{"id":59479,"date":"2020-12-01T15:37:14","date_gmt":"2020-12-01T20:37:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.clnsmedia.com\/?p=59479"},"modified":"2021-08-30T05:28:42","modified_gmt":"2021-08-30T05:28:42","slug":"lazar-patriots-defense-special-teams-must-continue-to-give-offense-shorter-fields","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.clnsmedia.com\/?p=59479","title":{"rendered":"Lazar: Patriots Defense, Special Teams Must Continue to Give Offense Shorter Fields"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">The Patriots offense led by quarterback Cam Newton has its limitations, but up until last week, they weren\u2019t getting much help from their defense or special teams.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">This season, New England\u2019s offense ranks 30th in the NFL with an average starting field position of the 25.7-yard line, meaning they need to go nearly 75 yards for a touchdown.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Believe it or not, Newton and the Pats offense is making progress on their possessions, gaining an average of 40.3 yards per drive, which is the second-most in the league only behind Kansas City.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">However, New England is 27th in offensive points per game (19.8); they\u2019re gaining yards but cannot string together consecutive positive plays on long drives to finish with touchdowns.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Asking an offense that doesn\u2019t recover easily from negative plays or produce many explosive plays to drive the length of the field routinely is feeding into their issues as much as anything.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Last week, the Pats offense, which only scored 20 points due to its own struggles, finally got some short fields thanks to the other two phases, a more sustainable formula moving forward.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">New England had two monster returns of over 50 yards in the kicking game against the Cardinals, and Adrian Phillips\u2019s interception set the Pats up on Arizona\u2019s 31-yard line.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">The Patriots scored 17 of their 20 points off those short fields, which is the type of complementary football head coach Bill Belichick wants.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">&#8220;That\u2019s always something you want to do. Play good complementary football and the units helping each other out \u2013 giving the defense field position, defense and special teams trying to create field position for the offense, and then the offense taking advantage of it when we get it,&#8221; Belichick told CLNS Media on Tuesday.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">&#8220;We\u2019ve turned the ball over a decent amount this year. We haven&#8217;t had a lot of return production until last Sunday. But, yeah, the field position, putting the offense on a short field, that\u2019s our objective every week.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<div style=\"width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.250%;\"><iframe style=\"width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute; left: 0px; top: 0px; overflow: hidden;\" src=\"https:\/\/streamable.com\/e\/lvmcyy\" width=\"100%\" height=\"100%\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">The Patriots won\u2019t get field-flipping returns from Donte Moncrief and Gunner Olszewski every week, but they should also get better quarterback play from Cam Newton.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">In the win over Arizona, Newton\u2019s downfield accuracy hit rock-bottom.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">The veteran quarterback is an inconsistent mechanical thrower, which we\u2019ve discussed at length, so let\u2019s not beat a dead horse. Still, Sunday\u2019s win was even worse than anything we\u2019ve seen this season from Cam.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-59480\" src=\"https:\/\/www.clnsmedia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/CamCPOEChart-500x309.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"309\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">As the chart above shows, Week 12 was an outlier. Newton\u2019s completion percentage over expected differential of -16.9 was by far his worst output of the season, and he was pretty stable in his other nine starts. Yes, some games were better than others, but it was never\u00a0<\/span><em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">that\u00a0<\/span><\/em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">bad.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-59481\" src=\"https:\/\/www.clnsmedia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/CamOnTargetPctChart-500x309.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"309\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Here\u2019s further evidence that Newton\u2019s performance last week was an anomaly, using Sports Info Solutions\u2019 on-target percentage to show that Cam cratered in a way we haven\u2019t seen before.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Assuming Newton\u2019s poor performance was a one-game thing rather than a trend, the Patriots&#8217; offense, aided by more favorable field position, will hopefully look better than it did on Sunday.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Furthermore, they\u2019re finding a formula defensively that allows defensive play-caller Steve Belichick to use an effective pressure package to create negative plays in passing situations.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">At various points this season, I\u2019ve written about the struggles of the Patriots&#8217; defense and how those are more troubling than issues offensively.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Below, we\u2019ll go over how the Patriots defense is making strides to improve on early-downs, which awakens their potent third-and-long schemes that generate sacks and turnovers.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h4><strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">IMPROVING EARLY-DOWN DEFENSE<\/span><\/strong><\/h4>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">The key to getting into obvious passing situations where the Patriots can dial up pressure and produce turnovers is better early-down defense.