New England Patriots: Defense lets them down in Super Bowl 52

In the loss to the Philadelphia Eagles, the New England Patriots saw their defense really drop the ball.

The Philadelphia Eagles were able to pull off the upset over the New England Patriots in Super Bowl 52. Despite not having Carson Wentz, the Eagles were able to look really impressive on offense.

Coming into the game, it was expected that the Eagles would focus on running the football in order to keep Tom Brady and the Patriots’ offense off the field.  However, the Eagles had an aggressive gameplan and it really paid off.

Nick Foles played well in the playoffs for the Eagles, and he had one of the best games of his life against the Patriots. In the win, Foles was able to total 373 passing yards, three passing touchdowns, and one interception. In addition to the passing touchdowns, Foles was also able to catch a touchdown pass from Trey Burton.

Seeing the Eagles score 41 points against the Patriots was truly shocking. Since the first few games of the season, the Patriots defense has been one of the best in the league. In the points per play category, the Patriots were near the top all season, but the unit looked off all night.

One of the big surprises was that they shockingly never used Malcolm Butler on defense. Butler was a starter for the Patriots the entire season but never played in the big game on defense. The Eagles were able to exploit the Patriots’ secondary with Butler out, as Foles had a field day against the defense.

In addition to the secondary struggling for the Patriots, their run defense didn’t do much better. As a team, the Eagles were able to total 164 rushing yards, as former Patriots running back LeGarrette Blount led the way with 90 yards on the ground.

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Overall, the Patriots defense really let them down, as allowing 41 points to the Eagles was unacceptable. Considering how well the Patriots offense and Tom Brady played, the defense must take a lot of the blame for this loss.