Week 12 Patriots’ offensive and defensive statistics 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 13 Patriots Offensive Stats:

Right tackle Cameron Fleming played more than 20 snaps for the first time since Week 5 of the 2016 season; however, the lack of playing time did not show today. Fleming performed well since he did not allow a single pressure on 34 pass blocking snaps as he was the only Patriots offensive lineman to not give up a pressure in the entire game.

RB Rex Burkhead got some help from the offensive line as he averaged 4.08 yards before contact today against Buffalo. However, Burkhead did take advantage of the opportunity as he averaged more than 2.0 yards after contact and forced four missed tackles on 12 runs.

Similarly to Burkhead, fellow running back Dion Lewis also played well as he averaged 4.40 yards after contact on his way to picking up 92 yards on the ground and forcing three missed tackles on 15 runs.

While the Bills tried nearly everything, they did not have a lot of success slowing down Rob Gronkowski. New England’s tight end caught a pass in the coverage of five different Buffalo Bills as he hauled in 9 of his 11 targets and Tom Brady had a passer rating of 80.9 when targeting Gronkowski.

Even though he caught just one pass for three yards, tight end Dwayne Allen had another solid game as he earned a run blocking grade of 84.9 against Buffalo. Allen has done a good job in run blocking all season as his run blocking grade of 77.0 ranks 12th among tight ends with at least 100 run blocking snaps. Rob Gronkowski ranks second among tight ends in the NFL with a run blocking grade of 81.2.

Week 13 Patriots Defensive Stats:

Interior defender Malcom Brown had a career day as his overall grade of 86.1 was the second-highest on the Patriots. Brown recorded five total pressures for the first time in his career as he picked up one sack, one hit and three quarterback hurries on just 29 pass rushing snaps. In addition, his five defensive stops tied his career-high.

Cornerback Stephon Gilmore continued his solid form as he won his matchup against rookie wide receiver Zay Jones on the day. Gilmore limited Jones to just two receptions for 22 yards on six targets as he got his hands on the same number of passes as Jones since Gilmore had two pass breakups against Buffalo. The former Buffalo Bill has allowed a passer rating of just 2.8 over the last two weeks, which is the second-lowest for any cornerback in the NFL over that time span. Furthermore, Gilmore has allowed 0.36 receiving yards per coverage snap over the last two games while he had allowed 1.07 receiving yards per coverage snap up to that point.

Edge defender Eric Lee stepped up against Buffalo in the absence of Trey Flowers. Lee played 56 snaps on Sunday, which was tied with Devin McCourty for the fifth-most on the Patriots defense. While Lee did have an interception, he also made an impact by rushing the passer as he was second among the Patriots with three total pressures. The former South Florida player picked up two sacks and one hit on 32 pass rushing snaps.

CB Jonathan Jones had another impressive outing as he was targeted only three times and allowed just one reception for three receiving yards. Jones had now allowed a passer rating of 69.0 this season, which is the 19th lowest out of 118 qualifying cornerbacks in the NFL. As a comparison, Arizona CB Patrick Peterson is one spot ahead of Jones as he has allowed a passer rating of 68.9 this season.

Coming into the game New England’s defense missed 13.2 percent of its tackle attempts, which was the 14th highest rate in the NFL. However, the Patriots missed just 8.3 percent (4/48) of their tackle attempts against Buffalo, which was the fourth-lowest in the NFL this week prior to the Sunday afternoon games.