DEFENSIVE NOTES
□ Personnel breakdown: 49% three-cornerback nickel package, 30% dime, 17% base, dollar 2%, goal-line 2%.** □ Pressure rate: 23% □ Blitz rate: 27% □ Blitz efficacy: 5 yards allowed per dropback, sack □ Yards per carry allowed: 4.5 □ Third downs: 7-15 □ Red-zone efficiency: 2-3 □ Sacks: Kyle Van Noy
□ QB hits: None
□ Hurries: Deatrich Wise 2, Team 2, Josh Uche □ Run stuffs: Matt Judon, Wise,
Team □ Interceptions: None □ Pass deflections: J.C. Jackson,
Adrian Phillips
□ Missed tackles: Van Noy 2, Lawrence Guy, Daniel Ekuale
□ The Patriots simply did little to nothing to make Miami uncomfortable. They finished with three tackles for loss, including one recorded when the Dolphins were trying to bleed clock.
□ It’s an ongoing trend for this defense, which has managed just 10 TFLs in four games since the bye. Unable to create negative plays, they’re banking on offenses backing themselves into obvious passing situations, and it hasn’t happened.
□ To wit: Miami ran the same runpass-option play 12 times, the last for a 15-yard gain that jump-started their final drive that knocked the Pats out. That one RPO -- a counter run paired with a curl-flat route combination -- produced four first downs.
□ Those RPOs kept the Dolphins on schedule and allowed them to play their preferred style of offense.
□ Unlike the RPOs, the Patriots adjusted well to Miami scheming them up with various wheel-route combinations against zone coverage. Either J.C. Jackson or Kyle Van Noy failed to carry Jaylen Waddle upfield and into the end zone, where he scored the game’s first touchdown on the Dolphins’ opening drive.
□ When the Pats forced an incompletion or short rushing gain, Tua Tagovailoa crumpled in every obvious passing situation, save for the two second-half scrambles that led to one score and a win.
□ Including Tagovailoa’s last scramble, much of the Patriots’ problems (poor run defense, inconsistent pressure) could have been solved by a better performance from Matt Judon. He was a net negative Sunday for reasons outlined above, after spending 13-plus weeks as the team’s arguable MVP.
□ It’s fair to expect Judon will play better in the Wild Card game, unless he fails to set the edge against the run. The Pats pulled him after the 27-yarder in the third quarter (Miami’s longest gain of the day) until the next obvious passing down, which came several snaps later.
□ The Patriots dearly missed Dont’a Hightower, who was ruled out with a knee injury. They needed a heady, hard-hitting linebacker for a game like that.
□ Practice-squad cornerback D’Angelo Ross held his own bouncing between nickelback and safety. He even defended Waddle on a key third-down pass that fell incomplete.
Source: Statistics for passing depth, broken tackles and missed tackles courtesy of Pro Football Focus.
*11 personnel = one running back, one tight end; 12 personnel = one running back, two tight ends; 21F personnel = two backs, one tight end; 21H personnel = two halfbacks, one tight end.
**Base defense = four defensive backs; nickel defense = five defensive backs; dime defense = six defensive backs; dollar defense = seven defensive backs.