Breaking ... I think Zak Kuhr just called another blitz that ended in futility against Caleb Williams and the Bears, probably with Marcus Jones from the slot ...
I kid because I love ... but I'm only half kidding.
If you thought the Patriots blitzed the Bears a ton on Thursday night, and that it wasn't very effective ... you are correct.
The Patriots blitzed on 59% of Williams' dropbacks (I had 56% ... so close enough). On those dropbacks, Williams was 13 of 20 for 212 yards (68.8% of his 308 yards) and one touchdown for a 117.1 rating. The Patriots did get all three of their sacks on blitzes. However, Williams failed to register a turnover-worthy play (PFF) on any of their 23 blitzes.
Williams posted a +0.32 EPA per dropback when the Patriots blitzed him. For context, it was the second-best EPA/DB performance by an NFL QB this season in a game where the opponent blitzed at least 50% of dropbacks. Michael Penix, in the Falcons' Monday Night Massacre of the Saints, was the only one better (9 of 12, 147 yards, 1 TD, 1 sack, 143.4 rating).
Here's the top 10, via Sumer Sports:
Notice how the Vikings and Brian Flores are the only team on that list that has figured out how to win blitzing that much? They are 6-0 this season. The rest of the league is 5-6-1, including the Patriots at 0-2 (Jaguars were the other).
The lesson here: Brian Flores is really good at this. The rest of you, including Kuhr, are not. The king stays the king!
That led me to wonder (uh oh, here he goes again) — especially after watching Drake Maye impressively navigate a complicated pass defense for arguably the first time in this career (Bears entered 8th in pass DVOA and my guess is that will continue to hold this season) as he starts to allay some of the schedule talk — maybe it's the Patriots' defense that's the real schedule merchant? (By the way, this game would have been a laugher if the Bears didn't have five unforced errors that ended drives/took points off the board.)
I think you could tell from some of my commentary coming out of the Raiders and Jets games that I was growing concerned with the Patriots' reliance on the blitz, and how that might work against them against a good quarterback and game planner. Well, say hello to Williams and Ben Johnson. And that the two navigated it so well on a short week is really a feather in their cap (actually, I'm willing to bet that was one reason the Patriots went so blitz-heavy: they didn't think the Bears would have time to prepare for it, which I could see).
Back to my exasperation ... the Patriots didn't blitz the Raiders all that much (22.5%), it was how they did it. Of their nine blitzes, SEVEN were with six or more rushers, including three with seven rushers, one with eight and another with nine. I mean, great, you sent the house at 83-year-old Kirk Cousins with no receivers. Wonderful. But when the Patriots sent nine and eight rushers at rookie Fernando Mendoza in his first NFL action in a blowout, that's when I kind of lost it. I mean, what are we doing here?
Then it was more of the same against Geno Smith the next week. The Patriots only blitzed six times in building a 17-3 lead. After that, the Patriots sent 12 blitzes, four of which were 6+.
So the Patriots' defense is