Rush Hour premieres
Pats log 7 sacks as Roberts stars in role
FOXBORO — In the fourth quarter of his team’s 35-17 win against the Miami Dolphins yesterday, Elandon Roberts lined up a few yards off the line of scrimmage, eyes in the backfield, waiting for his opportunity to pounce.
Dolphins center Mike Pouncey apparently never even considered that the Patriots linebacker was about to blitz. After he sent a shotgun snap to quarterback Matt Moore, Pouncey moved to his right on a double team. Roberts flew in untouched and sacked Moore for a 10-yard loss.
The play served as a microcosm for a defense that registered a season-high seven sacks. Yes, it was a good pass-rushing day for a defense that came into the game with just 17 sacks on the season, 28th in the league.
“You get those, you’ve just got to make the play,” said Roberts, who along with defensive end Trey Flowers had two sacks .
Linebacker Eric Lee, cornerback Jonathan Jones and linebacker Kyle Van Noy added one sack each.
“If it happens like that, I’ll take it,” Roberts said.
However, the high number of sacks doesn’t tell the whole story. Although the Dolphins allowed only 18 sacks coming into the contest, they don’t have a very stout offensive line. And as coach Bill Belichick noted, Miami was in comeback mode the whole game, which made it easier for the Patriots to pin their ears back and go after Moore.
“I think the score had a lot to do with that,” Belichick said. “Any time you can get ahead in the game, most of the second half … there’s a lot of passing, a lot of pass rush with the lead, so it gives you the opportunity to rush the passer better.”
The other moments that made for a little less excitement over the sack attack had to do with injuries. Defensive end Trey Flowers sacked Moore for an 11-yard loss at the Dolphins 6 in the third quarter. But Flowers came out of the game with a rib injury and after a brief reappearance, left the field for good.
Later, Van Noy dropped Moore for an 8-yard sack on the play after Roberts’ free run at the quarterback, but Van Noy also went down with what the Patriots announced as a leg injury.
Although Flowers spoke to reporters after the game, it is still up in the air how serious the injuries are to both he and Van Noy. If either misses a significant amount of time, it would be a huge blow to a defense that is playing its best football of the season.
But defensive end Deatrich Wise knows the Pats can’t concentrate on that.
“When people go down, guys step up,” Wise said, “and the outcome is like this.”