New England Patriots: Strong Play From Safeties Has Been Key in 2016
By Nick Ziegler
The New England Patriots are preparing for the NFL Playoffs on their bye week. However, they wouldn’t have gotten this far if not for some great play in their secondary.
While the New England Patriots offense gets most of the attention led by Tom Brady, their defense was also very good in 2016. The great season for Brady has overshadowed a lot of other positives on the team, one of which being their much-improved defense.
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This season, the Patriots are ranked 12th in total passing yards allowed, and are tied for third in total rushing yards allowed. Being in the top half of the league in both categories is very good, and the Patriots’ run defense has been elite as of late.
One of the reasons for the Patriots’ success on defense this season has been the play of their safeties. Both Patrick Chung and Devin McCourty have played very well this season, and they have played a lot.
According to ESPN, McCourty played 98.1 percent of the defensive snaps for the Patriots this season. For Chung, he was right behind him at 96.5 percent of the defensive snaps. These are both incredible numbers, and them both being on the field shows how valuable they have been to the Patriots.
“It’s hard to put a price tag on that, but there certainly is one,” Patriots coach Bill Belichick said Tuesday to Mike Reiss of ESPN.com. “That’s where the communication is most critical, that safety position on the back end of the defense. It’s critical for the middle linebacker in the front seven, but the safety position is your last line of defense, so when it’s a mistake there, it results in usually more damage.”
“They work together well, study and communicate off the field on how to play off each other or work in combination or work on disguises and things like that,” Belichick said to Reiss. “They’re pretty interchangeable.”
In both the run and the pass, the Patriots’ safeties have been very important to the success of the defense. As the Patriots march toward the playoffs, both McCourty and Chung will continue to be relied on heavily.
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We all know what Brady and the offense are capable of for the Patriots. However, if their defense continues to play like they have this season, we could be looking at another Super Bowl Championship for the Patriots. While we don’t know who the Patriots will be playing just yet, they could be destined for a match-up with the high-powered Pittsburgh Steelers offense sometime in the playoffs.
After both having great years, McCourty and Chung will be ready for that challenge if it happens.