Check out NE Patriots Unique Balanced Defense Line

0 Flares Twitter 0 Facebook 0 Google+ 0 StumbleUpon 0 LinkedIn 0 Pin It Share 0 Reddit 0 0 Flares ×

VIDEO: Why People Love The Patriots. Check Out Awesome Patriots Vid. Watch Video Below..

New England Patriots Schedule Standings Stats Roster Live Blog Odds Patriots’ Unique Balanced Defensive Line Rotation Bucks NFL Trend by Doug Kyed on Thu, Nov 19, 2015 at 8:00AM48,654 Share this: Fancred FOXBORO, Mass. — The New England Patriots were deemed visionaries early in the season when their offensive line still was healthy enough to be rotated from series to series. Swapping players in and out is typical for NFL defensive lines, but no one had seen a team with a new combination of blockers each drive. It’s gone under the radar, but the Patriots are even taking their defensive line rotations to the extreme this season.

Defensive line: Vince Wilfork, 9th year; Kyle Love, 3rd year; Jonathan Fanene, 8th year; Brandon Deaderick, 3rd year; Myron Pryor, 4th year; Gerard Warren, 12th year; Ron Brace, 4th year; Chandler Jones, rookie; Jake Bequette, rookie; Marcus Harrison, 4th year; Aaron Lavarias, 1st year; Alex Silvestro, 1st year; Marcus Forston, rookie; Justin Francis, rookie.

The Patriots are the only team in the NFL that hasn’t played a single interior lineman for at least 45.6 percent of defensive snaps. The Detroit Lions are the only other team that hasn’t played a single interior defensive lineman for at least 50 percent of snaps, and their top player at the position, Haloti Ngata, missed two games with an injury. Rookie Malcom Brown leads Patriots interior defenders by playing just 36 percent of defensive snaps. Behind him is Dominique Easley (32.5 percent), Sealver Siliga (31.6 percent), Alan Branch (31.1 percent) and Akiem Hicks (16.1 percent). They each play between 15 and 35 snaps per game and have specialized roles each week. “All of those guys have done a good job for us,” Belichick said. “They’ve all kind of — I think we’ve settled into a bit of a — certain roles or a rotation dependent on the particular game, but it’s given everybody a chance to focus a little more specifically on one area as opposed to all of them. Maybe not one area, but a little bit more of a definition of what they need to do rather than just doing everything. They’ve all embraced that. They’ve all worked hard. Their playing time has been balanced.