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New England Patriots: A unique expert looks to help the pass rush

By Sam Minton

FOXBOROUGH, MA - JANUARY 13: Marquis Flowers #59 of the New England Patriots sacks Marcus Mariota #8 of the Tennessee Titans in the fourth quarter of the AFC Divisional Playoff game at Gillette Stadium on January 13, 2018 in Foxborough, Massachusetts. (Photo by Adam Glanzman/Getty Images)
FOXBOROUGH, MA - JANUARY 13: Marquis Flowers #59 of the New England Patriots sacks Marcus Mariota #8 of the Tennessee Titans in the fourth quarter of the AFC Divisional Playoff game at Gillette Stadium on January 13, 2018 in Foxborough, Massachusetts. (Photo by Adam Glanzman/Getty Images) /
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The New England Patriots made an interesting move that will look to bolster their pass rush. The Pats are bringing in a martial arts expert to help their ability to get to the quarterback.

The New England Patriots are known to go to extreme lengths to try to win. Winning is everything right? In a move that is interesting to say the least, a mixed martial arts expert will be assisting Patriots defensive line coach, Brendan Daly as the duo looks to improve the d-line this offseason.

The expert is Joe Kim, a former member of the United States national team. Kim will look to improve pass rushers hand-to-hand combat.

This isn’t the first time that Kim has worked under Patriots head coach Bill Belichick. Belichick actually gave Kim his first job in football back when he was the head coach of the Cleveland Browns.

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This isn’t that unorthodox of a move since hand combat is apart of every play on the line. Having a martial art expert may be like having Tom Brady teach you how to throw a football. Football fans even saw LA Rams defensive lineman Aaron Donald practicing with Knives (it was later found out the knives were not real, but still that is a scary sight).

Plenty of room for improvement

The Patriots defense was alright at putting pressure on the quarterback. They were ranked 16th in the NFL in sacks. Their top pass rusher, Trey Flowers only had 6.5 sacks.

The ability to get to the quarterback can change the entire outlook of a game. Once a QB starts seeing ghosts an entire offense can crumble.

The Patriots made another move in the offseason that should help out the pass rush as well. Adrian Clayborn signed with the team and should improve the Pats d-line tenfold. He had 9.5 sacks last season which was the most in his career.

With Dont’a Hightower returning, the Patriots defense could be one of the best in the league. After losing a good chunk of their offense in free agency the defense will play a much larger role. Brady can’t bail you out every game.

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The cliche has proven to be true time and time again… defense wins championships. We saw how the lack of defense in Super Bowl 52 cost the Patriots the game. If the Patriots can have a great pass rush we may see another banner hanging from Gillette Stadium.

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