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What we learned in Pats-Bears: Defensive wrinkle among coaching staff’s wins originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
CHICAGO — Drake Maye didn’t like what he’d seen from the Patriots in their Wednesday practice. The offense was lacking in its attention to detail. There were mental errors. A snap was mishandled. An assignment was missed in pass-protection.
Soon thereafter Maye sought out Alex Van Pelt to ask if he could address the unit, and his offensive coordinator gave him the green light. Not all that far removed from his 22nd birthday. Just four games into his tenure as starting quarterback.
Four days after his speech, Maye helped lead the Patriots to a 19-3 victory in Chicago.
Maye’s leadership — and how his teammates responded to the rookie QB asserting himself — was a major development for the rebuilding Patriots.
Let’s get to what else we learned from the Patriots in Chicago on Sunday…
Monsters of the Midway
Think the Patriots felt as though they liked their plan on the defensive side of the ball?
They spammed Caleb Williams and the Bears with man-to-man coverage calls and stifled Shane Waldron’s passing game from the very start. The No. 1 overall pick ended up finishing the game with just 120 yards passing, 4.0 yards per attempt, and what looked like two frustrated veteran receivers in DJ Moore and Keenan Allen.
The Patriots’ coverage on the back end also helped their linebackers and defensive linemen feast near the line of scrimmage. They racked up a whopping nine sacks from seven different players, including two each from Deatrich Wise and Anfernee Jennings. Williams couldn’t deal with immediate pressure at times, and at others held onto the football and absorbed 13 hits total in the game.
Against the run, the Patriots stood tall, holding Chicago to just 3.7 yards per carry and 73 yards total, breaking a seven-game streak of allowing opponents to run for at least 100 yards.
The Bears were without three starters on the offensive line after losing left guard…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/learned-pats-bears-defensive-wrinkle-214335819.html
Author : NBC Sports Boston
Publish date : 2024-11-11 21:43:35
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