USA TODAY International Edition
Patriots defense silences critics in statement game
FOXBOROUGH, MASS. The New England Patriots knew it was out there — the criticism that the team’s defense hadn’t faced a top offense in the NFL.
That changed Sunday when the Pittsburgh Steelers rolled into town for the AFC Championship Game.
“We try not to focus too much on the media, but we hear it,” safety Duron Harmon said. “It’s everywhere. We heard that we weren’t tested all year. We wanted to come out here, do what we were supposed to do, play good, fundamental football, take away their targets and try to make them beat us in other places.” The Steelers didn’t. The Patriots beat Pittsburgh 37- 16 to clinch a trip to Super Bowl LI against the Atlanta Falcons, in large part, because of a dominant performance by their defense.
The Patriots led the NFL in scoring defense during the regular season, allowing 15.6 points per game.
The criticism, however, was that those numbers came against subpar offenses and even worse quarterbacks. Consider this: Since Week 11, New England has faced Colin Kaepernick of the San Francisco 49ers, Ryan Fitzpatrick of the New York Jets ( twice), rookie Jared Goff of the Los Angeles Rams, Joe Flacco of the Baltimore Ravens, Trevor Siemian of the Denver Broncos and Matt Moore of the Miami Dolphins.
Then, in the divisional round of the playoffs, the Patriots got Brock Osweiler of the Houston Texans.
But after dispatching the highpowered offense of the Steelers that boasts quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, receiver Antonio Brown and running back Le’Veon Bell, who left the game in the second quarter with a groin injury, those critiques are no longer valid.
“I think there’s a lot of noise always,” Patriots quarterback Tom Brady said of the defense. “Sometimes you don’t always have it figured out four games into the year. There are a lot of moving parts. I practice against those guys every day, and it’s hard to complete passes. I know if I can’t complete them against our defense, then we should be fine on Sunday. Our guys do such a great job in the pass game and so many great pressures they’ve got, and they’ve got a lot of great scheme stuff.
“To slow down an offense like that was pretty great.”
Up next, however, is New England’s toughest test.
The Atlanta Falcons have been the NFL’s most explosive offense all season, and the unit seems to be peaking after scoring 44 points against the Green Bay Packers in the NFC Championship Game.
Patriots cornerback Malcolm Butler shadowed Brown for the majority of Sunday’s game, allowing New England’s defense to be more aggressive in attacking Pittsburgh’s other skill- position players. According to Pro Football Focus, Brown caught two passes for 24 yards on four tar- gets when Butler covered him. Butler also broke up one pass.
With Falcons receiver Julio Jones presenting similar matchup issues, the Patriots might opt to do something similar.
Butler’s coverage was just one part of the way the Patriots smothered the Steelers.
One of the pivotal sequences of the game came late in the second quarter. It looked like Pittsburgh had scored on a 19- yard reception to tight end Jesse James. Upon review, however, it was ruled that James was tackled short of the end zone.
On the next play, Patriots line- backer Dont’a Hightower and safety Patrick Chung stuffed running back DeAngelo Williams for a 1- yard loss. After that, defensive tackle Vincent Valentine broke through Pittsburgh’s offensive line to bring Williams back for a 3- yard loss. Then quarterback Ben Roethlisberger misfired on a third- down pass, so the Steelers settled for a field goal to make it 17- 9 heading into halftime.
“It was big for us,” defensive end Chris Long told reporters after the game. “It kept it a twoscore ballgame, so it was a momentum swing, and from there, we didn’t really look back.”