Perry's Report Card: Defense's grades slip in tough loss to Texans
The Patriots' already slim playoff hopes absorb a devastating blow with a 27-20 defeat to Deshaun Watson and the Texans -- and that failure is reflected in Phil Perry's grades.
After passing the test vs. the Baltimore Ravens, the New England Patriots saw their grades slip again in Week 11.
The Pats defense failed to contain Deshaun Watson as the dynamic Houston Texans quarterback led his team to a 27-20 victory, throwing for two touchdowns and running for another.
While Cam Newton was solid, he and the Patriots offense simply were unable to keep up with Watson and Co. Much of that was due to New England's lackluster play in the secondary. The linebackers didn't have a great day either.
So how did each Patriots positional group grade out in a loss that may have crushed their playoff hopes? Let's find out.
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In a game that was supposed to be dominated by the Patriots running game, Cam Newton emerged as their only hope offensively. He went 26-for-40 for 365 yards and a touchdown, finishing off his fourth consecutive game without a pick and his third without a turnover. He completed eight of 11 passes 10 yards beyond the line of scrimmage or deeper, including a 42-yard touchdown to Damiere Byrd that was really well-placed and hung up long enough for Byrd to settle underneath. Newton had his highest yards-per-attempt figure (9.1) of the season in this one and his second-highest quarterback rating (102.6).
Newton might've missed an opportunity for a second touchdown to Byrd off a double-pass but completed one to Jakobi Meyers instead. He missed throws to N'Keal Harry, James White and Damien Harris. He had one pass that should've been picked. He had four passes batted at the line of scrimmage. And he didn't see unchecked rushers headed his way at times, which led to a sack early in the fourth quarter and an incompletion to effectively end the game late.
Hard to know who was responsible for blocking whom in those instances, but Newton appeared to be caught off guard both times. While the communication at the line appears to be worlds better than it was early in the season, there is still the occasional breakdown, and those hurt the Patriots Sunday.
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Damien Harris was dealing with ankle and chest injuries coming into the game, and he might've been limited during the game. Maybe that explained why the Patriots attacked the Texans in the way they did, turning to some first-down passes in the first half that failed. (Bill Belichick said after the game that he didn't think Harris' health impacted play-calling.) That led to more second and third-and-long opportunities that the New England offense simply isn't built to execute.
Patriots backs finished with 3.5 yards per carry (20 attempts, 69 yards). They could've used more space to get started -- we'll get to the offensive line in a bit -- but they also couldn't generate chunk gains when given slivers of daylight. They functioned well enough as receivers -- nine catches for 80 yards as a group, with White grabbing six for 64 -- but this unit was expected to be the driving force behind a steady run game in Houston. It wasn't. And now it'll have to figure out a way forward without Rex Burkhead, who suffered a serious knee injury in the game.
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Damiere Byrd lit it up with a career-high 132 yards in this one. His touchdown catch was a thing of beauty, as he adjusted late to track the football into his hands to finish off the explosive play. The Texans effectively took away Jakobi Meyers (3 catches, 38 yards), but Byrd was the beneficiary of a series of deeper targets for the typically dink-and-dunk Patriots passing offense. He converted on all three of his targets in third-and-eight or longer situations. He also ran a reverse for 11 yards and a first down. He was electric.
Otherwise? Quiet day. Meyers was mostly silent, other than making a 20-yard grab on a well-designed double-pass play. N'Keal Harry was booked for one hold on first down to start the second half, and he was incorrectly identified as the culprit when Byrd committed offensive pass interference. Harry caught five passes for 41 yards. Practice-squad call-up Donte Moncrief finished with a catch for 15 yards and a first down.
Because we include fullback Jakob Johnson in this group, they get credit for making a nice block on Damien Harris' crack-toss touchdown run on the first Patriots drive of the game. After that, there was little this unit did to contribute. Ryan Izzo whiffed on JJ Watt on a first-down run late in the third quarter, leading one of many second-and-long situations in this game. He also missed a rub on a third-and-seven throw to James White, where he could've picked off a Texans linebacker to give White all kinds of open running room.
