It's been just over three weeks since the Patriots opened training camp but the complexion of the team's defense looks dramatically different. Coming into 2024 new defensive coordinator DeMarcus Covington headlined one of the few significant changes for a unit that welcomed back nearly all of their top personnel.
But now, Christian Barmore is out indefinitely due to a blood clot diagnosis and Matthew Judon is an Atlanta Falcon. The duo represented the team's most potent pass rushers, the kind of players who draw major blocking attention from opponents and help set the tone up front.
All offseason the biggest questions revolved around a remade offense, but just like that the defense has some big questions of their own. How will they adjust without Barmore and Judon, and will the defense be able to offset their losses through a combination of rising personnel and scheme?
"I would say we have the depth and the competition in that room to fill that void, and really it's just up to them to continue to prove that on the field with their consistent play because we need that," said Covington last week. "Just like last year, we had injuries that happened and to our guy's credit, we had good depth at each position."
Through two preseason games, Covington has amped up the defense's aggressiveness, with the unit registering five sacks in each game. Acording to Next Gen Stats, Covington sent five-plus rushers on 11 of 36 dropbacks vs. Carolina. Against the Eagles, it was 14 of 45 dropbacks. The defensive coordinator also mixed in three six-man rushes and nine three-man rushes, alternating from sending the house to dropping almost everyone out to keep offenses on their heels.
Looking back at last season's totals, playcaller Steve Belichick, who wasn't afraid to mix in plenty of blitzes in the regular season, was more vanilla with his calls and stuck almost exclusively with four- and five-man rushes through the 2023's team's first two preseason games.
Whether it was due to the losses of Barmore and Judon, or just a signal of increased aggressiveness from the new coordinator, the Patriots defense looks ready to attack offenses in 2024.
"We're going to do what we do, and we're going to put the players in the best position with the players that we have, and then it depends on who we're playing for that week," said Covington of his approach, one that closely mirrors the gameplan philosophies of Bill Belichick. "So you tell me who we're playing and we're going to do what's best for our team, our defense, to stop them, to win the football game."
"We've gone years without having a premier rusher – Chandler Jones, the Judons of the world – but we were able to manufacture pass rush through our stunts and games and our game planning," said Jerod Mayo following the loss to the Eagles. "It's not going to be one person."
Thursday night's disruptive first half was a continuation of what we saw in the joint practice earlier in the week, which was the more promising of the two most recent competitive performances as it came largely against the Eagles' offensive stars.
"We had a great week defensively," relayed Deatrich Wise Jr.. "We knew what we wanted to do going into the week, cleaning up some of the small details we saw last game, and being very dominant in practice, and we did both of those. We did a great job managing our coverages together, stopping a lot of runs, forcing them to pass, and we did a good job blocking their passes and keeping them to short yardage plays."
Eagles starter Kenny Pickett was under duress for most of his time in the game, as Covington used a variety of blitzes and stunts that attacked the Eagles' backup blockers.
Wise liked what he saw from the remaining rushers and how they've become more choreographed with their plan to attack the passer.
"With the lessons Judon left us along with some of the great players who are here – Uch [Joshua Uche] Keion [White], Ox [Oshane Ximines], myself and Jennings, along with the interior guys, we definitely learned a lot in how to rush together," said Wise. "You saw these last two games, multiple people getting sacks, getting pressures, and getting in their face. That's kudos to him, and also our coaching staff as well."
Will the defense continue to be able to manufacture their pass rush without their two biggest stars in the regular season? It doesn't seem like they're going to stand around and wait to find out. All indications are that the Patriots defense will be as aggressive as they've ever been as Covington has shown his an early eagerness to spin the dial.
"It's all about the team," said Joshua Uche. "As a collective unit, we have to step up to the challenge. Each one of us has a role to do, a job to do. At the end of the day, that's what we're going to do. Each one of us, including the coaches as well, we're going to come together and get that done."
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