FOXBORO- A week ago the defense was the driving force in the Patriots 16-10 season opening win in Cincinnati. On Sunday against the Seahawks, it was a different story as the Patriots defense struggled to keep up with Seattle’s intermittent no-huddle offense in a 23-20 loss.
The secondary in particular struggled giving up a 56 yard touchdown pass to D.K Metcalf in the first quarter on a slot fade route. The route proved to be a problem for the Patriots as Seahawks receiver Tyler Lockett drew two pass interference calls running the route that led to points for the Seahawks.
Seattle’s tempo was a conversation piece after the game.
Jabrill Peppers said the Seahawks cadence and their no huddle offense definitely created some issues for the defense.
“Not often. I think they did a great job cadence-wise. The no-huddle, we could’ve done things a little differently, but that’s water under the bridge now. We play a lot of ball together, we’re a pretty veteran group. This one hurts. We know we’re better than what we put on today. Short week, flush it out, the world’s watching Thursday so we’ve got to put our best foot forward.”
Seattle’s offense is the same system offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb ran at the University of Washington the past two seasons. The system helped quarterback Michael Penix and receivers Ja’Lynn Polk, Rome Odunze and Jalen McMillan put up big numbers and become high draft picks in April’s draft.
Nose tackle Davon Godchaux acknowledged after the game that defending the system was a challenge.
“Yeah they weren’t going no huddle to go quick, they were going no huddle to see what we were in. It’s a college system, I think the offensive coordinator came from Washington? So, he wasn’t going no huddle to snap the ball, he was going no huddle to see what we were in and make his adjustments. It was basically keeping some of our guys off the field. ” Godchaux added: “Say for instance, our third down package, I mean, I’m a first, second down guy, he was keeping guys off the field. It wasn’t really to go fast, it was just to see what we were in, keep us off the field, so they did a good job of that. I mean we knew that coming into the game, they were going to do that, so that’s why we worked some extra stuff in practice, but we’ve got to close that game out.”
Collectively, the defense takes pride in their performance and they feel they are going to need to play better if the Patriots are going to win football games moving forward.
Second year defensive end Keion White believes the defense needs to play better as a unit.
“First and foremost, Jacoby [Brissett] and the offense did what they needed to do for us to get the win today. I feel like as a defense, we need to play better, me included: defensive line, defensive backs, linebackers, everybody. So we need to go to the drawing board, watch the film. It’s a short week and that’s what [football] is all about: making corrections.”
As far as adjustments, White knows the coaching staff will watch the film and make the necessary fixes.
“I’m confident in our coaches, I’m confident in Demarcus [Covington] to make the corrections and get us to where we need to be and those adjustments are for him to decide.” White added: “We are going to watch the film and hear the corrections from Demarcus [Covington] and Jerry [Montgomery]
The defense won’t have much time to dwell on Sunday’s loss. They travel to New Jersey on Thursday night to take on the Jets. The issues they had on Sunday better be corrected quickly. It is a short week.