Breaking news ... there's a lot new with the 2024 Patriots. With a new head coach and three new coordinators, the Patriots entered Sunday's game against the Bengals as a complete unknown.
We've covered Alex Van Pelt's offense on Tuesday. Obviously the Patriots were more of a blank slate on offense with a complete scheme departure.
We weren't really sure what we'd see from DeMarcus Covington's defense. We figured it would be fairly familiar since Covington and Mayo were intimately involved with the Patriots' defense for years. And nearly all the players have also been in the scheme for multiple years.
Overall, what we saw from the defense wasn't all that out of the ordinary compared to previous years. The Patriots were focused on being assignment-sure. They tackled well and hard. And New England obviously had a focus on not giving up big plays to Joe Burrow and Company. The Patriots were content to play deep, encourage the underneath passes and, later, in the game invite the Bengals to run the ball and clock.
We've heard all that before.
But there were interesting developments in three key areas. It's just one game, so we're a ways off from knowing whether or not these are going to be season-long departures and a shift in defensive philosophy. But for one week, Covington's decisions were noteworthy in three areas: post-snap coverage changes, preferred coverages and blitz rate. A look at the differences:
Post-snap coverage
Since Bill Belichick arrived in Foxborough, the Patriots disguising what they wanted to do before the snap was always a staple - especially in later years. But there was never a huge variety. It was mostly along the lines of showing man pressure, but dropping into zone. Or showing zone and bringing a blitz (and man coverage). Probably the most popular tactic, especially on third downs, was to show two high safeties before the snap, and then after the snap sending one of the safeties to double the opponent's most dangerous targets (Cover 1 Lurk).
Against the Bengals, Covington seemed to take the Patriots' post-snap coverage changes to another level. By my eye, the Patriots changed their look on 54.5% of Burrow's dropbacks, which seemed unusually high, especially for a Week 1 game.
But I guess it shouldn't have been that big a surprise, considering the continuity with the players in the scheme (thanks in part to the offseason contract extensions). The seven players with at least 20 coverage snaps against the Bengals have a combined 33 years of experience in the system:
Christian Gonzalez 2nd season
Jabrill Peppers 3rd
Kyle Dugger 5th
Marcus Jones 3rd
Ja'Whaun Bentley 7th
Jonathan Jones 9th
Jahlani Tavai 4th
Covington obviously had a great deal of confidence in those players and turned them loose.
Here's a chart of each pre-snap look, and what the Patriots changed to (and didn't) after the snap:
What were the change percentages based on the pre-snap look?
I don't see why this would change going forward. I figure trying to confuse the quarterback pre- and post-snap will continue to be a staple of this defense.
We did see an uptick in players moving to different spots after the snap (including Gonzalez ending up at safety and linebacker at times). Marcus Jones ending up at safety was probably the most frequent:
Again, Patriots players switching positions after the snap is not uncommon.
Coverage tendencies
Man/zone against the Bengals:
Man 41.7% (4th in NFL)
Zone 56.3% (28th)
2023 Patriots:
Man 32.3% (6th in NFL)
Zone 61.1% (28th)
So, not a huge difference. But remember the Patriots didn't have Christian Gonzalez, Jonathan Jones and Marcus Jones most of last season. I would expect the man coverage rate to increase.
Here's a look at the Patriots man/zone split in the PFF era:
What about specific coverage differences over the previous year?
Covington decided to use Cover 2 and Cover 1 more than a year ago.
The percentage of Cover 3 went down drastically. I would attribute that to the Patriots needing to play more conservative at cornerback last season with all the CB injuries.
No blitzing
One of my worries going into this season was Covington perhaps being too aggressive with blitzing, especially considering the Patriots no longer have Matthew Judon and Christian Barmore — two of their best individual pass rushers.
That did not hold in the first week.
Patriots blitz the Bengals just 11.4 percent according to PFF (I had 14%). That's the lowest blitz rate for the Patriots in over a season — since the 2022 season finale against the Dolphins (9.1%). The Patriots averaged a blitz rate of 30.7% in 2023.
Of course, Week 1 could have been a Burrow thing. In the 2022 matchup with the Bengals, the Patriots blitzed Joe Burrow just 5.5% in the Week 16.
Patriots blitz rates by season (right column):
Here are the defensive positional ratings against the Bengals:
Defensive line (3.5 out of 5)
Take Keion White and Joshua Uche out of this group (they had 5.5 of the Patriots' 9 QB pressures), and it was pretty middle of the road. The Patriots are lucky the Bengals didn't run the ball more. They were 4th in rushing DVOA (Patriots, amazingly, were 16th). ... White was tremendous on the edge. When he was moved inside to DE in the 3-4, he had a tough time against the run. He was partially responsible for the Bengals' rushing touchdown. ... Uche was crazy productive rushing the passer, with 2.5 pressures on 11 rushes. ... Daniel Ekuale and Jeremiah Pharms both had issues holding up to double teams, which was a big worry entering this season.
Linebackers (3 out of 5)
Jahlani Tavai had two standout plays: a great run stuff getting off a block, and getting a finger on a big third down pass in the red area. ... Ja'Whaun Bentley had a tough game. Bengals had a bead on him in the run game and he had issues shedding blocks.
Secondary (3.5 out of 5)
Newcomers Jaylinn Hawkins (half TD allowed with a missed tackle) and Marco Wilson (missed tackle, 20-yard defensive pass interference penalty) brought the group grade down. ... Interesting that Alex Austin didn't play a snap. Wonder if he and Wilson flip against the Seahawks. ... Jonathan Jones had an outstanding game with the huge 4th-down pass tackle and two tight pass coverages. ... Christian Gonzalez didn't have to do much heavy lifting but he did have one outstanding man-to-man rep against Ja'Marr Chase. ... Kyle Dugger was equal parts lucky and timely. He was in man coverage both on the back-to-back Mike Gesicki and Tanner Hudson plays. He was beaten on both. Dugger was fortunate Gesicki was soft and dropped the ball, and Hudson carried the ball loosely. But Dugger was Johnny on the spot for both plays. Have to credit him for that.
THREE UP
Keion White: Dominated in his first starring role and announced his presence with authority by making Trent Brown look foolish on his first pass rush rep of the season. Teams are going to have to account for him.
Joshua Uche: Didn't play much, but he made Brown look horrible on a few reps.
Jonathan Jones: Fast, physical and decisive. Might be making an early bid to be best pound-for-pound defender.
THREE DOWN
Marco Wilson: Was easily beaten and then committed a blatant pass interference penalty.
Jeremiah Pharms: Played just 11 snaps and got worked a bit in the run game.
Jaylinn Hawkins: Had a great switch on Chase that caused a Burrow sack, but missed a tackle on the Bengals' lone TD and allowed an easy 12-yard reception.