We interrupt the Great Annual Debate about whether or not Tom Brady has enough offensive weapons around him and if Bill Belichick should have done more in the offseason to take advantage of his quarterback's closing window to point out the Patriots' defense — specifically, the first-team defense — used its dress rehearsal for the regular season to show that there's plenty of room for improvement. Because it was awful in the 25-14 loss to the Panthers on Friday night.
If you had lingering questions about this unit — from, "Can they generate enough pressure?" and "Will they be able to stop offenses with mobile quarterbacks?" to "Will Belichick finally move beyond bend-but-don't-break?" — none of them were answered affirmatively Friday. The performance will only reinforce deep-seated fears about how much improvement the unit will make this season.
Let us count the ways:
- The Patriots had nearly as many missed tackles (nine) as total quarterback pressures (12) in this game. I counted five missed tackles on the Panthers opening drive alone. And you might be able to give another one to Dont’a Hightower when, on third-and-1 from the New England 4-yard line on the opening drive, he had a chance to step into the hole and take Christian McCaffery down, but was slow to react and didn’t square up. The missed tackles were the most disappointing aspect of this game, and will probably lead to a very tough week of practice for the starters.
- The first-team defense generated six total quarterback pressures — and two were by a run-stuffing nose tackle in Danny Shelton.
- The Patriots blitzed six times in the first half (15 total), and couldn't generate much pressure on a Panther offensive line that featured three CFL rejects.
- Starting cornerbacks Stephon Gilmore and Eric Rowe had more big plays allowed (two) and confused looks at each other after plays (three) than they did positive plays (two).