Izzo caught two passes for 59 yards but both came on the last drive and one was on a Hail Mary toss that landed well short of the goal line. Newly-acquired tight end Jordan Thomas was targeted once but is still waiting for his first catch with the Patriots.
The Texans allowed 5.2 yards per rush entering the game. The Patriots averaged 3.6 on 24 carries by the time they left Houston, despite being one of the league's most efficient rushing offenses in football this season. That doesn't fall entirely on this group. But their inability to dominate at the point of attack was one of the surprises of this game.
Did the Patriots get away from the run unnecessarily? At times, maybe. On their second drive, after picking up an easy first down on two carries, they took to the air. Newton had to spike it on a screen when Isaiah Wynn missed a rusher that blew up the play. That set up a second-and-long play and killed the drive. But later the Patriots tried to get back to the run, running out of two-back sets twice on first down but finding nowhere to go. No matter what they called -- crack toss, outside zone, fullback lead runs -- there didn't seem to be much there. So did they abandon it or could they just not do it?
Wynn was beaten for a sack. Mike Onwenu was beaten by JJ Watt on a run-stuff. Joe Thuney was called for a hold on first down. And on the final offensive play of the day for the Patriots, with Wynn out injured, there appeared to be a botched communication on the left side of the line that led to two linemen blocking the same rusher. Down day for this group.
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Jake Bailey mashed a couple, including one that covered 59 yards. Nick Folk made both of his field-goal tries and both extra points. Those two have been rock solid. No complaints.
Gunner Olszewski had an off day as a returner, though, trying to return one after having his feet on the back end line late in the first half. Then he muffed another kickoff. He quickly scooped it up, but that nearly spelled disaster. Olszewski also returned two punts for just two yards. This unit is lacking the kinds of explosive plays it provided last season, either putting points on the scoreboard itself or giving its offense favorable field position.
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This group was solid. Their job? Stop the run. They allowed 2.9 yards per rush. Lawrence Guy was a force at the line of scrimmage, coming up with several stops within two yards of the line of scrimmage. Byron Cowart also showed up with a stuff.
And even though it isn't their primary function, this group came up with more pass-rush than their outside linebacker cohorts. Guy and Deatrich Wise came up with the only two quarterback hits of the night for the Patriots.
Bill Belichick and the Patriots made their intentions very clear early on Sunday afternoon: They weren't going to bombard Deshaun Watson with pass-rushers at the risk of getting burned, and yet . . . Watson finished with 344 yards passing at a 9.3 yards per attempt clip -- including 271 yards in the first half alone -- and two passing touchdowns, giving him a whopping 121.9 quarterback rating.
Like their colleagues on the defensive line, this group was more than fine against the run. But even with Texans backs averaging 1.5 yards per carry, they still averaged 7.1 yards per play as a team. Why? In part because Watson had all the time in the world to throw. Sunday's game was the first of the season in which Watson was not sacked. This group did not hit him. On the handful of occasions he was hurried by outside linebackers, he stepped up or around said pressures and scrambled for yardage or threw unperturbed.
While the Patriots wouldn't commit numbers to their pass-rush, they surely hoped they could bother Watson more than they did. Houston was without both its starting left tackle and left guard, but John Simon, Chase Winovich, Josh Uche and others asked to bother Watson simply could not.
This is a bit of a chicken-or-the-egg issue, as it always is when the topic is the impact of a pass-rush group on its coverage unit. Did the Patriots allow Watson to complete 76 percent of his passes because of issues in the secondary? Or were there issues in the secondary because Watson had an eternity to throw behind the line of scrimmage? The answer: little bit of both.
Patriots defensive backs struggled in scramble-drill situations, as is to be expected. If a quarterback like Watson has four or five seconds to throw, it's close to impossible to "plaster" and keep receiving options covered up. That happened. But there were plenty of quick-hitters -- zone beaters, pick plays, catch-and-run plays -- that went for chunk gains, too. Plus, members of the Patriots secondary missed four tackles on the day and Texans pass-catchers picked up 63 yards after being contacted by Patriots defensive backs.
"Obviously," Devin McCourty said after the game, "today wasn't a great day of tackling."
