Patriots' improved run defense vs. QBs will be tested against Marcus Mariota

FOXBOROUGH — The good news? The Patriots are no longer the worst team in the league when it comes to defending mobile quarterbacks.

The bad news? They’re facing one of the best running quarterbacks in the NFL this weekend.

Two weeks ago, after letting Mitch Trubisky duck and dodge his way around the Greater Chicago area for the afternoon like Ferris Bueller, New England was dead last when it came to allowing rushing yards to quarterbacks.

“We didn’t do a very good job of rushing the passer,” Bill Belichick said after Trubisky’s 81 rushing yards that afternoon, which including a 39-yard run. “I mean, bad coaching, bad tackling, some bad playing. Just not very good.”

Through seven games, the Patriots had yielded 182 rushing yards from quarterbacks on 24 carries, the most in the league. That was an average of 7.6 yards per carry and 26 yards per game.

The last two weeks, that average has improved. Not a whole lot, but enough to get them out of the basement.


According to our totals, New England has now allowed an average of 21 rushing yards per game against quarterbacks. That includes a scant eight rushing yards last week to Green Bay’s Aaron Rodgers, a fair scrambler in his own right. (For comparison's sake, there are five teams that now allow more rushing yards per game to quarterbacks than New England — Jacksonville, Philadelphia, the New York Giants, the Los Angeles Chargers and Dallas.)

“Obviously, we have a lot of work to do, but I think it’s moving in the right direction,” defensive lineman Trey Flowers told BostonSportsHJournal.com after Wednesday’s practice. “It’s just one of those things where you have to do it all over again, regardless of the week. No matter what you did last week, it won’t help you this week.”

That trend will be put to the test this weekend against Marcus Mariota, one of only six quarterbacks in the league who has rushed for 200 rushing yards to this point in the season. Mariota has 217 rushing yards in seven games and an average of 5.29 yards per carry. Cam Newton is tops among all quarterbacks with 342 rushing yards and 4.68 yards per carry. (Chart via Pro Football Refernce.)



The Patriots, who have faced more mobile quarterbacks than most teams in the league, believe the key to stopping a mobile quarterback is finding a proper balance.

“You have to contain him, but you also have to be aggressive,” said Flowers. “With mobile quarterbacks, you want to be able to get pressure up the middle and get them off their spot, but you also have to work to keep them contained. On a defensive front, it just comes down to being able to doing your job in terms of holding your blocks and not leaving gaps so he can escape and get a lot of chunk plays.”

When it comes to slowing mobile quarterbacks, that can mean different things for different players on the defensive side of the ball. From a big-picture perspective, it’s about worrying about your own assignment. If you’re an edge defender, your assignment is to not get too far upfield so Mariota could break containment. If you’re an interior defender, the first responsibility is more about gap discipline and holding your blocks. And if you’re a defensive back, you have to be aware of the possibility of the signal-caller taking off, and break off your own coverage assignment and help to slow the runner.

Good team defense — at least, better than what we all saw on that memorable 8-yard touchdown run from Trubisky that covered almost 72 yards of turf — is going to be what gets it done.

“You’ve got to stay home when you’ve got to stay home, but at the same time, we want to be aggressive,” said de facto defensive coordinator Brian Flores. “You’ve got to handle your responsibility first, and if we don’t do that, then (Mariota) is dangerous enough he’ll find the open receiver or the spot on the field that was vacated. I mean, he does a great job with that, so we’ve got to do a great job playing disciplined football.”