Three Reasons the Patriots Defense Won’t Stop the Falcons Offense
By John Follett
What Worked Against Pittsburgh Won’t Against Atlanta Falcons
If there was any concern prior to the AFC Championship, it was covering Le’Veon Bell out of the backfield. The New England Patriots traded away their best cover linebacker in Jamie Collins at the end of October. Collins was by far Bill Belichick’s most athletic and versatile defender. It didn’t matter because Collins’s ego was apparently becoming too big for the Patriots’ locker room.
New England lucked out in the AFC title game as Bell was a non-factor due to a groin injury. With no Bell, the Patriots were able to better focus on keeping a lid on Antonio Brown. Belichick deployed a lot of two-safeties deep with man-underneath coverage. The scheme worked well against Pittsburgh, a team that lacked quality receiver depth all season. Something else to think about is the number of Ben Roethelisberger passes that were dropped last Sunday.
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The Atlanta Falcons have a lot of depth at receiver and a tight end in Austin Hooper than factors into the passing game. There’s also a pair of dynamic running backs the Patriots will have to contend with. And despite early drops by Gabriel and Robinson last Sunday, dropped passes haven’t been a problem with the Falcons this season.