FOXBOROUGH - There's nothing fancy about run defense. Oh sure, there can be coordinated blitzes, or extra bodies walked into the box to give a team a numbers advantage, or at least create a fair fight. But at its very core, stopping the run is as much about attitude and physicality as anything scheme-related.
"It's a mindset," K'Lavon Chaisson said. "That's it. Don't let the guy with the ball go run. I think we all kind of share that mindset on defense. Man, we all take pride in having a good run defense, and if any other way that we allowed ourselves to be beat, it won't be through the ground for sure."
"'It's definitely a mentality shift," added Christian Elliss. "When a team likes to run, your sole focus - not sole focus - but it's almost like a pride point. It's basically a matter of who wants it more at that point. Who's gonna do their job? Who's gonna have the right technique? And who's gonna come out on top?"
Through the first seven weeks of the season, the Patriots have made their presence felt. Both the traditional statistics and advanced metrics have them hovering near the top of the league in every important rush defense category:
- 6th in rushing DVOA
- 3rd in EPA per rush (behind Cleveland and Seattle).
- 24.8% stuffed run rate (3rd)
- 6.9% explosive run rate (3rd)
- Have allowed 540 rushing yards, 3rd fewest in the league (GB and Seattle)
- 3.5 yards per attempt
- 2nd fewest yards allowed after contact
Considering I had questions about the Patriots being a lighter front — Christian Barmore dropping 20 pounds and Milton Williams being sub-300 — this level of play has been a welcome development. Of course, it doesn't just come down to those two interior pieces. The Pats have been able to rotate in three other big bodies — Khyiris Tonga, Joshua Farmer, and Cory Durden — without skipping a beat, and in Tonga's case, elevating the group. If you don't want to listen to me, take it from someone who's battled every damn near every day for the last handful of months.
"I played against some of the guys before, and I knew how talented they were. It's the best defensive line I've played with," center Garrett Bradbury said. "And I go back to college; our college D-line (NC State) had a really good one (Bradley Chubb, Alim McNeal, B.J. Hill, among others). It made the O-line better. So there's an iron sharpening iron aspect to it. I'd rather go against the best guys in the NFL in practice than on Sundays, or at least see some good competition, so you can work on things. You go into the season after blocking some of these guys, and you're like, all right, that was some good work, and kind of prepared you for the season, more so than if you're not being challenged."
"Just being physical, being where you're supposed to be, getting hands on people," Williams said. "Just being in your gap, staying sound, not peeking around blocks. It's all fundamental football."
The Pats haven't been as sound on the edges, but the return of linebacker Jahlani Tavai has been a difference maker. It's allowed the Pats to play a more traditional defense (with Robert Spillane and Elliss/Jack Gibbens), and because they trust Tavai to hold firm at the edge, even take someone like Chaisson off the field in obvious running downs. I asked Mike Vrabel about the group's high level of play.
"Well, I think that we've improved our tackling," he said. "We've continued to improve our technique. And again, it hasn't been perfect, but it's just about coaching edge, wall, and swarming, and making sure that we do those things. We've done them sometimes, but we'll have to continue to do them."
Remember how bad the Pats' tackling was through the first two weeks? Spillane and Elliss were whiffing almost as much as they were hitting, and it was causing some consternation about the dollars paid to both players. But Spillane turned the corner in week 3's loss to the Steelers, while Ellis has really shown his speed and ferocity starting in Buffalo. Overall, the Pats have reduced their missed-tackle rate to 11.7% and have had just 5 missed tackles in the last two games. Those five misses are fewer than they had in each game from Weeks 1-5.
"I think it's just - our team works first and foremost on everyone doing their job, and then getting to the ball, and then swarm tackling," Elliss told me. "There are a lot of times where even if a guy might break off one tackle, he's not getting through all of us."
The proof's in the pudding (don't quite understand the metaphor, and am currently too damn lazy to look it up). The Pats are the only team that has not allowed a running back to rush for 50 yards in a single game.
- Ashton Jeanty 18 carries, 38 yards (Team 2.3 YPC)
- Devon Achane 11 carries, 30 yards (Team was 4.1 YPC)
- Jaylen Warren 18 carries, 47yards. (Team 2.5 YPC)
- Chuba Hubbard 10 carries, 49 yards (129 yards total, 4.6 YPC)
- James Cook 15 carries, 49 yards (118 yards total, 4.1 YPC)
- Alvin Kamara 10 carries, 31 yards Team 3.2 YPC)
- Tyjae Spears 5 carries, 22 yards (Team 3.3 YPC)
Next up comes the Browns, who make no bones about what they want to do. Since turning the ball over to rookie quarterback Dillon Gabriel, Kevin Stefanski is riding the run game, in particular Quinshon Judkins, TreVeyon Henderson's teammate last year at Ohio State, and a player who went two slots ahead of Henderson in round two.
"That's the thing about this league, is you don't – stats and metrics, numbers don't mean anything," cautioned Vrabel. "You have to go out there and be able to prove it. And I know that they'll have a good plan for how they want to run it. It's a physical group of linemen, and their tight ends are blocking well. And Quinshon [Judkins] is rushing, running hard, physical. So, they've done a nice job."
A classic strength versus strength matchup, where only the strongest will survive and conquer. Sounds like fun.
