New England Patriots' defence quietly taking care of business

On a Sunday that was a bad day for bettors, the New England Patriots were one of the few teams that didn’t disappoint.

The Dallas Cowboys and the Buffalo Bills, both favourites to win their games against the Denver Broncos and the Jacksonville Jaguars, respectively, had scored six points between them after the third quarter, and ended up on the losing side in a Week 9 full of upsets.

But New England were not among the teams who unexpectedly came unstuck, and maintained their perfect record on the road (4-0) with a 24-6 win at the Carolina Panthers.

New England defence among stats leaders

Little by little, without making a lot of noise, the Patriots’ solid defence is beginning to take the team to the leading positions in the most important stats categories.

New England are in the top 10 on yards allowed per game (340.3), passing yards given up per game (234.1) and points surrendered per game (18.9), a statistic in which they sit fourth in the NFL. In a nutshell, that's a typical Bill Belichick defence.

That’s what the head coach/general manager was looking for when he picked up players such as outside linebacker Matt Judon, nose tackle Davon Godchaux and inside linebacker Kyle Van Noy as free agents.

On Sunday, Judon registered his ninth sack of the season, leaving him on the cusp of breaking his personal best of 9.5 sacks, which he managed in 2019 with the Baltimore Ravens.

And the defence gave the Patriots six points when JC Jackson returned an interception 88 yards for a touchdown.

Jackson doesn’t get the media attention given to other cornerbacks in the NFL, but in Carolina he completed his second game with two interceptions and now has 22 in his first four years in the league, something which only Mike Haynes had managed in the history of the franchise.

He has five interceptions midway through the 2021 season, making it his third campaign in a row with at least five picks.

To put things in perspective, Xavien Howard of the Miami Dolphins has managed 20 interceptions, two fewer, since Jackson was signed by the Patriots as a free agent in 2018.

New England lead the NFL with 13 interceptions and are fourth with 16 turnovers.

Patriots quarterback Mac Jones going from strength to strength

On the other side of the ball, Mac Jones is getting better week on week and is starting to become everything Belichick had hoped the rookie from Alabama would be.

Without being spectacular, Jones has been the best quarterback of the class of 2021. He has completed 68% of his passes for 2,135 yards, throwing for 10 touchdowns, seven interceptions and a passer rating of 89.8.

Trevor Lawrence, the first overall pick in the 2021 draft, has eight touchdown passes, nine interceptions and a passer rating of 73.6.

In New England, the plan isn’t that Jones throws four touchdown passes every Sunday. No, the plan is simple: Jones has to avoid errors that translate directly into points against, and try to earn the Patriots at least 21.

With the 23-year-old at QB, the New England offence is averaging 25.6 points per game. More than enough.

Jones is the first rookie quarterback to win his first four road games since Dak Prescott in 2016. The record, which stands at six, is shared by Prescott and Ben Roethlisberger (2004).

The Patriots have a 5-4 record and if the regular season ended today, they would qualify for the playoffs as one of the wild cards, ahead of the Kansas City Chiefs, the Cleveland Browns, the Cincinnati Bengals and the Broncos.

Credit is due to Belichick and his top defence.