Patriots: Patriots Defensive Line Is A Major Reason For Team’s Turnaround

Posted By on October 19, 2022

The Patriots have looked significantly better in their past two games than they did to open the season. Both have resulted in blowout wins, first a 29-0 drubbing of the Detroit Lions and then a 38-15 win over Cleveland on Sunday. Many point to the regional pandemic of Zappe Fever as the reason why the Patriots have turned things around. However, there is another unit, the defensive line, that has stepped up and dominated both games.

The Patriots pass rush has been good all season, but a couple hiccups against the run in Weeks 3 and 4 were costly. The defensive line’s bounce-back against the run has been a major factor in New England getting back to .500 and it will need to continue to produce going forward.

The Patriots defense played well in Week 1, giving up only one offensive touchdown to the Dolphins. In Week 2, they played the horror show that is the Steelers offense and despite only giving up 14 points, allowed six of the first seven 3rd Downs to be converted including two of 10 yards or more. All in all it was a solid performance, but there were some concerning signs.

Things came crashing down for the defensive front against Baltimore. The Ravens scored 37 points and ran for 188 yards.  Baltimore was 5 for 5 in the red zone and averaged 7.2 yards per rush. The biggest story of that day was Mac Jones’ injury and interceptions, but the defense let the Patriots down. They forced two turnovers, but could not slow down Baltimore in the red zone or on the ground. The Patriots defense got pushed around and had no answer for the Ravens run game led by Lamar Jackson.

Following the Baltimore game, New England’s defense started to bounce back but still gave up 27 points, 443 total yards and 199 rushing yards to a Packers offense that is not nearly as good as it once was. The 27 points matched Green Bay’s season high. They did continue the positive trend of forcing two turnovers and there were long stretches of the game the Packers offense was frustrated.

Since then, the Patriots defense has looked much more like the unit that played well to start the season in Miami and often better. The Lions brought the highest scoring offense in the NFL to Foxboro in Week 5, but the Patriots defense was the unit that dominated. The Lions managed only 312 yards of total offense and were 4-12 on 3rd Down and a shocking 0-6 on 4th Down including a 4th and 1 on their first drive that Christian Barmore and Deatrich Wise helped stuff. New England once again forced two turnovers but coupled that with only allowing 3.7 yards per rush and sacking Jared Goff twice.

Against Cleveland, the Patriots defensive line was even more impressive. The Browns entered the day having one of the best ground games in football led by Nick Chubb, who already had 593 rushing yards through five games. New England stymied Chubb and the Browns all day, giving up 70 total rushing yards and sacking Jacoby Brissett four times.

The Patriots sit at 3-3 and are in a much better place than just a few weeks ago. The offense looks significantly better and the defense has returned to it’s early season form led by great pass pressure and run stuffing from the defensive line. This has been accomplished without Lawrence Guy, who has missed the past three weeks due to injury. Once he returns they should continue to get better. The Patriots defense looks better than it was in 2021 and has been excellent the past two weeks; the defensive line has been the driving force behind the defense’s strong play.