Week 17 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 17 Patriots Offensive Stats:

QB Tom Brady finished the regular season with another poised performance under pressure. Even though Brady was under pressure 13 times (33.3 percent of his dropbacks), he was accurate on 87.5 percent of these attempts and had a passer rating of 90.7 on these plays. Overall, Brady was accurate on 70.2 percent of his passes under pressure this season, which ranked third in the league, while he led the NFL with a passer rating of 96.6 under pressure and was tied for the most touchdown passes in these situations with nine.

Just like all season, deep passes towards wide receiver Brandin Cooks were part of the Patriots game plan as he saw three deep targets (20-plus yards in the air) and caught the lone catchable deep pass for 37 yards. Cooks finished the regular season tied for the third most targets (36), tied for the most receptions (16) and second in receiving yards (608) on deep passes.

Although tight end Rob Gronkowski was on the field for 30 pass plays, he was not targeted in a game for the first time this season. However, Gronkowski still recorded 1,084 receiving yards on 451 snaps in route in 2017, which led all tight ends with 2.40 yards per route run while Hunter Henry and Travis Kelce ranked second and third with 2.05 and 2.03 yards per route run respectively.

Running back Dion Lewis capped off the 2017 regular season with another solid performance especially in the passing game as he caught all six of his catchable targets for 40 yards against the Jets and even broke a tackle in the process. Lewis finished the year with the third highest PFF elusive rating among running backs (73.2) behind only Alvin Kamara and Kenyan Drake. Furthermore, Lewis was tied with Marshawn Lynch for the fifth most broken tackles on carries (42) and ranked sixth in the NFL with 3.17 yards after contact.

Even though center David Andrews did not allow a single pressure for the first time since Week 10, the New England offensive line slightly struggled in pass protection. The unit gave up a total of 10 pressures (one sack, one hit, eight hurries) on 42 pass blocking snaps as left tackle Nate Solder (4), right guard Shaq Mason (3) and right tackle Cameron Fleming (2) all allowed multiple pressures. New England’s offensive line allowed 186 total pressures (21 sacks, 40 hits, 125 hurries) on 628 passing plays in the 2017 regular season leading to a pass blocking efficiency rating of 77.0, which ranked 23rd in the NFL.

Week 17 Patriots Defensive Stats:

Interior defender Malcom Brown was able to build on his performance against the Bills and had another solid outing against the Jets in Week 17. Brown was the Patriots’ best run defender and recorded two defensive stops as well. The former Texas defensive lineman finished the regular season with 27 run stops and just one missed tackle on 244 snaps defending the run. As a result, he made a stop on 11.1 percent of his run snaps, which is tied for the sixth best rate among defensive tackles.

Edge defender James Harrison was used as a lot more than just a situational pass rusher as he rushed the passer on just 13 of his 19 snaps against the pass and was also on the field for 11 snaps against the run. Harrison picked up a total of three pressures – including his two sacks at the end of the game – on his 13 pass rushing snaps against the Jets and allowed just one reception for two yards on two targets in his six snaps in coverage.

Starting cornerbacks Stephon Gilmore and Malcolm Butler were in elite form against the Jets as they exceled in coverage on Sunday afternoon. Gilmore and Butler were targeted a total of six times, but allowed just two receptions for 12 yards while Gilmore also recorded a pass breakup. As a result, the two player allowed a passer rating of just 42.4 in coverage.

Edge defender Trey Flowers appears to be completely back from his injury as he played the best game of his season, which meant a complete game from Flowers as he dominated both in run defense and pass rushing. New England’s edge rusher picked up three total pressures (one hit and two hurries) on 20 pass rushing snaps against the Jets. Flowers finished the regular season with 59 total pressures, which were tied for the 12th most among 4-3 defensive ends in the league, even though he had to miss some time with injury. Furthermore, Flowers leads all 4-3 defensive ends in the NFL with 18 hits on the quarterback (this does not include sacks).

Tackling remained a point of emphasis for the Patriots as they missed only three tackles against the Jets on Sunday and their missed tackle rate of 6.7 percent was the sixth lowest in the NFL in Week 17. Overall, the Patriots missed 109 tackles in the 2017 regular season, leading to a missed tackle rate of 12.3 percent, which was the 13th lowest rate in the entire NFL.