Patriots defense silences critics in AFC title, but can they do it again?
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – The New England Patriots knew it was out there. The noise. The criticism that the team’s defense hadn’t faced a top offense in the NFL.
That changed on Sunday when the Pittsburgh Steelers rolled into town for the AFC Championship Game.
“We try not to focus too much on the media, but we hear it,” safety Duron Harmon said. “It’s everywhere. We heard that we weren’t tested all year. We wanted to come out here, do what we were supposed to do, play good, fundamental football, take away their targets, and try to make them beat us in other places.”
The Steelers didn’t.
The Patriots beat Pittsburgh 37-16 Sunday night in the AFC Championship Game to clinch their trip to Super Bowl LI against the Atlanta Falcons, in large part, because of a dominant defensive performance.
The Patriots led the NFL in scoring defense during the regular season, allowing only 15.6 points per game.
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The criticism, however, was that those numbers came against sub-par offenses, and even worse quarterbacks. Consider this: Since Week 11, New England has faced Colin Kaepernick of the 49ers, Ryan Fitzpatrick of the Jets (twice), rookie Jared Goff of the Rams, Joe Flacco of the Ravens, Trevor Siemian of the Broncos, and Matt Moore of the Dolphins.
And then, in the divisional round of the playoffs, the Patriots got Brock Osweiler of the Texans.
But after dispatching the high-powered offense of the Steelers that boasts quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, receiver Antonio Brown and running back Le’Veon Bell – who left the game in the second quarter with a groin injury – those critiques are no longer valid.
“I think there’s a lot of noise always,” Patriots quarterback Tom Brady said of the defense. “Sometimes you don’t always have it figured out four games into the year. There are a lot of moving parts. I practice against those guys every day and it’s hard to complete passes. I know if I can’t complete them against our defense then we should be fine on Sunday. Our guys do such a great job in the pass game and so many great pressures they’ve got, and they’ve got a lot of great scheme stuff.
“To slow down an offense like that was pretty great.”
Up next, however, is New England’s toughest test.
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The Atlanta Falcons have been the NFL’s most explosive offense all season long, and the unit looks to be peaking after hanging 44 on the Green Bay Packers in the NFC Championship Game.
Patriots cornerback Malcolm Butler shadowed Brown for the majority of Sunday night’s game, allowing New England’s defense to be more aggressive in attacking its other skill position players. According to Pro Football Focus, Brown only caught two passes for 24 yards on four targets when Butler covered Brown. He also broke up one pass.
With Falcons receiver Julio Jones presenting similar matchup issues, the Patriots may opt to do something similar.
Butler’s coverage was just one part of how the Patriots smothered the Steelers.
One of the pivotal sequences of the game came late in the second quarter.
It looked like Pittsburgh had scored via a 19-yard reception to tight end Jesse James. Upon review, however, it was ruled that James was tackled short of the end zone.
On the next play, Patriots linebacker Dont’a Hightower and safety Patrick Chung stuffed Pittsburgh running back DeAngelo Williams for a one-yard loss. After that, defensive tackle Vincent Valentine broke through Pittsburgh’s offensive line to bring Williams back for a three-yard loss. Then quarterback Ben Roethlisberger misfired on a third-down pass, so the Steelers settled for a field goal to put the score at 17-9 headed into halftime.
“It was big for us,” defensive end Chris Long told reporters after the game. “It kept it a two-score ball game, so it was a momentum swing and from there, we didn’t really look back.”
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