Bears quarterback Justin Fields rushed for 82 yards in Chicago’s 33-14 win over the Patriots on Monday, proving once again New England’s defense has a weakness against mobile quarterbacks. Steven Senne/Associated Press
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — During the offseason, the New England Patriots emphasized fixing their Buffalo problem.
Part of that plan involved doing a better job defending mobile quarterbacks, since Bills quarterback Josh Allen not only dominated them through the air, but did a ton of damage on the ground.
No matter what the Patriots tried, Allen still crushed them when he took off and ran. Based on the early going, Allen should dominate the Patriots again later this season.
Because while Bill Belichick did clear out several of his older, less mobile linebackers – Dont’a Hightower, Kyle Van Noy and Jamie Collins weren’t re-signed (Collins at least initially) – their replacements haven’t stepped up. Mack Wilson Sr., Raekwon McMillan and Jahlani Tavai are non-factors, and 2021 fifth-round pick Cameron McGrone has been stashed on the practice squad.
To be fair, Wilson Sr., has flashed around being benched twice, and McMillan and Tavai have made a few plays here and there. But the group still hasn’t been able to consistently stop the run. Let’s just say seven weeks into the season, not much has changed.
Putting aside their much-ballyhooed quarterback situation, the Patriots’ defense also has a huge piece of the blame pie when it comes to the team’s 3-4 start. The Pats are in the bottom 10 when it comes to stopping the run. And their efforts against the mobile quarterbacks is a big reason for that.
In Week 3, Baltimore’s Lamar Jackson became the first quarterback to rush for more than 100 yards against a Belichick-coached defense in a runaway win. Chicago’s Justin Fields, meanwhile, rushed for a team-leading 82 yards with a touchdown during Monday night’s rout. The Pats employed seven defensive backs to try to corral Fields, and still couldn’t stop him, especially on third down, where the Bears converted on 11 of 18 attempts.
You can’t win when the defense can’t get off the field.
“Quarterback runs are killing us right now,” defensive tackle Davon Godchaux said following the loss to the Bears. “Baltimore did it, Chicago did it (Monday night), and I’m sure other teams are looking at it and they’re going to want to do the same thing. So we’ve gotta fix this.”
If they don’t, they still won’t have a prayer against Allen and the Bills, who they face twice down the road. Arizona’s Kyler Murray is another mobile quarterback the Patriots have to worry about later in the season.
Even this week against Jets quarterback Zach Wilson, if the Patriots aren’t careful, he’ll use his legs, and run on them, too. He’s athletic, although the Jets would probably prefer him to avoid running around given his recent knee surgery. So why are the Patriots still having trouble with the mobile quarterbacks?
“I don’t know. That’s more of a Bill (Belichick) question,” safety Devin McCourty said half-jokingly, passing the baton to the head coach who makes it a habit to provide little or no information.
Between the speed of the quarterbacks, and having to keep either a linebacker or safety in as a spy, the Patriots just haven’t been able to stop being exploited. If the Patriots can’t stop the run, and can’t derail the quarterbacks who run, that also spells trouble shutting down the passing game.
The Ravens rushed for 188 yards – 107 by Jackson – and that opened things up in the air, with Jackson throwing four touchdown passes.
Against Chicago, the Bears rushed for 245 yards on 45 attempts, with Fields leading the way. So he really didn’t have to throw the football to win the game. The Bears just ran it down the Patriots throats without much resistance.
“Moving forward, we’ve got to do a way better job than we’ve done in the past playing against mobile quarterbacks,” said Mack Wilson. “Looking forward to the rest of the teams that have mobile quarterbacks, I’m sure we’ll look at the plays Justin and Lamar were successful at against us. I’m sure they’ll try to attack us the same way. We just have to continue to clean it up, continue to take everything one day at a time and get better as a whole.”
Added Matthew Judon: “We have to defend what hurt us. And what hurt us against Baltimore and Monday (against the Bears), is the quarterback run … that’s what we’re working on, that’s what we’re building on.”
After watching film of the Bears game, did anyone find a solution for the Pats to get better against these quarterbacks?
Judon had one suggestion.
“Yeah, hit the quarterback,” the Patriots linebacker and resident sack leader said Thursday during his media session. “If you hit ’em (when they run), the play caller is like, ‘that don’t look too good this week,’ so if you hit the quarterback, people will stop calling (runs).
“But honestly, teams like that, quarterbacks like that … I keep saying QBs around this league, they’re tougher, they’re stronger,” Judon went on, talking about the likes of Jackson, Fields and Allen, “and since high school, college, they’ve been running quarterbacks, dual threats. And most of them have nice arms. So as difficult as that is, we just have to adjust quicker, and better, and stop the running game.”
While Zach Wilson won’t be anywhere near the threat of mobile quarterbacks the Patriots have already seen, the Jets will lead with their running game. That’s their bread and butter. Even though they lost talented rookie Breece Hall for the season, they’ll still pound the rock with Michael Carter and the recently acquired James Robinson.
So it behooves the Pats to eliminate all running threats, because their best plan of attack is to make Wilson try to beat them with his arm.
“We have to do a good job of crushing the pocket on him, keep him in the pocket to make throws, and not let him escape,” said Mack Wilson. “We have to make him beat us throwing the ball.”
They were able to do that against the Lions and Browns with Jared Goff and Jacoby Brissett.
But there are a few mobile quarterbacks that still lurk ahead, most notably Allen. In the big picture, that’s a significant problem they still have to fix.
And the players know it.
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