Facing the New England Patriots on the road means there are plenty of things for the Washington Redskins to worry about.There's Tom Brady, a surefire Hall of Fame quarterback in the form of his life. There's a thunder-and-lightning rushing attack powered by LeGarrette Blount and Dion Lewis.Then there's choosing which of Brady's receivers to double, all-world tight end Rob Gronkowski or catch-machine wide receiver Julian Edelman. It's Edelman, by the way.But the biggest threat the Redskins will face in Week 9 comes from the Pats' underrated defense. Specifically, New England's fleet of ultra-flexible pass-rushers.No team in the NFL is being more creative with its pass-rushers, and it's producing results.Head coach Bill Belichick and defensive coordinator Matt Patricia have been mixing up personnel and alignments to create coverage-and-rush combinations that are a nightmare for quarterbacks to solve.Facing the Pats front seven is a series of questions. Where will Chandler Jones, Rob Ninkovich, Jabaal Sheardand rookie Geneo Grissom line up' Who will rush and who will bail into coverage' It really is a guessing game with these Patriots.Under PressureThe Patriots are tied for second in the league in sacks with 26. Ninkovich, Jones and Sheard have accounted for 14.5 of those.Through the use of different personnel combinations and formations, the Pats are creating favorable matchups and setting rush ends free behind the line of scrimmage. Sheard offered an ample demonstration in Week 5 against the Dallas Cowboys.He struck on 1st-and-10 in the fourth quarter. The alignment was particularly creative:Jones and Ninkovich aligned together on one side, with the latter, a converted linebacker, putting his hand down over center. On the other side, Sheard was a standing rusher.The former Cleveland Browns starter, perhaps the best bargain of free agency this offseason, would run a stunt inside, with linebacker Jamie Collins acting as a fourth rusher to help clear Sheard's path:With Collins caving in one side of the Dallas offensive line and clearing traffic for Sheard to wrap around, the latter had a clear path to quarterback Brandon Weeden:Sheard took down his onetime Browns teammate for a seven-yard loss:The Pats were just as creative on 3rd-and-5 in the second quarter against the Indianapolis Colts a week later. This time, Belichick put Collins as a standing edge-rusher next to Sheard. He also moved Ninkovich inside as a blitzing linebacker in the A-gap:Ninkovich would blitz the weak-side A-gap while Jerod Mayo (51) bailed into coverage:The rush from Ninkovich and Sheard drew double-teams. This created a two-on-one mismatch on the left side for Jones and D-tackle Dominique Easley:Sheard's pressure forced Colts quarterback Andrew Luck to step up into the Jones-Easley combo:More pressure from Jones forced Luck to pull the ball down and flee the pocket. So did the double coverage on Luck's favorite target, tight end Coby Fleener, provided by Mayo and versatile safety Devin McCourty:Easley took down Luck as he threw, forcing an incomplete pass:No matter how they line up, the Pats have speed, power and versatility to create a ton of pressure with multiple combinations of pass-rushers. The Redskins have to be prepared for those combinations.It's not just the positions that count. It's who lines up where.Targeting a Weak BlockerOne of the things Belichick does best is tweaking D-line alignments to target a weak blocker. More than once this season, that's meant going after the man in the middle.Against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Belichick and Patricia routinely shifted Jones, New England's most explosive edge-rusher, over stand-in center Cody Wallace. The ploy wrecked Pittsburgh's protection on 3rd-and-3 in the fourth quarter.Jones aligned as a 0-technique over Wallace, next to Sheard. The two would run a stunt:Rookie outside linebacker Grissom(92) flanked Jones and let the Pats show a 46-style Bear alignment that covered both guards and the center.The alignment worked to perfection, with Jones breaking through to obscure QB Ben Roethlisberger's throwing lane and prevent him from stepping into his throw:Whenever the Pats use a three-man front in sub-package situations, it's common to see Jones line up over center, as he did in Week 2 against the Buffalo Bills:It's a tactic the Patriots are sure to use against a Washington O-line that's improved, but remains weak in the middle. CSNMid-Atlantic.com's Rich Tandler described the problems over the ball:The Redskins starting center, Kory Lichtensteiger, has been sidelined for the last two games by a neck injury. The team has given no timetable for his return. Even when he was playing, however, he was having issues in both run blocking and pass protecting. At 6-3, 295, Lichtensteiger is built more for the zone-blocking scheme that the Redskins are moving away from. His replacement, Josh LeRibeus, has not been playing