Patriots-Seahawks preview: Old-school matchup will be won with defense originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
FOXBORO — What the Bengals offense experienced in Week 1 was a wave of Patriots tacklers smothering them into submission.
That was by design. You may catch the football on us, DeMarcus Covington’s defense seemed to say, but you won’t be getting far after the fact. The Patriots had the third-best yards-after-catch figure allowed in the NFL’s season-opening week (3.4 yards) with a rally-to-the-ball mindset that featured big hits from players across their defense.
As much as their willingness to use an extra offensive lineman and run the football defined what head coach Jerod Mayo wants the Patriots to be — a team that wins with physicality and fundamentals — on the other side of the ball, New England’s tackling did the same. Pro Football Focus ranked the Patriots as the second-best tackling group in Week 1 behind only the Lions.
Against the Seahawks, who feature a talented group of receivers and a quick-trigger quarterback in Geno Smith (according to Next Gen Stats, he averaged his third-quickest time to throw since 2019 in Week 1), tackling will be paramount for the Patriots yet again.
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“I think (against the Bengals) you saw aggressive play, you saw physical play, physical tackling, knocking guys back, winning the line of scrimmage,” Covington said this week. “You saw good fundamentals. You saw us taking the ball away. When you turn on the tape, you want to see that every single week.”
It started early with the hitting. Jahlani Tavai and Ja’Whaun Bentley at the linebacker level closed on ball-carriers quickly. Keion White was a force. Jabrill Peppers and Kyle Dugger always embody a physical style of play. And some of the team’s smaller players weren’t left out of the mix.
Marcus Jones helped establish a tone with two third-down…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/patriots-seahawks-preview-old-school-134336976.html
Author : NBC Sports Boston
Publish date : 2024-09-14 13:43:36
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