New England Patriots Hope Defensive Tackle Changes Improve Run Defense

May 19, 2013   ·   Randolph Charlotin   ·   Jump to comments

Ron Brace, Myron Pryor, Brandon Deaderick and Kyle Love were released this offseason by the New England Patriots. All played defensive tackle—the position at the heart of the first line of defense.
A purge at one position typically indicates a problem area for a team. But the Patriots run defense finished ninth overall in yards allowed (1,630) and sixth overall in yards per attempt (3.9 average) in 2012.
Upon further analysis, though, good teams don’t fear New England’s run defense and for good reason.
New England’s run defense was aided by the prolific offense that forced many opponents to abandon running the ball just to keep up with the Patriots. In close games, however, opponents pounded the ball for four quarters and wore down New England’s run defense.
The first step in evaluating the run defense was to separate the blowouts from the games decided by 10 points or less. The blowouts were wins over Tennessee, Buffalo, St. Louis, Ind...

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