How the Patriots defense can shut down Miami
For most of the week, the Patriots had a personnel problem.
Only three cornerbacks on the active roster were available in practice, with Jalen Mills, Jack Jones and Marcus Jones all sidelined by injury. Their combined absences reshuffled the depth chart and cut parts of the playbook. On Sunday, the Pats will have a new personnel problem that exacerbates their old one.
The NFL’S best and most explosive receiver duo, Miami’s Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle, are coming to town. Hill and Waddle both rank in the top six for receiving yards and have combined for 180 catches, 2,892 yards and 15 touchdowns. When the Dolphins hosted the Pats in Week 1, they went off for 12 catches, 165 yards and a score.
The good news is Miami will be starting backup quarterback Teddy Bridgewater, though most Patriots defenders claimed this week the most striking difference between him and starter Tua Tagovailoa is their throwing hand (Bridgewater is righthanded and Tagovailoa a lefty).
So how can the Patriots contain Hill and Waddle with their playoff hopes at stake? Here’s a three-point plan to keep pushing for the postseason:
1. Disrupt the route timing
During the Dolphins’ ongoing four-game losing streak, opponents have found success bringing the fight to Hill and Waddle. Whether in man or zone coverage, defenses have disrupted Miami’s passing rhythm by hitting their receivers near or at the line of scrimmage. This prevented Tagovailoa, who owns one of the quickest snap-tothrow time averages this season, from unleashing short passes that would beat the pass rush and could create long yards-after- catch opportunities.
Patriots cornerback
Myles Bryant emphasized the importance of physicality this week.
“Those are two of the fastest guys in the league, so if you leave them untouched and you leave your safety back there without any re-route or help, it makes it hard,” Bryant said. “I don’t think there are any (defensive backs) that can just run with them, so being able to stop them at the line of scrimmage and reroute them and make their job harder to get downfield, makes it a lot easier on the deep coverage.”
The Patriots first introduced this strategy against Hill in the 2019 AFC Championship Game, when they played predominantly man coverage and hit him, Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce and Kansas City’s other pass catchers all over the field. While that effort sprung an upset, don’t expect much man on Sunday.
2. Play a ton of zone again
Over the past three weeks, the Patriots’ defensive game plans versus Arizona, Las Vegas and Cincinnati have been bound by a single common thread.
A high rate of zone coverage.
The Pats pivoted from their preferred man- toman after Minnesota’s Justin Jefferson and Buffalo’s Stefon Diggs burnt them in consecutive weeks. In Arizona, All-pro wideout Deandre Hopkins caught seven passes for 79 yards versus a zone-heavy plan, though most were empty calories. The same held true for Davante Adams (four catches, 28 yards) and Ja’marr Chase (eight catches, 79 yards), against whom the Pats played zone on close to 70% and 90% of their coverage snaps, respectively.
The simple fact is the Patriots don’t have the cornerback talent or depth to cover elite wideouts. Jonathan Jones, who allowed most of Hill’s nine catches in Week 1, is the only corner who stands a chance. Admitting that on the front end will go a long way to the Pats giving themselves a chance in the end against Miami.
“It would be great if we were at 100 percent and everybody was out there. But right now, we aren’t,” said Pats outside linebacker Matt Judon. “And you’ve gotta play with what you have.”
3. Prioritize middle of field
Pick a stat, any stat. Miami’s passing offense ranks among the top three teams in the league attacking the middle of the field by any measure. Thanks to Hill and Waddle’s yards-after- catch ability, the Dolphins average more than 10 yards per pass attempt when throwing over the middle, per Sports Info. Solutions. Tight end Mike Gesicki also offers a mismatch down the seam.
“He’s a hard guy to cover,” Bill Belichick said this week. “Long, he’s a good, crafty route runner. He’s slick, but he can get down the field. Very good hands, makes some acrobatic catches. Has enough quickness to separate. That’s another hard guy to cover on third down. Well, on any down.”
In Week 1, Miami tried to stress Patriots linebackers Ja’whaun Bentley and Jahlani Tavai in the opener, something coach Mike Mcdaniel will likely try to exploit again. Since then, Bentley has been one of the Patriots’ best and most consistent defenders. If he can hold his own against Dolphins running backs in coverage, like he did last week knocking away a touchdown pass to Bengals running back Joe Mixon, the Pats can devote more resources to stopping Hill and Waddle, who should key this game — and especially over the middle of the field.
Said Bryant: “I feel like for Hill, they use him down the field more, they use him for more shots. You see post (routes) going 40, 50 yards downfield, whereas Waddle, it looks like they use him mostly at 15 yards over the field, lot of in- cuts, and he’ll catch ’em and run.”