Drew Brees vs. the Patriots D looks like

These Hate them or love them, the are supposed to be the one consistent, reliable force in the NFL. We know what we're getting when we watch them play. When we tune into a Patriots game, we expect to see the highest po sible quality of football. To sing aside the way we feel about them (and our jealously of their succe s), they're football nirvana. We're guaranteed to see di sect a defense, spike a football, and Bill Belichick coach a well-prepared defense.But that didn't happen on Thursday night. A week ago, the reigning champs kicked off the 2017 NFL season with the most in-your-face, arrogant pregame celebration, spearheaded by Mark Wahlberg, who by the way . Fans wore The . Five replica Lombardi Trophies, , took the field. That field, , would be the site of a demolishing. The Patriots ended up losing to the by 15 points. , a quarterback who's allergic to throwing the ball downfield, roasted the Patriots for 368 yards, 10.5 yards per attempt, and four touchdowns -- including two of at least 75 yards. Meanwhile, rookie running back averaged 8.7(!!!) yards per run, totaling 246 yards from scrimmage. In all, the Patriots allowed . In our season predictions, Brady Skjei Men Jersey I wrote that the Well, the Patriots' flirtation lasted about as long as Wahlberg's attendance at the Super Bowl. This Sunday, the Patriots defense's task won't get any easier, as they'll head to New Orleans for a date with and the at 1 p.m. ET on CBS. Say what you want about the recent versions of the Saints -- they still can't play defense, -- but what they can do is put up points at the Superdome. And the Patriots' defense will be challenged to slow them down. If the Patriots thought Smith was a handful, just wait until they go up against Brees. And that begs the question: Can the Patriots' defense, which was just embarra sed by Alex freakin' Smith, rebound against an explosive Saints offense? Drew Brees indoors Before di secting the Patriots' defense, it's important to contextualize just how dang good Brees and the Saints have been at home in the Brees-Payton era. Since 2006, the Saints' record at home is 55-33. That has a ton to do with Brees' level of play indoors. In domes, he's completed 68.9 percent of his pa ses, averaged 8.0 yards per attempt, thrown 257 touchdowns and 105 interceptions, and posted a 102.5 pa ser rating. Outdoors, he's completed 64.38 percent of his pa ses, averaged 7.1 yards per attempt, thrown 192 touchdowns and 105 touchdowns, and posted a 90.3 pa ser rating. This game will be played inside the Superdome in New Orleans. So, the Patriots can expect Brees to be at his best. availability could be a problemDont'a Hightower's status is just as important as the location of the game. Hightower, a linebacker who mainly plays as an edge defender, is . Hightower left Thursday' New York Rangers Women Jersey s game in the third quarter. Without Hightower in the fourth quarter, the Patriots gave up 21 points. Hightower's important because he's one of the only Patriots who can get after the quarterback. According to Pro Football Focus, Hightower lined up on the edge He didn't get a sack or a hit on Smith, but he did generate three pre sures, according to PFF. In a game that saw the Patriots rack up 12 mi sed tackles, Hightower had none.The Patriots need him.He's important because the linebacker corps is probably the Patriots defense's weakest link. One reason the Chiefs saw so much succe s? They targeted the Patriots' slow linebackers. They did that in a variety of ways. They ran cro sing routes with faster players like . Patriots middle linebacker couldn't keep up. And they lined up Hunt and let him run deep down the right seam of the field against Adam Graves Jersey . The result? A 78-yard touchdown. Here's why that play is important: Marsh was only in that position because of Hightower's absence. Then again, Hightower probably wouldn't have been able to keep up with Hunt in the open field, but it's worth noting he was the Patriots' best linebacker in coverage on Thursday. Hightower dropped into coverage only eight times, according to PFF, and was targeted twice. Both targets resulted in completions, but they gained just 12 total yards. Van Noy, who plays more in the middle of the field, dropped into coverage 32 times, per PFF. He allowed six receptions on six targets for 45 yards. I'm not sure if this is a problem that can disappear. Van Noy isn't going to get any faster . And if Hightower is out, Marsh is going to be a downgrade. Let's just say it: The Patriots mi s ( ). And ( ). And ( ). The Saints should exploit the Patriots' linebackers underneath. According to PFF, 30 percent of Smith's throws went to receivers running cro sing patterns. He went 8 of 10 on those pa ses for 80 yards. The two incompletions were drops. The Patriots front-seven looks slow, Nick Holden Men Jersey and the Saints can exploit that by running cro sing patterns and forcing the linebackers to cover.For as much as we I make fun of Smith for throwing underneath, it's a smart gameplan to use against the Patriots, whose strength is the secondary, with , , and leading the way. Attack the slower linebackers. It's what Smith did. Though much of the criticism was directed toward the Patriots' inability to stop Smith's deep ball, it's not as if that's what Smith was doing the entire game. According to PFF, For much of the game, Smith played like the quarterback he is, throwing relatively short pa ses. And it worked. Take a look at his pa sing map, via PFF. He didn't mi s a single pa s within nine yards of the line of scrimmage. So, can the Saints do that? In their past 17 games (all of last year plus Week 1 of this year), the Saints have thrown to cro sing patterns 16 percent of the time when league average is 11 percent, per PFF. So, they can.Run to win vs. New EnglandThey should also attack them with the run game. Hunt, who rushed for 148 yards on 17 carries, had plenty of room to run. Look at the Chiefs' offensive line absolutely manhandle the Patriots' front. And when he did meet a defender, he often made them mi s. According to PFF, he forced eight mi sed tackles on his 22 touches. He posted an elusive rating, which "attempts to distill the impact of a runner with the ball independently of the blocking in front of him by looking at how hard he was to bring down," of 145.5. To put that number into context, running back led the league last year with a 76 elusive rating. So either Hill Filip Chytil Kids Jersey is the most elusive running back ever or the Patriots' defense was awful. It's probably a mix of the two. The Saints are usually reluctant to run the ball -- they ranked 19th in rushing attempts last season, 20th in 2015, 19th in 2014, 26th in 2013, 29th in 2012 and so on -- but they might want to They didn't do that against the , running the ball 21 times for 60 yards. On Sunday, the Saints will want to use their running backs more -- letting and run, and allowing the shiftier to exploit the linebacker corps. When Smith threw to running backs on non-screens against the Patrio