Bedard: The Bull's-Eye defense, evolution of Kyle Van Noy & other reasons why the Patriots' defense rebounded

FOXBOROUGH — Trust me, I know what you're going to say.

I realize that when it comes to New England Patriots football, comparing anything to the team's defensive performance while winning their first Super Bowl in February 2002 borders on the sacrilegious. And this being Week 4, the 2018 Patriots defense and the opposing quarterback being Ryan Tannehill ... I'm really going down a rabbit hole.

But when I watched the TV copy of the Patriots' 38-7 victory over the Dolphins on Sunday, I couldn't help but be reminded of that game and the beating New England put on Marshall Faulk. Ron Jaworski and Greg Cosell dubbed it the "Bull's-Eye" game in their seminal football strategy book, "The Games That Changed the Game."

We'll talk about the key role that has been growing for Kyle Van Noy, and touch on some other factors that contributed to the Patriots' defensive success against the Dolphins. But we have to start with the newfound physicality the Patriots displayed against the Dolphins — and I'm not talking about the run defense and just winning one-on-one battles against blockers (although that certainly happened and helped).

Against the Dolphins, it wasn't the same game plan, and it wasn't aimed at one player like in Super Bowl XXXVI against the Rams. But there was no question the Patriots had a much more focused strategy against the Dolphins' passing game. And after the previous two losses, you could understand why.

The common theme in the losses to the Jaguars and Lions, at least on the defensive side of the ball, was that the Patriots couldn't get off the field because they were being bled to death by little dinks, dunks and crossing patterns to backs, tight ends and others. They didn't produce big plays vs. New England, but they were effective at keeping the opponent ahead of the chains (good down and distance), which had a trickle-down effect on the Patriots' third-down defense.

In the two losses, the Patriots allowed the backs and tight ends to catch 22 of 30 passes (73.3 percent) for 203 yards and a touchdown. In other words, they got worked.

Through three games, Dolphins running backs Kenyon Drake and Frank Gore, gadget master Jakeem Grant and their tight ends had accounted for 45 percent of Miami's receptions and 36.9 percent of their receiving yardage. So the Dolphins entered Sunday's game with the potential to do the same thing.

But it didn't happen. In meaningful game action, Tannehill's safety valves caught one pass on four targets for 9 yards. And that one, by Grant with 6:38 left in the second quarter, came on 3rd and 24, a play the Patriots gladly gave up. (The Dolphins' backs and tight ends did have four other receptions on five targets for 39 yards, but the either came right before the half, or when Brock Osweiler was finishing off the blowout — including Gore's touchdown).



As a result, the Patriots' defense looked like a totally competent unit. In my mind, it was the biggest reason why New England won the game. I mean, the Dolphins punted (seven times) or turned the ball over on their first nine possessions and only ran more than three plays three times (average number of plays per drive: 3.2).

So how did they do it? Time to dust off the Bull's-Eye.

Look, I'm not going to tell you this was some sort of rediscovered strategy. The truth is, the Patriots use this tactic in most games in small doses, especially against opponents who make their living on short-area throws. But I've never seen it done this much, or this consistently.

Just take a look at some of these examples:

Example 1: Van Noy hits Danny Amendola (Tannehill is looking for him), while Elandon Roberts takes care of the tight end.



Example 2: Malcom Brown, of all people, makes a point to disengage from his blocker and get an armbar on Drake. To me, this is the best evidence of how this was a chief game plan point.



Example 2: Van Noy jams the inside receiver in a trips formation. Again, notice Tannehill's vision.



Example 4: Jason McCourty getting physical with a receiver.



Example 5: This was on the third series and I think the Dolphins tried adjusting by sending Albert Wilson in double motion, but Patrick Chung rotated down to take him immediately out of the backfield. On the bottom, Van Noy jacks up the tight end.



Example 7: Roberts jams up Gore trying to leak out of the backfield.



Example 8: How do you prevent a drag route? Get inside leverage and get your hands on them, as Stephon Gilmore does to Wilson.



Example 9: Chung doesn't allow the tight end to get out into a pattern.



Example 10: Deatrich Wise doesn't allow Amendola to get into his route without contact, while Chung rides the tight end.



Example 11: Both Jonathan Jones and J.C. Jackson are physical down the field with the Dolphins' receivers. This results in Jackson's interception.



For our 12th and final example, let's go to the video to illustrate to Bull's-Eye against Amendola and tight end Mike Gesicki by John Simon and Dont'a Hightower, respectively. The pass ultimately goes to Gesicki, but the timing of the pattern is totally thrown off — which was the point of this game plan — and has no chance at completion.



