by Hal Bent | Posted on Tuesday, December 3rd, 2013
The New England Patriots faced-off on the road against the Houston Texans on Sunday afternoon and were fortunate to escape with a 34-31 victory. With New England three games ahead of the Miami Dolphins in the AFC East standings and a game in hand over the Cincinnati Bengals and Indianapolis Colts for the first round bye, defensive coordinator Matt Patricia and head coach Bill Belichick made some puzzling decisions regarding the team’s game plan.
Suffice to say, if Houston’s Anthony Smith was accusing the team of cheating, he certainly was not referring to the Patriots defense. After a strong start to the season, the Patriots defense has fallen off due to young defensive players having to step in and play key roles in the regular defense. With injuries and no solid depth behind their starting defensive linemen, the Patriots were left leaning on rookies and unwanted players in the middle of their defensive line. Add in injuries to most of their secondary the past few weeks, and the Patriots defense has been weakened.
This past weekend, the point was driven home when the Patriots travelled to Houston to face a Texans team which lost to Jacksonville last week 13-6 and was unable to even get in the end zone in the battle for last place in the AFC South. After that performance, it was shocking to see the Texans light up the Patriots defense for 31 points matching the points put up by the record-setting offense of the Denver Broncos the week before against New England.
The New England defense allowing 27 points to New Orleans, 24 points to Carolina, and 31 points to Denver is not anything to be ashamed about. The problem is giving up 30 points to the New York Jets, 31 points to Pittsburgh, and 31 to the Texans. Despite these points allowed in the last few weeks, the Patriots defense is still tenth in the NFL in points allowed.
Obviously, it is easy to point to the injuries on defense first as to the breakdown on defense. Starting defensive tackles Vince Wilfork and Tommy Kelly (who was clearly their best front seven defensive player in the first month of the season) and linebacker Jerod Mayo were lost for the season to injury. Obviously, losing two team captains and a ten year veteran is not a recipe for success...CLICK HERE FOR MUCH MORE: http://www.h4-entertainment.com/2013/12/new-england-patriots-defense-needs-to-improve-in-a-hurry/
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