New England Patriots: 3 biggest obstacles heading into 2018 NFL season
By Ryan Feyre
3. The defense
Right now, the New England Patriots are slated as the 29th best defense in the league, according to NFL.com, giving up an average of 366 yards per game in 2017. Belichick’s squad had a knack for giving up big games to lesser known quarterbacks in that year, especially Alex Smith and Nick Foles (the latter one hurts).
In the 2017 Super Bowl, the defense gave up 538 total yards to Foles, and surrendered 41 points, which was the second most in the Belichick and Brady era. The most points they’ve given up occurred in Week 1 against the Kansas City Chiefs (with 42). Not a good way to end the year.
The Pats ranked 31st in rush defense, and gave up 6.1 yards per carry in the Super Bowl against the Eagles. The organization also lost Malcolm Butler and defensive coordinator Matt Patricia, meaning this could also be a trial and error type year with the Pats organization refusing to hire another coordinator.
They did sign Atlanta Falcons star defensive end Adrian Clayborn, and he hopes to start across from Malcolm Brown and Danny Shelton. Clayborn is a much-needed signing, especially since he recorded a career-high 9.5 sacks in 2017 (it’s worth noting that six of those came in one game against a beat-up Cowboys team).
Nonetheless, it’s a critical pick-up for a thin defensive line, notably because of Kony Ealy’s poor performance and Rob Ninkovich’s retirement.
Eric Rowe looked pretty incompetent in the Super Bowl, giving up 137 yards in all on 6-7 from Foles. New England’s cornerback play was particularly underwhelming throughout the entire 2017 season, including the playoffs.
With Dont’a Hightower and Trey Flowers back, this defense may not be as bad as last year’s. Regardless, the secondary is the weakest it’s been in quite awhile.
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The defense was probably at its best in the middle of the regular season in 2017 (where it became a top ten defense ironically for a short period of time), most likely because of Belichick’s greatness. New England needs more of that to occur for any progress to happen in 2018, especially without Patricia at the helm.