Staff talks up defense
Communication plays key role
FOXBORO — The Patriots’ defensive communication issues that plagued the unit through the opening month of the season have markedly improved, but there’s still room to grow.
And that’s true with or without linebacker Dont’a Hightower, who was lost for the season to a torn pectoral muscle, at least according to Patriots linebackers coach Brian Flores.
A self-proclaimed “stickler” for communication, Flores has seen the unit get better, but he’s been around the game long enough to know there will always be breakdowns, no matter how hard you try to avoid them.
“It’s never really where you want it to be,” Flores said. “I mean, football’s an imperfect game ... the guys are working at it every day. It’s never going to be where we want it to be, but we just try to get it to a high level. That’s really what we’re looking for.”
And that’s what the Patriots have received, especially of late. The defense opened the season in dreadful form, giving up huge plays regularly and allowing 32 points per game as the Patriots got off to a 2-2 start.
After a 33-30 loss to the Carolina Panthers in Week 4, the defense vowed things would change. Hightower returned to the middle of the defense and the results improved. The defense allowed 12.75 points per game over the past four games, all wins, including Sunday’s 21-13 victory against the Los Angeles Charges that Hightower missed.
The biggest difference has been that communication.
“It’s tough,” Flores said. “Teams give us a lot of different looks, we have a few different things going on, a few different guys playing different positions, but I think we’ve done a pretty solid job overall. But there’s always room for improvement, always room for improvement. I’m a stickler on the communication, having coached safeties and now backers, so those groups are definitely centrally located, gotta talk to a lot of different positions and we just have to get it done.”
And it’s not limited to the linebacking group. As Flores alluded to, the safeties have a responsibility to the communication aspect, and with veterans like Devin McCourty, Duron Harmon and Patrick Chung in the back, it’s certainly no exception.
That group has certainly helped spark the turnaround.
“I think you have to give credit to the players,” safeties coach Steve Belichick said. “They worked hard and worked through the problems . ... They figured it out and they did a good job of getting it right on the field.”
The loss of Hightower complicates matters as the Patriots head into the second half of their season following this weekend’s bye. The defense played well without him Sunday, and it will be up to the linebacking group as a whole to make up for the absence.
Kyle Van Noy reasserted himself in the middle of the defense and is the primary communicator who receives plays from the sideline, then relays them to the rest of the group.
“I think when you lose a player like (Hightower) you just band together and everyone has to do a little bit more,” Flores said. “Everyone just has to do a little bit more, a little bit more communication, some of the guys have to play a little bit different positions, but as a (linebacking) group, hopefully we can get five guys, six guys, and as a group I think we’ve done a pretty decent job of trying to get that accomplished in this last game . . . .
“It’s Marquis Flowers in his role, David Harris stepping up and taking more plays, Elandon (Roberts) from a communication standpoint, Kyle and his different roles,” Flores added.
“Everyone has to step up a little bit.”