Remember, Tannehill only attempted 17 passes outside of the three plays before halftime, so this tactic is illustrated on 70.6 percent of his passes. So I'd say this was a major component of their game plan. (Not that the Patriots would ever tell you that.)

The other obvious question is why do this in this game against this quarterback? The biggest reason is what we talked about: it's on film that the Patriots can't cover in the short area of the field (we wrote about it after the Lions game), so they knew other teams would try to copy what the Jaguars and Lions had done. If New England had stuck with the status quo, they were going to be nickel-and-dimed every week.

But beyond that, this could likely be in the Patriots' scouting of Tannehill — someone they are very familiar with. They know he's extremely limited in what he can do as a quarterback, and that Adam Gase tries to make things as simple as possible on Tannehill. He's not a quarterback who is going to do a lot of pre-snap reading, and he certainly isn't going to survey the full field after the snap to find a matchup or flaw in the defense.

No, Gase's offense is almost paint-by-numbers for Tannehill compared to the more advanced quarterbacks. A lot of simple and half-field reads. A lot of plays that read deep shot, and then quickly look for the checkdown. Many of the Dolphins' plays are designed for Tannehill to throw to his first read if it's open.

The Patriots seemed intent on a) taking the first read away, and b) not giving Tannehill any easy and quick throws within about a box that was about 10 yards wide and five yards deep around the line of scrimmage. New England also felt a lot of comfort knowing the Dolphins' offensive line wasn't very good and the Patriots would be able to bring pressure without blitzing. If Tannehill doesn't have his first read and the Patriots' pressure is going to get home eventually, then he's going to be rushed deeper in the down and not be able to burn New England.

"They did some good stuff to where they challenged our receivers and we didn’t get open fast enough," Gase said. "When we did have opportunities we didn’t hit them, which there wasn’t a lot of them. ... This game, we just couldn’t get anything going."

Mission accomplished for the Patriots. Bull's-Eye hit. Again.

A few other lingering thoughts on the Patriots' defense:

Van Noy is becoming a real factor for this unit: The Patriots traded for the Lions' former second-round pick in October of 2016, and he basically filled the gaps at off-the-ball linebacker for the rest of the season. Last season, he was an off-the-ball linebacker until Hightower went down with a season-ending injury and then he basically split his time between being a de facto end, and a linebacker. This season, despite Hightower being back on the field, Van Noy is playing even more at end, and his growing comfort level and burgeoning playmaking ability is becoming a very real factor for this season. According to Pro Football Focus, Van Noy played on the line on 42.5 percent of snaps. This season, it has shot up to 66.2 percent. And it has been even more pronounced in the past two games, when Van Noy has played 83 percent on the line.

He's certainly not the same player and is much less accomplished. But Van Noy's ability and versatility on the edge of late is reminiscent of Rob Ninkovich. Van Noy is an inch taller, and Ninkovich was 10 pounds heavier and stronger, but they have similar playing styles. And Van Noy is starting to show similar playmaking ability. Through four games, Van Noy is right up there with the team leaders in total quarterback pressures (9.5 — five hits, 4.5 hurries). He's stuffed 3.5 runs, forced or recovered two fumbles, and picked off a pass with the help of Jonathan Jones against the Jaguars.

Sunday may have been his coming out day, as he was by far the best defensive player for the Patriots with eight impactful plays and he was a key component of the Bull's-Eye gameplan — just like Ninkovich used to be. At this point, Van Noy has replaced Hightower as the playmaking linebacker/edge player for the Patriots, and I'm not sure many of thought that would be possible.

"They are putting me in positions to make plays," Van Noy told BostonSportsJournal.com with a big smile on his face. "Everything's good here."

Don't discount the Dolphins' hand in all this: This is sure to be much-discussed on Boston sports talk radio today, including a certain 2-6 p.m. show I'm a part of, but it is possible to praise the Patriots' defense — which I have done for 1600 words, several photos and a video — and also point out how the Dolphins basically gave themselves no chance by getting behind the chains.

Before the game got out of hand, check out these down and distances the Dolphins put themselves in:

2nd and 17
3rd and 12
3rd and 10
2nd and 10
3rd and 10
3rd and 13
2nd and 10
3rd and 8
Shotgun fumble
2nd and 22
3rd and 24
2nd and 14
3rd and 12
2nd and 10

"I feel like it’s nothing they did," said Jakeem Grant. "I feel like we went out there and the penalties and all those things killed us. We just shot ourselves in the foot, on the offensive and defensive side of the ball."

He's not wrong. It's impossible to win in the NFL — against anyone — playing like that.