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Originally Posted by -King-
That same metric says the Patriots have the best defense ever...
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The interesting thing is that the Patriots are playing a MUCH more high risk / high reward defense than they have historically. Alot of zero blitzes, which Belichick disfavors usually. The old "bend but don't break" is out the door, and now it's "break them, ****ing NOW".
With inexperienced and/or mediocre quarterbacks and not-great offenses, you can do that stuff. With Mahomes and Hill, a zero blitz probably results in lofting a ball deep for Hill with no safety help over the top. Not a plan I expect to see the Patriots employ.
Bottom line -- the Patriots are performing at a historically elite level and utterly crushing these offenses in a way that most defenses could never dream of doing, BUT how much of that will translate over against good to great offenses? Normally against a guy like Mahomes, the Patriots will want to make him grind it out. Very controlled pass rush lanes to keep him in the pocket, and force him to make good decisions, including taking check-downs etc. over and over and over in the hope that he screws up or gets frustrated or whatever.
Not sure what the plan will be in 2019, but no doubt the Patriots are employing a different look and to some degree different philosophy than most of the last 18 years.