Patriots’ defense delivers rare knockout blow

Monday, November 22, 2010

Mike Parente, GoLocalProv Sports Editor

Until yesterday, it had been more than five years since Peyton Manning lost in Foxboro and looked this bad doing it.

And while it really hadn’t been that long since the Patriots’ defense actually closed out a game on its own, it sure as hell felt that way until James Sanders’ interception iced a 31-28 victory over Indianapolis with 37 seconds remaining.

The Patriots have been in a number of shootouts this year because a.) they have an offense that can trade blows with anybody and b.) because their defense just flat-out blows, but they should be slightly encouraged by the fact they not only intercepted Manning three times Sunday, but that they did so with the game on the line and the Colts threatening to either send this one into overtime or win it at the buzzer.

On second thought, this is grounds for celebration considering how poorly this defense has played all year. And if you think I’m exaggerating, rewind your DVR and check out those ghastly numbers CBS flashed on the screen during the second half. This defense has been historically bad – historical as in, “quite possibly the worst defense in team history if this current trend continues.”

They’re so bad that they’ve had to rely on their offense to close out games, namely in the form of long, extended scoring drives that chew up the clock and keep the opposing quarterback on the sidelines down the stretch. Tom Brady has been New England’s Mariano Rivera all season, expect for last night when he looked more like Jonathan Papelbon in the fourth quarter.

After moving the ball with relative ease in the first half – the Patriots scored touchdowns on each of their first three drives and four of their first six – New England’s offense ran into a brick wall in the fourth quarter. The Patriots punted twice and ran a grand total of nine plays during a five-and-a-half minute stretch in which the Colts scored 14 unanswered points to turn what seemed like a laugher into an unexpected nail-biter.

And as the Colts marched down the field again and landed at the Patriots’ 24-yard line with 37 seconds remaining – well within field-goal range, but also with enough time to go for the win – Bill Belichick had to be thinking, “Who’s gonna save us tonight?”

Who’d have guessed it’d be the defense?

Sanders’ game-clinching interception on Manning’s errant pass marked a sudden – and somewhat inspiring – turn of events during a season in which New England has leaned heavily on its top-ranked offense. The Patriots allowed 467 yards Sunday, which is terrible regardless of the final outcome, but there’s something to be said for stemming the tide with the game in jeopardy. And this wasn’t just an ill-advised pass by Manning that sailed above and beyond its intended target; this was a by-product of the pass-rush doing its job, which hadn’t been the case all year until last weekend in Pittsburgh when the Patriots sacked Ben Roethlisberger five times.

This year’s defense has been compared to that of the 2001 Patriots, which gave up a lot of yards, but made big stops when it needed to and kept the points to a minimum, thus earning the “bend, but don’t break” distinction that has become part of the local vernacular. I’ve always felt those comparisons were invalid because the Patriots have given up far more yards and points in comparison to the rest of the league this year than they did in ‘01, but last night was the first time we can truly say they bent without breaking. The Colts pushed them to the edge, and they stood their ground.

Whether New England’s defense can build off Sunday’s finish remains to be seen, but even the harshest critic (specifically this one) must admit there have been moderate signs of improvement within each game. The pressure the Patriots applied against the Steelers was as fierce as it’s been all season, and yesterday’s pick by Sanders with Manning in full beast mode was by far New England’s defensive play of the year.

The Patriots aren’t going to win any low-scoring games this year, and they probably won’t hold anybody to fewer than 300 yards, but Brady can realistically step into the huddle each week thinking, “Just give me one or two big stops, and we’ll win this game.” Yesterday was one of those rare afternoons in which the Patriots got the stops they needed while their defense delivered the unexpected knockout blow.