right now.