Bedard: One play showed how perfect opponents have to be against this Patriots secondary

The talent is one thing.

Stephon Gilmore is about as physically gifted as they come among big corners in the league. Jason McCourty still has remarkable makeup speed for a 32-year-old corner. His brother, Devin, has the same speed and is stronger. Jonathan Jones is shifty enough to play the slot, but he's better put-together than the usual diminutive nickel backs. Patrick Chung, tough as nails, doesn't have the same speed, but it's good enough against tight ends. Duron Harmon, the fail-safe in the middle, is fast enough.

Across the board, they're as good, physically, as any secondary in the league. Collectively, they also might be the smartest. Some, like Harmon, may not be the most instinctive in the middle of the play, but they're in the right spot — which is saying a lot.

Then, when you add the intelligence together with the institutional knowledge that comes with playing countless snaps together, you have an elite secondary.

And an almost impossible one to drive the field against if you're an offense, unless you can match physical talent, smarts and institutional knowledge. Very few can. The Chiefs and Eagles are on the shortlist. The Rams got exposed in the Super Bowl but perhaps they've heeded the lessons learned.

A team like the Steelers, trying to figure out what they have in the first game of the post-Killer B's era? Forget it. The tanking Dolphins? Surely you jest.

One play on Sunday showed the uphill battle many offenses have against the Patriots, especially the Jets, who are breaking in a new quarterback in Luke Falk.

It's the first third down of the second half. The player, where Gilmore tips an interception to Devin McCourty was stellar enough.

At the snap, Gilmore is on DeVante Parker in the slot at the top of the screen.



When Parker gets to the top of his route, Gilmore starts to undercut the route.





Gilmore is in perfect position to pick off a pass that is slightly underthrown, but Ryan Fitzpatrick actually makes a decent throw. Gilmore just makes a better play to tip the ball, and it lands in the hands of McCourty.



Now, there's a couple of aspects to this play. The first being that the Patriots are leading 13-0 against an offense that has been inept. Gilmore knows he can afford to be a little aggressive in this circumstance.

He also knows the Patriots are playing Cover 1, meaning man coverage underneath a deep safety. And when you're covering a slot receiver, the safety will be able to help more in the middle of the field, as opposed to a boundary corner where you could get burned down the sideline.

And whether it's Cover 1 or 2-man (two deep safeties with man coverage underneath), cornerbacks know they have coverage over the top so they can be more aggressive underneath routes.

That's where institutional knowledge and comfort comes in. Gilmore knows and has the confidence McCourty will be in the right spot, so Gilmore can be a little bit more aggressive. That seems like a little thing, but it's not. If that's a rookie or a free agent, maybe Gilmore plays it more conservatively.

Now here's the other factor on this play, which puts a high level of stress on an offensive playcaller.

This was the seventh time that Gilmore had seen an in-breaking route in the 10 snaps he was in man coverage to this point, including the third-straight snap:

3rd-13: In-breaking route.
1st-10: In-breaking route for 15 yards
2nd-10: Hitch.
3rd-9: Go.
1st-10: In-breaking route.
2nd-10: In-breaking route, Gilmore undercuts.
3rd-4: Go.
2nd-7: In-breaking route, Gilmore undercuts.
1st-10: In-breaking route.
3rd-10: Interception.

Gilmore got a little burned on the second play, as he was late anticipating the route and completion. He's not an idiot. He's going to learn from that, and apply the lessons forward. And Gilmore was slowly getting closer as the game progressed. It was only a matter of time before Fitzpatrick gave him a chance.

That's where the playcaller comes in. Good playcallers, like Andy Reid, Doug Pederson and Josh McDaniels, know you have to vary the routes to keep cornerbacks on their toes. The great ones use those routes to set up something later in the game.

When you put all this together: the talent, the smarts and the knowledge within the scheme, it's tough enough to dent this Patriots' secondary. If you don't have a top-notch playcaller to vary the routes and the passing game, then you really don't have much of a chance.

Good luck to Falk and the Jets.