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">This season, the Patriots defense is 30th in expected points added and dead-last in success rate on first and second down, but we are starting to see signs of improvement.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Over the last four weeks, New England is fifth in expected points added per rush, a noticeable improvement, and their early-down pass defense was much better against Arizona as well.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">The Cardinals produced an EPA of 0.04 and a success rate of 42 percent on first and second down against the Patriots defense, a significant improvement for New England.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h5><em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">RUN DEFENSE<\/span><\/em><\/h5>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Entering Week 12, the Cardinals had the fifth-best rushing attack in the league based on Football Outsiders\u2019 DVOA efficiency metric, but the Pats held them in check all afternoon. In fact, Arizona\u2019s EPA per rush was in the negative against New England (-0.10).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">The Pats\u2019 plan against Kyler Murray and the Cardinals\u2019 running game was to force Arizona\u2019s running backs to beat them by encouraging Murray to hand the ball off on read-option plays.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">By subtracting Murray from the equation, they got the ball out of Arizona\u2019s most dangerous ball carriers\u2019 hands, and then their defensive line and linebackers went to work on the backs.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">New England got exceptional efforts out of Lawrence Guy, Adam Butler, Deatrich Wise, Akeem Spence, Ja\u2019Whaun Bentley, and others to shut down Arizona\u2019s rushing attack.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">The big bodies up front had arguably their best games of the season, occupying combination blocks on the line, allowing Bentley, who had a team-high six stops, to make plays.<\/span><\/p>\n<div style=\"width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 54.850%;\"><iframe style=\"width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute; left: 0px; top: 0px; overflow: hidden;\" src=\"https:\/\/streamable.com\/e\/kw6cwr\" width=\"100%\" height=\"100%\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Here\u2019s a great example of both New England\u2019s strategy and Lawrence Guy\u2019s block-eating abilities in the trenches. First, Chase Winovich (right) sets a wide edge to encourage a handoff. Guy makes the play, though, by occupying the front side combo from the right guard and center to keep Bentley clean behind him. With none of the O-Line reaching the second level due to Guy and Spence, Bentley is free to mirror the running back and makes the stop.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">The Patriots continued to set wide edges, sometimes with dual-edge rushers, to make sure Murray didn\u2019t beat them with his legs, and again, Guy and company were tremendous.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<div style=\"width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 53.053%;\"><iframe style=\"width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute; left: 0px; top: 0px; overflow: hidden;\" src=\"https:\/\/streamable.com\/e\/41hus2\" width=\"100%\" height=\"100%\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">In this play, rookie Anfernee Jennings sets the edge to encourage a handoff to the back, while slot corner Jonathan Jones covers Andy Isabella\u2019s route on the RPO. With Murray\u2019s options of running and throwing shut down, he gives it to the running back, and Guy once again defeats a double-team. The combination here is for the left guard to displace Guy and then climb to Terez Hall on the inside zone scheme, but it never happens because Guy holds up both blockers, keeping the linebackers clean, and Bentley and Hall flow to the ball carrier.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Although those are only two plays, I could show you several more where New England\u2019s defensive line spearheaded one of their best days of run defense on the season.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<div style=\"width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.250%;\"><iframe style=\"width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute; left: 0px; top: 0px; overflow: hidden;\" src=\"https:\/\/streamable.com\/e\/1vnma6\" width=\"100%\" height=\"100%\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Even when the Cardinals designed running plays for Murray, the Patriots were ready. Above, the Cardinals try to run a crack-block scheme for Murray to get out on the edge. However, Stephon Gilmore replaces the edge defenders when Hopkins goes to block, gets outside leverage on the motion block, and ushers Murray out of bounds.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">The Patriots defense, which ranks 28th in DVOA against the run, has struggled to stop the run for most of the season. But are hopefully building towards a turnaround in that department.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h5><em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">PLAY-ACTION\/RPO COVERAGE<\/span><\/em><\/h5>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Another troubling trend for the Patriots defense this season is their failures against play-action, which speaks to their lacking coverage at the second level.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">New England allows a league-worst 7.99 passing yards per attempt against play-action and are 21st in EPA per play, but they might be rounding into form there too.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Last week, Murray averaged just 3.9 yards per pass attempt on his 12 play-action pass attempts with a passer rating of 68.3.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<div style=\"width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.020%;\"><iframe style=\"width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute; left: 0px; top: 0px; overflow: hidden;\" src=\"https:\/\/streamable.com\/e\/il8r8e\" width=\"100%\" height=\"100%\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">In the audio breakdown above, the Patriots expertly pass off a \u201cdino\u201d concept with double posts to the quarterbacks right trying to put the deep safety in conflict and Bentley \u201crobots\u201d underneath the tight end\u2019s crossing route in a perfect coverage rep for the Pats defense.