NFL1000: Why New England’s Defense Can Carry Belichick to Another Super Bowl

January 2, 2017   ·   Doug Farrar   ·   Jump to comments

From 2012 through 2015, the Seattle Seahawks led the NFL in scoring defense every season. It was a remarkable feat—no NFL team had accomplished it since the 1953-57 Cleveland Browns, who did it five straight seasons well before the NFL-AFL merger and all the strategic changes that followed.
The Seahawks finished third in scoring defense in 2016 with 294 points allowed, behind the New England Patriots (250) and New York Giants (284). And while the Giants' defensive improvement can be explained in part by the lucrative contracts handed out to veterans like Olivier Vernon, Janoris Jenkins and Damon Harrison, the Patriots led the league in scoring defense with a squad lacking many major financial constraints.
Of the Patriots' starters, only safety Devin McCourty carries a major cap charge, according to Over the Cap; most of the guys in this particular defense are players on their first contracts, or veterans thrown on the scrapheap by other teams and given the best chance t...

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