What to Watch For: Patriots vs Eagles

Patriots Defense

Two weeks ago against Baltimore, the Patriots defense was shredded.

New England’s defense, which was on a historic pace leading up to the game, allowed the Ravens to rush for 213 yards, en route to giving up a total of 375 yards.

Following that game, questions arose as to how good the Patriots defense really is when they play top offenses as their previous eight games were against many of the worst teams in the NFL.

“It’s about watching the film, breaking the film down and understanding how you need to improve – not harping on all your bad plays or what we could have done better, you know that. It’s about now, how do I change that when it comes back up? I’ve tried not to ever harp on a loss, especially now, 10 years in and you realize if you harp on one loss, then one loss turns into two losses, three losses,” said Patriots safety Devin McCourty during his press conference on Wednesday.

This week, the Patriots defense goes up against a dangerous Eagles offense that includes pass-catchers Alshon Jeffery, Nelson Agholor, tight end Zach Ertz and Dallas Goedert.

“I think they use two-tight end sets more than really any football team. The two types of tight ends they have, both those guys are four-seven, four-six guys, they run great routes, they split out wide. Whether you call it 12 with two tight ends, or is it 11 with three receivers, they have that kind of versatility. When you put in [Mack] Hollins and Jeffery, those are two big receivers now,” added McCourty.

Ertz leads all pass-catchers with 46 receptions for 527 yards and two touchdowns on the year.

“He's a really good player. They move him around a lot. He's in a lot of different positions. Until they come out of the huddle, it's hard to really know where he's going to be. He lines up in the tight end traditional location, but not a high, high percentage of the time,” said Patriots head coach Bill Belichick during his press conference on Wednesday.

Jeffery follows up with 34 catches for 353 yards and three touchdowns, while Goedert had hauled in 21 passes for 221 yards and three touchdowns.

PHOTO: Patriots media website

Red Zone Offense

The Patriots' entire offense has been inconsistent this season, but their red zone offense is one of the worst in the NFL.

Through nine games, and a bye week, the Patriots lead the NFL with 40 trips to the red zone.

From there, it is all downhill.

When in the red zone, the Patriots are scoring touchdowns just 50% of the time, which ranks 22nd in the league in points per trip.

“A lot of teams I’ve been on, you just keep trying to figure it out week to week, because the matchup is a little different, we’re going to have to do some different things, we know they have some strengths and we’re going to have to understand what those are. We’ve got to adapt and our players have to adapt and the scheme has to adapt,” said Brady during his press conference on Friday.

In the game against Baltimore, New England scored two touchdowns and kicked two field goals from 19 and 22 yards out respectively.

One of the issues for the Patriots in the red zone has been the inability to run the ball on the goal line.

Second-year running back Sony Michel has scored just five times on 12 carries inside the five-yard line.

Brady added, “You’d like to rely on a lot of things – you wish, Oh, we’ll throw for 300 every week and we’ll rush for 150 and every time we call this play it will work.” But then it’s like, how are we going to do that? And I think that’s how you have to focus on – how we’re going to do those things, how we’re going to accomplish them. We’d love to be able to count on everything,”

PHOTO: Patriots media website 

Brady vs Blitz

Patriots quarterback Tom Brady has struggled against pressure so far this season, in fact, he is one of the worst quarterbacks in the league when facing a blitz.

According to stats broken down by ESPN, Brady ranks 25th in the league with a quarterback rating of 46.8 when opposing teams blitz.

From 2016-2018, Brady ranked as the eighth-best quarterback when under pressure.

A part of the blame goes to the offensive line, who have been shaky so far this season especially at the left tackle position with Marshall Newhouse.

“Whoever’s in there, we’ve got to go out and execute – that’s what it’s about. It’s not about anything other than us all being accountable to do our job as best we possibly can. The more we can do that collectively, the better that transfers over to everybody playing with confidence. Because it’s really a game about confidence and trust, attention to detail, and then you have all the emotional aspects,” said Brady on Friday.

The offensive line should improve a little bit with the return of Isaiah Wynn, but the is not until next week against Dallas.

When it comes to facing the Eagles defense led by coordinator Jim Schwartz, the New England offensive line will be in for a challenge.

“I think they’re well-coached. I think they’re very fundamentally sound. I think he has a reason for everything that he does, just he doesn’t – “Oh, let’s just try this call.” I think there’s a method to what he’s trying to accomplish as a play-caller. Very smart coach. He’s been one of the great coaches in the league for a long time, and they’re playing great this year,” added Brady.

The Eagles defense has 24 sacked in their past five games, including 10 against the New York Jets.

Patriots head coach Bill Belichick added, “They're all productive. They have a good front, they're aggressive. They have their way of doing things and they're very good at it. They have good players. It looks like they've gotten some good players back there. [Tim] Jernigan played last week – add him in there. They were able to play with power, they have good quickness, good edge speed.”

PHOTO: Peter Bond/Flickr Commons

N'Keal Harry

Will this be the week that rookie wide receiver N’Keal Harry sees action?

Harry made the trip to Baltimore two weeks ago, but was inactive for the game against the Ravens.

When Belichick was asked earlier this week if Harry would play, he said, “We'll activate the players that we feel give us the best chance to compete against the Eagles.”

When pressed if Harry was on the right track, Belichick offered the following:

“I don't know what the track is. Go out there every day and try to get better – he's done a good job of that. He's worked hard. He's improved like all of our players have that are out there working. It's what we do expect, but he's done a good job of that. He's a lot better than he was earlier in the year, even two weeks ago.”

If and when Harry does play, he will join a Patriots receiving group that includes Mohamed Sanu, Julian Edelman, Phillip Dorsett and fellow rookies Jakobi Meyers and Gunner Olszewski.

Nick Folk

New kicker Nick Folk did not miss in his Patriots debut against the Ravens.

He went 2-for-2 on field goals, and 2-for-2 on extra points in the loss.

However, given that Sunday will only be his second game with the team, there is still reason to be cautious.

Prior to going the Patriots, Folk, 35, had not played in an NFL game since 2017 with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

His most recent full season in the league came in 2016 with the New York Jets.

During that season, he converted 27 of 32 field-goal attempts and 24 of 26 extra points.

In 154 career games, he has converted 245 of 305 field goals and 342 of 346 extra points

PHOTO: Keith Alison/Wikipedia