Can the Patriots bounce back after the bye?
With two games against Buffalo and the Chargers left on the schedule, this may be the last realistic shot the Pats have at chalking up a fourth win.
Here is how I think they may do so.
Take what the defense give you
In my review of the Colts game, I praised Drake Maye for playing sensible football. He faced cover three a lot, which limits the opportunity for explosive plays.
This may be the case again this week, as Arizona play cover three nearly a third of their defensive snaps, which is their most commonly used coverage.
The slight difference, however, is that the Cardinals tend to disguise their coverage a lot more than the Colts do. They love creeper and sim pressures, which I covered in my Rams preview.
Running against the Cardinals’ light boxes will also be a possibility in this game. Handing the ball off to Antonio Gibson over Rhamondre Stevenson may also be a good idea.
Gibson is averaging 6.2 yards per carry with 10 missed tackles forced on only 22 carries over the last four games, while Stevenson is only averaging 3.5 yards and has nine missed tackles forced on 66 carries in same span. It might be time to make a change.
Reign it in in the red zone
The Pats’ game plan last week allowed them to move the ball with ease, as they put up 422 yards of offense. However they were unable to consistently put points on the board.
This was in large part because they kept killing themselves with mental mistakes in the red zone. I discussed them in more depth in my review of the Colts game, but they entailed a missed 25-yard field goal; an endzone interception; and a poor route on a mesh concept.
If we tidy this up, that would easily allow the Patriots to put 30+ points for the first time since October 2022. Man, that is a depressing stat!
Blitz the Birds
The Pats defensive struggles are among my top concerns for this team.
If we want a hope in heck of winning this game, James Conner cannot get rolling. Which is a tall order considering that the Patriots rank 26th in PFF’s run defense grade.
However, I have a suggestion as to how we can combat this, and put superstar quarterback Kyler Murray in unfavourable positions. Blitz, blitz, and blitz some more! This will help stuff the run, but will also pressure Murray, which has his PFF passing grade drop from 83.8 – when not blitzed – to 58.6 when blitzed.
Bringing five or six blitzers is a good way to limit an explosive Arizona offense.
