Week 10 Patriots offensive and defensive stats from PFF

Our friends at ProFootballFocus.com were kind enough to share their quick stats from Sunday’s game. Make sure you check out their PFF Edge and PFF Elite products to give you insight, and an edge with your fantasy team. The PFF guys really know the game, so make sure you follow them at @PFF.


Week 10 Patriots Offensive Stats: 

--The Patriots tried to attack the short and intermediate areas instead of throwing deep attempts as a way of neutralizing Denver’s pass rush. As a result, only 11 of Tom Brady’s 32 aimed pass attempts traveled at least 10 yards in the air. However, the Patriots QB was usually accurate on these attempts as he completed 6 of his 11 such attempts for 99 yards and a touchdown, leading to a passer rating of 115.3 on throws that traveled at least 10 yards in the air.

--The Patriots offensive line had a solid day against Denver as they kept Brady clean for most of the night. The unit allowed just six pressures on 38 passing plays and did not allow a single sack. As a result, the Patriots had a pass blocking efficiency of 88.2, which is the fifth-highest among the teams that have played so far in Week 10. New England’s offensive line gave up a total of 38 pressures on 158 passing plays over the past five weeks and ranks ninth in the NFL over that period.

--Second-year guard Joe Thuney especially had a very good game against the Broncos as he dominated in the running game and did not allow a single pressure in the entire game. While Thuney had just one game during his rookie season when he did not give up a single pressure, this was his third such game over the Patriots’ last four games. As a result, Thuney ranks fourth in pass blocking efficiency among guards with at least 100 pass blocking snaps over that period as he surrendered just three pressures on 158 passing plays.

--Rex Burkhead has quickly become one of Brady’s favorite targets as he was targeted on three of his 19 snaps in route yesterday. Overall, Burkhead has seen 18 targets on 55 snaps in route this season, leading to a target rate of 32.7 percent, which is the fourth highest among running backs in the league. James White ranks sixth in the league with a target rate of 27.4 percent.

--TE Dwayne Allen’s touchdown catch was his first reception on his 69th snap in route this season as prior to last night he was the only tight end in the league who spent more than 15 snaps in route but did not record a catch. Currently Allen ranks last among tight ends who have at least one reception with 0.16 yards per route run. As a comparison, Rob Gronkowski ranks second in the NFL with 2.16 yards per route run.

Week 10 Patriots Defensive Stats: 

--Linebacker Kyle Van Noy keeps being a pass rushing weapon for the Patriots as he was tied for the most pressures recorded on the Patriots with his three quarterback hurries. Van Noy now has 10 total pressures – three sacks, one hit and six hurries – on 118 pass rushing snaps on the season and is tied for the most pressures generated among 4-3 outside linebackers.

--Jonathan Jones has been one of the most frequently targeted cornerback in the NFL this season. Jones is being targeted on every 4.5 coverage snaps, which is tied for third in the NFL. However, he stands his ground so far as he allowed a passer rating of just 30.0 in coverage over the past five weeks, which is the fifth-lowest among cornerbacks in the NFL over that period.

--Rookie edge defender Deatrich Wise extended his streak of recording at least one pressure in every game of his NFL career so far as he had one quarterback hit against Denver. Even though Wise has considerably slowed down after a slow start he still ranks favorably among rookie edge defenders. In fact, Wise is tied with Atlanta’s Takkarist McKinley among rookie edge defenders for the second most pressures recorded this season with 26.

--New England’s front seven seemed to make a step forward in run defense against Denver as the Patriots defense allowed just an average of 0.71 yards before contact to Denver’s runners. As a comparison, the New England defense was last in the league in yards before contact allowed coming into yesterday’s game. The Patriots allowed an average of 2.63 yards before contact on runs over the first nine weeks and were one of just three teams that allowed more than an average of 2.0 yards before contact.

--New England’s blitzes did not seem to get home against Denver on Sunday night. Whereas the Patriots generated pressure on 36.0 percent (9/25) of plays when they rushed with four defenders, the rate dropped to just 14.3 percent (1/7) on plays when they sent five or six rushers after Denver QB Brock Osweiler.