The Patriots are officially onto their bye week, and they enter it coming off of a dominant 26-3 win over the Indianapolis Colts.
They also enter the bye week with a contender for the NFL’s Defensive Player of the Year award. Linebacker Matthew Judon has cemented himself firmly in the conversation, with top five odds to win it according to our partners at BetOnline.ag:
Odds to Win 2022 Defensive Player of the Year
Micah Parsons -210
Nick Bosa +650
Myles Garrett +1200
Matthew Judon +1200
Aaron Donald +2800
Maxx Crosby +2800
Za’Darius Smith +1800
Sitting behind only Micah Parsons (-210) of the Cowboys and Nick Bosa (+650) of the 49ers, Judon is certainly deserving of the award at the halfway point of 2022. He is the NFL’s sack leader with 11.5, he is second in pressures with 44, and is fourth in tackles for loss with 10.
He was dominant on Sunday against the Colts as well, tallying three sacks, four QB hits, and six tackles. I asked Judon after the game how he was able to have such success against them:
“The grace of God, for real. My teammates go out there, put me in great situations to execute. My coaches call good calls. I’m just willing to do whatever I need to do for our defense to have success. Whatever that is, however it looks and however I need to play, I’m willing to do it. Today it was just one of those games.”
Teammate Josh Uche, who also had three sacks yesterday, talked about Judon’s success this season:
“I see it up close and personal each and every day in practice, so I’m not surprised. This is one of the greatest I’ve ever seen in my life so it’s an honor to be able to learn from him and watch his game each and every day, I have him give me advice too so it’s definitely good.”
Judon was also a monster before the Patriots bye week last season, but he completely fell off after it. He did not have any sacks after the bye and tallied just five total pressures.
As Brian Hines of Pats Pulpit noted, Judon “is playing slightly over 10% less of the snaps than he was at this point last season,” and that this could help him transition better down the stretch of 2022.
New England is going to heavily rely on their defense to continue playing the way they are with their offense still in disarray – and that all starts with Matthew Judon.
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