Jamie Collins adds explosive, big-play potential to defense
Jamie Collins’ reunion with the Pats adds more than just vital depth to the linebacking corp – it should also make the defense faster and more explosive.
It’s hard to nitpick the New England Patriots‘ defense after what the world witnessed on February 3. Under the careful direction of Bill Belichick and Brian Flores, the unit that day utterly contained a potent Los Angeles Rams offense and essentially hand-delivered the New England region its sixth Super Bowl championship.
If the Patriots do have any lingering questions on that side of the ball, many analysts and fans have pointed to the pass rush – or lack thereof – as being the most pressing area of potential concern to address. Despite the New England D roughing up Jared Goff in the Super Bowl (and Patrick Mahomes two weeks earlier in the AFC Championship Game), nervous hand-wringers fear the departure of Trey Flowers has essentially doomed the Pats’ defensive front line for 2019.
We’re not so sure. Losing Flowers is a significant blow, but it’s far from the proverbial nail-in-the-coffin. Deatrich Wise Jr. showed real flashes of brilliance off the edge last season, Derek Rivers should be ready to finally make some meaningful contributions of his own, and Michael Bennett is still an absolute stud and will be plenty motivated joining a championship contender.
So where do the Patriots need to improve defensively if it’s not all about pass pressure, sacks, QB hits and knockdowns?
How about big plays? The team is as sound in their fundamentals as any other roster in the NFL. Rarely do you watch a New England game and find a Pats defender out of place, whiffing on a receiver, or missing an easy tackle. And yet week in and week out from September to December, the Patriots give up chunks of yards to lesser teams, only to stiffen in the red zone and not surrender seven points.
That “bend but don’t break” defense has become something of a cliche when discussing Belichick’s Patriots defense, but that doesn’t make it any less true of an assessment.
The other slight knock on this New England D is its age. While Belichick has done a nice job of infusing some youth on that side of the ball over the past two drafts, it’s still a roster filled with aging veterans like the McCourty twins, Duron Harmon, and Bennett.
What the Patriots need on defense is a game-changer; a player with multiple skill sets who can drop back into coverage, rush the passer, find the ball-carrier, and make fans’ jaws drop occasionally by making freak plays of pure athleticism and talent.
That sounds a heck of a lot like Jamie Collins circa 2014 and 2015.
Collins has impressed thus far in the short amount of time he’s spent since returning to New England. The true test will come at the end of the month with training camp (and then the preseason in August), but he’s shown onlookers plenty of glimpses that should have Patriots fans understandably excited about his potential contributions to this team.
Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer pointed out recently that Collins “has lost weight, and his play speed has caught the attention of the staff in the spring.” Even more importantly, Breer predicts big things are in store for Collins because he’s no longer “too caught up in his contract situation,” which according to Breer was part of the reason Collins and the Patriots fell out in the first place back in 2016.
Chowder and Champions’ Sam Minton also seems to think that Collins has corrected whatever attitude or work ethic problems he had during his fist stint in Foxborough. He’s reportedly been much easier to deal with during OTAs and minicamp, and his priorities seem to have shifted back towards winning football games after spending a couple of years with the Cleveland Browns.
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If Collins is indeed a changed man, he could bring a real sense of swagger and defensive explosiveness to the Patriots… two qualities that are currently lacking just a bit. As such, New England fans should be hoping he sticks around long enough to make the team and become a consistent contributor in 2019, as he still remains one of the more purely talented linebackers in the NFL today.