New England Patriots: 5 observations from AFC Championship victory
By Ben Porter
Must contain receiving RBs
For every positive, there’s a negative. And by negative, I mean an area in which there’s room to improve. For the Patriots, that’s covering running backs in the passing game.
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The Patriots did a great job of putting pressure on Blake Bortles, but he was often able to find his safety valve out wide. When he did that, the Jags gained some good yardage.
Corey Grant caught 3 passes for 59 yards, Tommy Bohanon caught 1 for 20 yards, and Leonard Fournette and T.J. Yeldon combined for 4 catches for 19 yards.
That’s a little over 12 yards per reception for the Jaguars, and almost all of the receiving yards were after the catch. That’s the biggest issue.
When the RBs were covered, they didn’t have anywhere to go. When they were uncovered out wide, that’s when they gained big chunks of yardage.
Philadelphia has some dynamic running backs on their roster, so it’s absolutely imperative that the New England Patriots contain them in the passing game. Our front 7 is strong, but we must be able to set the edge and cover RBs in the passing game. It’s a must.