NFL: Patriots vs.

The New England Patriots have started the season with a lot of preliminaries, but after the first quarter of the regular season the defence is facing big problems.Can the Tampa Bay Buccaneers take advantage of this to open Week 5?Or does the rightly scolded pats defense strike back to primetime?The game will be played live on DAZN during the night from 2.25 a. m. on Friday night!

At the beginning of the week there was a clear mood in Foxborough – after the players had studied the tape of the sometimes embarrassing home defeat against the Carolina Panthers, several defenders publicly vowed improvement.

Linebacker Dont’ a Hightower represented this by saying:”The little things are important.Of course, the Big Plays are a problem, but so many small things happen.That is where we need to start.We must not take anything for granted and must know every little detail.I think that’s where I should start:” Everyone must continue to feel responsible for themselves,”that concerns us all.We must expect more from each other.And that starts today.”

It’s a nice way to describe a tape session at the beginning of the week that is supposedly not very entertaining.New England’s Secondary offered a desolate performance against Carolina, again and again Panthers receivers were completely uncovered.

Obvious communication and voting errors were punishments and other individual mistakes and once again a problem became painfully obvious: A secondary, which was supposed to be the strength of this defense, is actually a huge problem zone.

The result: special shifts during the week, additional meetings, an additional walkthrough for the secondary “We don’t just sit around.We address the problems.We looked at the tapes and made changes.We’re working hard, but now it’s time to put that in place.We have to play better,”said Safety Devin McCourty.

Up to now, however, New England has revealed huge problems in man coverage: According to Pro Football Focus, they play much more frequently than 2016 (62.3 percent vs. 45.4 percent), but still allow for more yards per pass attempt (8.9 vs. 6.8) and a higher completion percentage (60.7 percent vs. 51 percent).Even more astonishing: in 2016, New England in Man Coverage allowed six touchdown passes – ten of them this season!

So instead of having a secondary with McCourty, Stephon Gilmore and Malcolm Butler, which can take opponents out of the game and thus give the front more Blitzing freedom, the mistakes in the secondary expose the individually badly occupied pass rush.However, the Rushing Defense is only marginally better: 5.1 yards will be won by opposing teams per run.

So what has to happen?New England’s coaching staff will do everything in their power to eliminate communication errors in coverage – this is the first big step.If this works, the quality of the Defensive Backfield should come through better, while the front will benefit from an increasingly fitter Hightower.The exciting question is: Will it be possible to play away in Tampa in a short week?

Meanwhile, there have been clear trends since the beginning of the season as to what the Pats want to achieve: The downfield part is much more important than in previous years.This can be seen from the fact that Brady keeps the ball in his pocket longer – but also in his air yards.

After 7.5 air yards per passport attempt in 2016, it currently stands at 10.0.28 percent of its passports fly at least 15 yards down the field, compared with only 19 percent last season.Only the Rams (9,3) have more yards per pass than New England (9), no team has more passing touchdowns on their account (10).The new approach, however, also resulted in more bags and more stress on a currently average line.

nearby

On the other hand, the Bucs-Offense is a difficult test for New England’s so far fragile defenses – also thanks to a returnee.Running Back Doug Martin has served his suspension and is entitled to play again, possibly an elementary reinforcement for Tampa: The Bucs currently stand at only 3.8 yards per run and run the ball on average only 22 times per game. 1.7 yards per run after their first opponent contact mean 17th place in the league.

All these values are too low, even though the run-blocking has been unexpectedly good.Martin’s return now offers the chance for a more balanced offense:”I went directly to the doctors and had myself checked out, everything is wonderful,”Martin said,”I feel great, I’ve been training well in California.I think I’m ready.”

With a better run game, Winston should also have more opportunities for downfield passes and the chance to test the Patriots secondary – and possibly more opportunities for DeSean Jackson.He received only six targets (two catches for 20 yards) against the Giants, after two of Winston’s three interceptions had flown in his direction against the Vikings.

After the Giants game he admitted:”This is definitely hard, but I will not give up because of this.I’ll stay on course, sooner or later it’ll all come together.We just have to keep working.We all know how much Jameis wanted me and how much I wanted to come here.I hope it works.That’s all that matters.”

Tampa Bay Buccaneers (2-1) – New England Patriots (2-2) (Fri, 2.25 am live on DAZN)

The SPOX NFL Predictor, Week 5:

Pascal

De Marco

35-28