Patriots bend, seldom break
Bill Belichick has overseen some of the NFL’s top defenses in the 42 years he has spent in the NFL. He was the defensive coordinator for two Super Bowl championship teams with the New York Giants, and he’s a fivetime champion as head coach of the Patriots.
But you won’t hear anyone make a case for any of Belichick’s defenses to rank among the NFL’s all-time best. Those accolades usually go to teams such as the 1976 Steelers, the 1985 Chicago Bears and 2000 Baltimore Ravens, all of whom dominated the league in every statistical category.
The Patriots don’t have the statistics to back them up, but Belichick has mastered the concept of the “bend-but-don’t-break” defense. His defense this season is the perfect example.
The Patriots are 29th in yards allowed, giving up a whopping 374 yards per game. But they’re tied for fifth in scoring defense, yielding 19.2 points per game.
When the Patriots play in the shadow of their own end zone is when they are at their best. They are seventh in the NFL in red-zone defense as opponents score touchdowns on fewer than half their trips inside the Patriots 20.
“They’re the definition of a team that bends but doesn’t break,” running back Le’Veon Bell said. “They technically are not very good in first and second downs. But on third downs they’re excellent. They get off the field. In the red zone, they get off the field. The possessions downs\ and red zone is where they specialize, and we have to capitalize.”
The Steelers know this better than any other team. In the AFC championship in January, the Steelers didn’t have trouble moving the ball. They totaled 368 yards, but scored only 17 points.
Much of that had to do with some memorable struggles in the red zone. The Steelers had first-and-goal at the New England 1 late in the first half and had a chance to cut the lead to three or four by scoring a touchdown. But the Steelers lost 4 yards in three plays and settled for a field goal to make it 17-9 at halftime.
Early in the fourth quarter, when they trailed, 33-9, the Steelers turned the ball over on downs after having first-and-goal at the New England 6. They finished 1 for 3 in the red zone, and that sequence late in the first half changed the tenor of the game. The Patriots outscored the Steelers, 16-0, in the third quarter and ran away with a 36-17 victory.
“We just talked about it,” offensive lineman David DeCastro said Thursday afternoon. “That’s where they make their money, in those situations, in those key plays. We were far from good in that game. We have to put an emphasis on those types of plays and be locked in.
“They give you the yards, but they’re bend but don’t break. They’re very good at that and they take pride in that. They’re great in situational football. They’ll let you get a couple yards, but they’re very good at playing the game of football in a very fundamental fashion.”
Offensive coordinator Todd Haley said eliminating big mistakes such as the ones the Steelers had in the AFC championship will be vitally important.
“It’s situational football,” he said. “We didn’t execute. Third downs … we had very good opportunities where we didn’t finish the play, whether it was a dropped ball or a miss. Generally, it was dropped balls. We had a goal-line situation where we had first-and-goal at the 1, and we had to settle for a field goal. When you do that, those kinds of things, it’s going to be rough against a very good offense like they have.”
This season it doesn’t look like a very favorable matchup for the Steelers, either. The Steelers are 25th in the league in red-zone efficiency. They’ve scored touchdowns on only 48 percent of their trips inside the 20.
The good news is the Steelers have been better in recent games. They’ve scored touchdowns on 70 percent of their trips to the red zone in their past three games, including going 3 for 4 against the Ravens.
Bell scored twice on runs of 1 and 11 yards, and fullback Roosevelt Nix scored on a 1-yard pass from Roethlisberger. On six rushing attempts inside the opponent’s 5, this season Bell has scored touchdowns on five of them.
“If you just look at the stat sheet and yards given up, you’d think it was a bottom of the league defense, but that’s not the case at all,” Haley said. “Yards really don’t mean anything. It’s how many points you score on offense and how many you give up on defense. They’re a very stingy defense. They’re under 20 points per game. That’ll be the challenge for us. We’re going to have to be at our best.”