FOXBOROUGH — It was another banner night for the NFL's best defense on Thursday night in the Patriots 35-14 victory over the Giants.
Minus the 64-yard touchdown to Golden Tate, the Patriots allowed Daniel Jones just 97 yards passing on 30 attempts, and the Giants as a team totaled just 149 yards on 47 plays.
Stephon Gilmore reminded us that he's among the league's best cornerbacks with five passes defensed — more than his total in the previous five games (three) — with another outstanding performance in primetime.
Jamie Collins popped out another fumble, and Kyle Van Noy scored another touchdown on his scoop and score.
Ho-hum.
The Giants were just 2 of 10 on third downs, which means the Patriots have allowed opponents to convert just 10 of 73 third downs (13.7 percent). The Patriots are on pace to allow 26 third-down conversions for the entire season. The 1991 Saints hold the league record with 49.
Oh, and the Patriots just happen to be on pace to obliterate the league record for fewest points allowed (Ravens allowed 165 in 2000). With 48 points yielded through six games (21 were scored by the opposing defense), the Patriots are on pace to allow just 128 points for the season.
So, yes, these are heady times for Bill Belichick's defense.
Yet one key piece has basically watched from the sidelines during it all, especially on Thursday.
Michael Bennett, whom the Patriots traded a fifth-round pick to the Eagles for and gave him a $4 million signing bonus, played just 11 snaps against the Giants. He spent most of the game standing behind his fellow defenders, with his helmet unbuckled, sometimes with a jacket on.
Bennett didn't enter the game until the first snap of the second quarter and he played just three plays in the first half. Nearly 73 percent of his playing time (eight of 11 snaps) happened after the Patriots took a 28-14 lead with 7:54 to play in the game.
In other words, Bennett received end-of-the-bench garbage time. That's startling for a veteran player who has never played fewer than 600 snaps in a 16-game season, and has posted 148 quarterback pressures (22 sacks) in the previously two seasons combined.
Bennett is now on pace to play 346 snaps. His career-low was 565 in '16 when he was limited to just 11 games.
It leads you to wonder if this is the end of the road with the Patriots for Bennett, who has seen his playing time decrease every week — from 49.3 percent in the opener, to 22 percent on Thursday night.
His $6.5 million cap number might look very tempting to include in a possible trade for some offensive help.
What does Bennett think? In a conversation with BostonSportsJournal.com after the game, Bennett wasn't angry or exasperated. Indifferent and at a loss would be the appropriate words to describe his demeanor.
"I don't know what's happening," Bennett said. "You have to ask Bill. I wish I knew. If I had a better answer, I would tell you.
"You've got to ask them, man. I'm just trying to do what they ask me to do."
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Belichick was asked this week about Bennett's decreased playing time, and the coach didn't exactly spell out the end's situation (no surprise).
"I don't really care what happened on some other team. I don't really know what that was or wasn't," Belichick said. "We'll try to do what's best for our team, and that's everybody. It's him, that's everybody else. I mean, Devin McCourty's snap count is down, too."
Yes, but McCourty's snaps have gone from 96.3 percent to 90.1 percent. Not 50 percent to 22.
When asked if he knew he was going to play that little against the Giants, Bennett said, "Nah, I didn't know that. I wish I did."
Bennett said he didn't know anything about a possible trade. Could go through the entire season like this, if it continued?
"I don't know. We're about to find out," he said, with a laugh.
"I really don't know what's going on. I wish I knew. I'd tell you."
There are two possible explanations for Bennett's decreased playing time.
One, he might not be adjusting to what the Patriots want in their scheme and other players, like Adam Butler and Deatrich Wise, are executing the scheme better. The Patriots want their ends to hold up against blockers to free up room for linebackers to make plays.
Bennett has been a penetrator for most of his career. He's been at his best using his quickness to shoot a gap and make plays behind the line. That's fine on pass-rushing downs, but not against the run.
This has been an issue for some players in the recent past, who have come from other organizations. Danny Shelton is the best example. Another gap penetrator, Shelton could not execute the Patriots' two-gapping system after coming from the Browns last season. As a result, he went from playing about half the snaps in the first six games, to less than a third until he was finally benched for three-straight games. Adrian Clayborn was similar last season.
Belichick hinted this may be a factor with Bennett.
"Michael's a smart player, he's got a lot of experience," Belichick said. "He's been in different systems, so he's trying to adapt into our system, but we've also talked to him about some of the things that he's done and he obviously has a lot of experience and a lot of input. Not just as an individual player, but also schematically.
"So, he's been good. He's really tried hard and worked hard to embrace what we've asked him to do, which again, is quite different than what he's done in Seattle and Philly, even in Tampa. So, yeah, he's been fun."
Bennett didn't appear to be having much fun during the Giants game, or after it.
(Adam Richins for BSJ)
You'd think the Patriots, if Bennett was struggling on early downs, would at least use him on passing downs to rush the passer. Yet his three first-half plays were two first downs, and one second down. It appeared he was only playing because Lawrence Guy and/or Shelton needed a breather. And Butler and Wise were in the game much earlier.
The other possibility is the Patriots, who are obviously shorthanded on offense with a rash of injuries — Josh Gordon and Matt LaCosse joined Phillip Dorsett as the walking wounded against the Giants and could miss substantial time — think they don't need Bennett with the depth and talent they have on defense (seven players had at least five total QB pressures entering the Giants game — though Bennett was second on the team with 12.5).
Circumstances have also changed a bit. When Bennett was acquired to replace Trey Flowers, the Patriots were still primarily a 4-3 team that relied on the front four to get pressure. The Patriots are now a 3-4 team that is likely more to use only two linemen (sometimes one) and multiple linebackers/outside linebackers to pressure the quarterback.
If the Patriots feel internally that they're as desperate for offensive playmakers as they outwardly appear to be, Bennett would seem to be an appealing trade piece. And his limited role would seem to be that of a player who was on his way out.
With Bennett playing six games, the Patriots would pick up about $2.9 million in cap space with $2 million in dead cap this season and next if he's traded.
Which teams that need pass-rush help would the Patriots deal with?
Detroit and Matt Patricia would be one. And Danny Amendola just so happens to have about the same cap number remaining ($3 million) as Bennett and would be plug and play in the offense.
The Eagles have had some issues with rushing the passer, Bennett would fit right back in with his former team, and the Patriots would pick up cap space if they swapped Bennett for DeSean Jackson. He would certainly add punch and some much-needed speed to the Patriots.
With 11 days before their next game against the Jets on Monday night, this would seem to be the right time for the Patriots to make a move.
We'll have to see if Bennett is a centerpiece of a deal, or if the Patriots have bigger plans for him down the line — if he picks up the system.