The New England Patriots won their home opener against the Pittsburgh Steelers in large part because of their defense. The unit coordinated by Zak Kuhr actually managed to out-score its opponent: whereas the Steelers scored three points all game, Kuhr’s unit put up seven — contributing significantly to the Patriots’ 20-3 victory.
How did the group do that? By sticking to the formula.
“That has to be the formula: you have to affect the quarterback each and every week,” said head coach Mike Vrabel.
“Zak
and everybody over there does a fantastic job [but] all the credit goes to the players. Being able to see Christian Barmore affect the quarterback with the holding and a forced fumble and seeing everybody compete and work together to affect the quarterback — and the coverage has to be there long enough for the rush to get there.”
The Patriots sacked Steelers QB Aaron Rodgers four times on Sunday and applied pressure throughout the game, highlighted by the aforementioned Christian Barmore strip-sack in the early fourth quarter.
Teammate Elijah Ponder picked up the loose ball and returned it 19 yards for a touchdown, putting the Patriots up by 17 points and giving the defense its first turnover to celebrate this season. The second, a Gabe Jacas interception, followed shortly thereafter.
“We played good team defense,” said cornerback Christian Gonzalez after the game. “We left some plays out there that we can obviously come back and get in the film room and fix. I am proud of this defense and proud of this team. We went out there and fought hard. That’s a physical team. The Steelers are a physical team. They came in and always want to be physical. So, our challenge was to be more physical as a defense. I think we did that.”
The physicality was one part, the overall battle plan another — a combination Steelers head coach Mike McCarthy had plenty of praise for in the aftermath of the game.
“Good pressure plan,” McCarthy explained. “I think the biggest thing is the pressure and challenging our routes man to man. We expected that this week. That’s the way we prepped to come into the game. We did not execute, so you’ve got to give them credit.”
The Patriots achieved the pressure against Rodgers by regularly sending extra rushers his way. According to initial charting by Pro Football Focus, Kuhr called for the blitz on 21 of the Steelers’ 46 dropback plays. On average, 4.8 pass rushers attacked the opposing pocket on each dropback.
“They were just giving us different looks, bringing different pressures, stunts,” offensive tackle Troy Fautanu said. “Obviously, the coaches go over it during the week. We’ve got to be able to execute, go out there and block our man, regardless if we’re 1-on-1. We’ve got to do a better job.
