“We had a bunch of sacks, a bunch of TFLs, just a bunch of production, from the defensive line. That’s what you want to see as a d-tackle.”
Gabe Jacas gets a hand on Miami’s Malik Willis AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell
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Cory Durden has played in 33 NFL games over four seasons in the NFL with three different franchises and he had never recorded a sack until Sunday afternoon’s win against the Dolphins.
He and Christian Elliss split a sack on Miami’s second offensive snap, setting the tone for a season-high five-sack performance by New England’s defense during the 24-19 victory.
“I feel like we dominated up front,” Durden said after the game. “The score obviously doesn’t show it, but we dominated up front. We had a bunch of sacks, a bunch of TFLs, just a bunch of production, from the defensive line. That’s what you want to see as a d-tackle.”
Durden recorded his first full sack on the following drive, chasing Willis down as the Miami quarterback was trying to spin away from Gabe Jacas. Jacas tied Durden for the team lead with 1.5 sacks. Elliss, Christian Barmore, Jaylen Reed, and Elijah Ponder each chipped in a half sack, bringing the total to five.
The Patriots recorded six tackles for loss and snapped Miami’s streak of five consecutive games with 100 or more rushing yards. The Dolphins had 74 yards on 23 carries.
The Patriots also did a variety of things that won’t necessarily show up on the stat sheet, from disrupting runs by pushing Miami’s linemen into the backfield, forcing an interception off of a tipped-pass, and holding Miami to a field-goal after a turnover gave Miami the ball in the red zone.
“We have to be able to tip passes, affect the quarterback,” coach Mike Vrabel said. “The weather, we had the one unfortunate [turnover] with [Efton Chism] there and the defense did a heck of a job sudden change, so again the more we can turn the football over that makes a huge difference especially on the road with the offense being able to capitalize and making some points and touchdowns.”
The pressure up gave New England’s secondary a boost. Miami’s leading receiver, rookie, Kevin Coleman had 46 yards, the bulk of which came when Charles Woods slipped and fell on a double-move from Coleman that left the rookie wide open.. Coleman’s touchdown was Miami’s only score in the second half.
The Patriots fell into a ten-point halftime deficit after Miami scored a pair of field-goals and a short touchdown pass from Willis to Malik Washington.
“We just keep battling, obviously, we didn’t like the way we finished the first half,” safety Kevin Byard said. “I think we played really good. We weren’t playing complimentary enough and honestly we didn’t feel like we were making enough plays. We gave up a big drive right before the half and that’s something we preach and practice all the time, being good in two-minute situations.”
“It wasn’t good there, but we understood going into halftime that it was a long game and there was going to be another 30 minutes,” Byard added. “We were going to have to battle. Just kind of proud of the guys the way we just fought back and didn’t fold in the first half. Outside of that double-move, we basically didn’t give up any points in that second half.”
Cornerback Carlton Davis returned from a neck injury, marking the first time the Patriots’ starting secondary has been on the field at the same time since the season opener against Seattle.
“It was nice to have [Davis] back out there and have the full group. That was the first time since Week 1 we were all out there. [Davis] is getting his legs back, but we had a plan going into the game. We knew we wanted to have a lot of vision on Malik [Willis] and make him beat us.”
The Patriots could have done a better job “challenging” Miami’s receivers in the first half, but improved in the second half Byard said. They were able to throw a variety of coverages at Willis as they made adjustments.
There’s still room for the secondary to grow as they get used to having the whole unit healthy. Getting five sacks from the front seven certainly didn’t hurt matters, and Byard said Sunday’s performance could be something to build on.
“We’ve been talking about this secondary being one of the best in the league and to finally have us back out there, hopefully we can continue to build on that,” Byard said. “There’s definitely some things we need to clean up for sure but this was a good start.”
Khari A. ThompsonSports Reporter
Khari Thompson covers professional sports for Boston.com. Before joining the team in 2022, Khari covered college football for The Clarion Ledger in Jackson, Miss.
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