Mark Daniels: Patriots' defense felt disrespected; that unit is the key to the 2022 season
FOXBORO — Patriots head coach Bill Belichick and his staff have many ways to motivate their players. When it came to finding the right motivation for facing the Detroit Lions, Patriots coaches last week used a similar tactic to one they used during the 2014 season.
Eight years ago, Patriots defensive coaches hung quotes by Lions players who had talked about how they thought they had the best defense in the NFL. Detroit’s defensive stats, showing how high they were ranked, were also hung in the cornerbacks' meeting room. It led Darrelle Revis and Brandon Browner to acknowledge that they were motivated and feeling slighted before the Patriots' 34-9 win in Week 12 that season.
Fast-forward to last week when the Patriots' defense heard a lot about the Lions' offense — that Detroit had the No. 1-ranked offense, topping the league in yards per game as well as points per game at 35. New England's defensive linemen, linebackers and secondary heard about how the Lions ranked fifth in passing yards and rushing yards per game.
On Sunday, they were tired of it and took it out on the Lions.
“It was something that was told to us throughout the week,” defensive lineman Deatrich Wise said. “We knew who they were going in. We made a mission to let everybody know we’re really good, too.”
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“It’s a challenge. These past two weeks, it hasn’t been us,” cornerback Jalen Mills said. “To go against the No. 1 offense in the league as a defense, we knew we had to buckle down.”
The Patriots' defense dominated the NFL’s top offense on Sunday, pitching a shutout in the 29-0 win. While New England fans were overcome with Bailey Zappe fever, it was the defense that showed it is the key to the Patriots' 2022 season — not the team’s quarterback situation.
“Coach does a good job of motivating his guys, motivating us throughout the week so we can go out and compete,” linebacker Raekwon McMillan said. “We’re trying to get to a level where we’re playing championship-level defense every week. It’s a good start.”
Previous game: Brian Hoyer suffers head injury. Bailey Zappe finishes the Patriots game against Packers
New England's defense was motivated
The Patriots' defense began last week frustrated following a 27-24 loss to Green Bay and a 37-26 loss to Baltimore.
They thought they were better than those games showed. They also knew that the Lions were going to try to follow the same blueprint that the Packers and Ravens used. Green Bay rushed for 199 yards and the Ravens for 188.
“They had been putting up 30-40 points pretty much every week besides one and we knew they were going to come in and run the ball,” safety Adrian Phillips said of the Lions. “We knew they were going to watch the past few games and kind of mimic what other teams did against us. With the outfit that they had, we knew if we didn’t stop the run, it was going to be tough.”
The Patriots also believed the Lions were going to go for it on fourth down. Last season, Lions coach Dan Campbell set an NFL record for the most fourth-down attempts with 41 and conversions in a season with 21. On Sunday, the Lions attempted six fourth-down conversions and the Patriots stopped all of them.
“If you go for it on fourth-and-1 on your side of the field, I think it’s a sign of disrespect. Thank God we were able to stop them,” defensive tackle Davon Godchaux said.
“It’s very insulting, but it’s their team. If their coach wants to go for it, let them go for it. I feel like as a defensive lineman, it’s disrespectful.”
Godchaux and Christian Barmore stopped the first fourth-down attempt and it created a ripple effect. Even when the Patriots were up by four touchdowns in the fourth quarter, the defense did not relent. With 9:25 left, McMillan shot through the Lions' offensive line to drop running back Justin Jackson for a 1-yard loss on fourth-and-1. In the next series, the defense defended a Jared Goff pass on fourth down.
Every stop led to more momentum.
“That’s the standard of defense around here," McMillan said. "Any time we’re on the field, we want to go out there and dominate. No exception to who’s out there. There can be two seconds left on the clock; we always expect the next guy to go and compete. It was my chance that time and my guys helped me go out and make a play.”
Defense gained confidence
The Patriots' offense has been inconsistent this season. As it dealt with replacing longtime offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels and the injuries to quarterbacks Mac Jones and Brian Hoyer, the offense has had difficulty scoring points. On Sunday, the Pats settled for five field goals, but when you’re playing with a third-string rookie quarterback, you’ll take that.
The game also served as a reminder of how important the defense is. This group has the chance to be elite. The best player is Matthew Judon, who set a team record with six sacks in the first five games. On top of that, the Pats have a lot of good depth at safety, cornerback and defensive line.
Sunday’s performance was a confidence booster.
“It pumped us up a lot,” safety Jabrill Peppers said. “We felt like we’ve got a pretty good defense, but we went out there and laid a couple eggs the past couple of weeks. We wanted to come out here and put it on tape that we are who we say we are.”
“We let some slip earlier in the season," Phillips said, "but if we can build on that every single week, we’re going to be all right.”
“This is big, man,” Mills said. “This game right here was us finally playing to our standard. These last two games weren’t us and I think this is a good one for us.”
The Patriots might not end up with the most dynamic offense in the NFL. They might not score 30-40 points per game. The truth is, they might not need to be that in order to win or get to the playoffs. The Patriots dominated a Lions team that had put up good numbers this season, but also had several offensive players hurt.
The key now is for the Pats to build on this performance and do it again and again. The next task is the Cleveland Browns, who boast several good offensive players in running backs Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt and receiver Amari Cooper. Members of the Patriots' defense clearly felt disrespected heading into Sunday's game and, hopefully, they keep that energy going forward.
“There’s a lot of people like, ‘Oh, counted you guys out,’” Godchaux said. “I don’t really care about what everyone says, but it’s like, how could you say that? There’s a lot of football left. There are 11 games left. We’re 2-3. We’ve got a great opponent next week, Cleveland Browns, playing great football. It’s a long season. It’s a marathon, not a sprint.”
If the defense continues to play at this level, the sky’s the limit.
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: With Patriots offense struggling, defense is key to the 2022 season
