The New England Patriots had Bill Belichick leading the team for 24 years, and for most of that time, their defense looked roughly the same with a few tweaks here and there.
When Brian Flores led the defense (without the defensive coordinator title) in 2018, New England seemed to turn up the pressure on opposing offenses more than they did in other seasons under Matt Patricia, but the defense shifted back during the Steve Belichick/Jerod Mayo days (2019-23).
However, with Mayo leading the team and DeMarcus Covington promoted from defensive line coach to coordinator, New England is adding new wrinkles.
Speaking with The Boston Herald's Andrew Callahan, Patriots cornerback Jonathan Jones said that every year he would ask "Are we running something new?”
Unfortunately, that wasn't the case, until this year when cornerbacks coach Mike Pellegrino responded "Yeah, actually. We are."
According to Callahan, Covington and his defense have installed a pressure package that he's taken from Seattle Seahawks head coach Mike McDonald, who New England will face on Sunday.
“It’s like a deep ball for the defense,” Jones said. “Like (saying), ‘I need to make a play here.’ “It’s just some of the things (the Ravens) do with pressure. And I’d say — how do I say this right? Ah, I’ll save it for the end of the year.”
This package has strayed away from the things that Belichick normally would've done on defense, and Jones doesn't believe it would've been added if coaching changes weren't made.
“Definitely something that I don’t think he would’ve implemented,” Jones said. “Definitely new.”
With McDonald facing the Patriots this week with his new team, it will be interesting to see how much they use it, if at all.
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