well, either.But creating pressure isn't the only way to measure the effectiveness of New England's flexible pass-rushers.Hidden in CoverageSneaking up in coverage shells is one of the best ways New England's "Joker-style" pass-rushers are wrecking offenses.So you've got a weapon that's destroying defenses every week' Expect to see a Patriots rush end help double-cover that weapon. The formula usually goes like this: a defensive back plays over the top while a rush end undercuts the route underneath.New England gave a great example of the formula several times against the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 1. It worked a treat to produce an interception in the fourth quarter.The Patriots moved their rushers around to position Sheard next to Jones over the left side of the Steelers O-line. Sheard stood on the edge while Jones shifted inside to D-tackle. The two would run a stunt:Ninkovich stood in a two-point stance on the other side. He would drop at the snap to help double Pittsburgh's danger man, wide receiver Antonio Brown:With cornerback Malcolm Butler playing over the top and Ninkovich hovering underneath, the Pats had the perfect bracket around Brown:Without his favorite receiver to go to, Roethlisberger froze in the pocket. With Sheard and Jones collapsing one side of the line, Roethlisberger couldn't step into his throw the other way:His wayward pass was intercepted by free safety Duron Harmon.New England had used its versatile pass-rushers to pressure Roethlisberger and double his go-to target.The Patriots followed the same template on the road against the Cowboys. It helped create a sack on a 3rd-and-3 play during the opening quarter.This time the Pats intended to drop both Ninkovich and Jones to help double underneath routes. The former was going to undercut wideout Cole Beasley's release, while Jones would help lock up prolific tight end Jason Witten:Up front, Belichick and Patricia opted to supplement the line with additional rushers. Linebackers Collins and Dont'a Hightower would run a cross blitz through the middle:Collins went first, with Hightower wrapping around on a delayed rush.With Sheard working inside at D-tackle and the blitz getting home, Jones and Ninkovich helped take away Weeden's primary targets:You can see Weeden looking Beasley's way initially, but finding no room to throw:With the Dallas blocking scheme overwhelmed up front, New England's blitzers engulfed Weeden. Hightower made the play for an eight-yard loss:These two plays show how the Patriots use their pass-rushers in creative ways to help take away an opponents' best weapon. This creativity should concern Washington, particularly "move" tight end Jordan Reed.He's the most dynamic receiver on the team and quarterback Kirk Cousins' primary outlet when he's in trouble. Keeping No. 86 quiet will be New England's main focus, and undercutting him with 6'5", 260-pounders will certainly help.But blanketing a top weapon isn't the only way the Pats' rush ends are effective in coverage. They also help disguise coverage and fool quarterbacks.A 3rd-and-5 from the second quarter against the Cowboys brilliantly illustrated the point.The initial alignment saw Jones at one end with Ninkovich on the other. Meanwhile,Easley and Sheard lined up inside:Notice Jones' close proximity to Witten (82). He was matched up in the slot withMcCourty (32). Jones was ideally placed to help bracket Witten while the Pats planned to send another dual-linebacker blitz.Both Jones and Sheard would drop off the line to act as robbers ready to take away any shallow, in-breaking crossing routes over the middle:In this case, wide receiver Terrance Williams intended to run a slant from the slot. But he'd find at least one pass-rusher waiting to steal the route.Once the ball was snapped, the Pats settled into a blanket Cover 1, man coverage underneath a single-high safety, with the robbers ready to pounce on inside routes:When Weeden tried to force the ball to Williams across the middle, he found Jones lurking to nearly pick the pass off:Here's another angle:The Patriots are sure to challenge Cousins' ability to decipher different coverage and pressure combinations. If No. 8 gets anxious and forces the ball into traffic, he'll find pass-rushers where he least expects to see them and get into trouble.Trouble is just what the Redskins will face if they don't have a plan for New England's roving pressure specialists. Line coach Bill Callahan needs to put adjustments in place to pick up the various twists and stunts the Pats employ, as well as how to react to the many different looks.New England's pressure defense is a chameleon up front, and if the blocking doesn't respond to the changes, Cousins and his favorite receivers will be caught cold.All statistics and player information via NFL.com.Screen shots via CBS Sports, NBC Sports, NFL Network and NFL.com Game Pass.Follow me on Twitter.
Click here to read full news..
