The Patriots’ pass rush is ready to reload again
Inside the Patriots’ defensive playbook lies an agonizing choice Bill Belichick has foisted upon his opponents for years. A true “pick your poison.” First, his defensive line aligns to isolate a single offensive lineman, usually the center, across from two hovering linebackers. At the snap, both ‘backers rush with an eye on the lineman, forcing him to choose between blitzers. Once the lineman declares, the blocked linebacker backs away, while the other continues on a warpath to the quarterback untouched. Easy enough, right? Not so fast. This concept requires timing, coordination and communication over several reps to perfect. It’s a way to generate pressure and unpredictability on the cheap. And it’s one of a few reasons the Patriots’ can still harass quarterbacks this season despite losing three of their best pass rushers in Dont’a Hightower, Kyle Van Noy and Jamie Collins.
Because the foundation of the their pass rush, the principle that allows it to become more frightening than the sum of its parts,
remains in Foxboro: Belichick’s system.
To wit: the Pats ranked 22nd in ESPN’s Team Pass Rush Win Rate last season, a metric that measures how often a team’s pass rushers defeat blocks within 2.5 seconds, the average time a quarterback holds the ball post-snap. Despite fielding Hightower, Van Noy and Collins, Patriot pass rushers individually proved unspectacular in 2019. Yet together, they were special.
As a defense, the Patriots ranked in the top 10 for both sacks and pressure rate. Running stunts and designed pressures, Hightower and Collins became two of the NFL’s most productive linebackers as blitzers, per Pro Football Focus data. Together with Van Noy, they thrived through the scheme edges Belichick handed them, and their thorough, down-todown understanding of his system, from the defensive line to the deepest safety.
That understanding is key because much like Belichick’s devilish blitz designs, this type of global knowledge is being passed to their successors in training camp; an education as central to the Pats’ future pass rush success as reading the turn of a helpless center.
Take it from Brandon Copeland, a veteran outside linebacker formerly with the Jets, Lions and Ravens who could help replace Van Noy this season.
“It’s not typical that your nose tackle would have a thorough understanding of what your safety was doing or your cornerback,” Copeland explained Thursday.
“By us doing that and understanding that here, it allows you to play much faster on defense because you know where everyone is around you. You know where to push the ball to, all of that type of stuff.”
Not only that, but Patriots defenders can cover for one another in case of emergency. They can switch blitz responsibilities pre-snap — if given permission by the staff — thereby amplifying their multiplicity and scheme advantages on the fly. None of this always goes smoothly, but the options are always there.