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Thanks in part to the emergence of rookie safety Kyle Dugger, the Pats are also getting better at defending passes behind the line or motion screens that torched them against the Niners.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<div style=\"width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 55.439%;\"><iframe style=\"width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute; left: 0px; top: 0px; overflow: hidden;\" src=\"https:\/\/streamable.com\/e\/ak9as7\" width=\"100%\" height=\"100%\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Here, the Cardinals try a similar motion screen to Andy Isabella, but Jonathan Jones defeats the block by the tight end, and Dugger closes in a hurry to make the stop for a short gain.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Now that the Patriots are making stops on first and second down, their defense&#8217;s real strength can shine with their third-down schemes.<\/span><\/p>\n<h4><strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">UNLOCKING THE PRESSURE PACKAGES<\/span><\/strong><\/h4>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">With an average of 5.7 yards to go on third down, New England put themselves in a position to pressure Murray in passing situations.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">The Patriots are a good third-and-long defense, ranking seventh in third-down conversion rate on third-and-7 or longer, but have seen the third-fewest third-and-longs this season. Again, crappy early-down defense.<\/span><\/p>\n<h5><em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">COVER-ZERO SCHEMES<\/span><\/em><\/h5>\n<div style=\"width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 55.172%;\"><iframe style=\"width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute; left: 0px; top: 0px; overflow: hidden;\" src=\"https:\/\/streamable.com\/e\/56vn9n\" width=\"100%\" height=\"100%\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">In this audio breakdown, we\u2019ll go over a third-and-12 where the Patriots show a cover-zero blitz, but defensive tackle Adam Butler drops off the line into an underneath zone. The Patriots show a seven-man pressure before the snap, leaving the running back on Chase Winovich, and Butler and Myles Bryant pop-out underneath Murray\u2019s \u201chot\u201d route to force an incomplete pass.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Although they\u2019re playing without a deep safety, the Pats don\u2019t always bring all-out pressure. Instead, they\u2019ll threaten pressure to get either a free rusher or droppers into passing lanes.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<div style=\"width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 55.536%;\"><iframe style=\"width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute; left: 0px; top: 0px; overflow: hidden;\" src=\"https:\/\/streamable.com\/e\/0m41fc\" width=\"100%\" height=\"100%\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">In the third quarter, the Pats show another all-out blitz against an empty formation. Murray knows he needs to get rid of the ball quickly, as does the defense, so Winovich and Bentley get into the passing lane of Murray\u2019s \u201chot\u201d route. The two force Murray to hold the ball in the pocket, and Adam Butler tips his eventual pass attempt in the air, and it\u2019s intercepted.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h5><em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">SIMULATED PRESSURES\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/h5>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Along with cover-zero blitzes and bluffs, the Patriots will simulate pressure in other ways to get one-on-one matchups and take advantage of protection rules for the offensive line.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<div style=\"width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 54.973%;\"><iframe style=\"width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute; left: 0px; top: 0px; overflow: hidden;\" src=\"https:\/\/streamable.com\/e\/27fdfu\" width=\"100%\" height=\"100%\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Here, the Patriots show a five-man pressure before the snap, but Phillips drops off the line into coverage. Although Phillips drops, the right tackle and guard still step to him and Wise on the right side, which opens a path to the quarterback for Winovich when he wraps on the stunt.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">New England\u2019s defense was going to take a step back given the roster turnover, but dropping to 32nd in the league in DVOA was not the plan heading into the season.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">With the defense failing to get off the field and the return units struggling, the Patriots\u2019 formula of good defense and special teams setting up their offense for easy scores vanished.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Unfortunately, it could be too little too late for New England\u2019s playoff hopes, as they only have a 12 percent chance of making the postseason, according to FiveThirtyEight.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">But the formula we saw on Sunday from Bill Belichick\u2019s team was the script they wanted all along. Now Cam and the offense needs to take advantage.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Patriots offense led by quarterback Cam Newton has its limitations, but up until last week, they weren\u2019t getting much help from their defense or special teams.\u00a0 This season, New England\u2019s offense ranks 30th in the NFL with an average starting field position of the 25.7-yard line, meaning they need to go nearly 75 yards<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":131993,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[523,210],"class_list":["post-59479","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-cardinals","tag-patriots"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Lazar: Patriots Defense, Special Teams Must Continue to Give Offense Shorter Fields - 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