Former Player Reveals Sad Truth About Patriots' Defense

A former player spoke out with a sad truth about the New England Patriots' defense.

Sep 29, 2024; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers running back Jordan Mason (24) runs with the football against New England Patriots defensive end Keion White (99) during the fourth quarter at Levi's Stadium. / Neville E. Guard-Imagn Images

The New England Patriots' defense looked elite during their Week 1 upset win over the Cincinnati Bengals. Unfortunately, since then, it has become a major weakness.

Over their last two games, the Patriots have been blown out. They now sit at 1-3 on the season and are quickly falling in the standings. There is still hope that the year can be turned around, but one former player believes the defensive strategy has already been figured out.

Former New England linebacker Ted Johnson opened up about the team's defensive struggles of late. He thinks that the code has been broken on how to beat the Patriots.

"The Seattle Seahawks kind of broke the code a little bit with the Patriots defense. What Seattle did in Week 2 is they ran a lot of empty and they ran a lot of hurry-up. And so, what that did is force the Patriots defense to become simple and more predictable in what they were doing. They wanna be multiple, they wanna be disguising, they wanna come at you with all these different angles. And so, you see teams going more spread, more empty. So it makes the Patriots more predictable and less with the ability to disguise, and that is hurting their defense."

He continued forward, offering more details about the sad truth for the New England defense.

"But also, just the rotation of the guys, new guys. I mean, Dell Pettus is out there. Jaylinn Hawkins is out there. You've got new guys all over the place playing positions that they're not used to playing. ... That's killing them. And I think Seattle broke the code on them. I think they've got some issues when it comes to their pass rush too," he said. "Not a ton of true get-after-the-quarterback types of talents up front outside of Keion White. I think it's left them a little bit vulnerable in some other areas on their defense."

Since the game against the Seattle Seahawks, the defense has been porous at best. They have not had the same kind of pass-rush and the secondary hasn't been able to shut down the passing game.

Offensively, the Patriots continue to struggle. New England can't move the football consistent through the air and opposing defenses are focusing on shutting down the running game.

Jerod Mayo and the coaching staff have to figure out how to make some adjustments. If they don't, the losses will continue piling up.

Next up, the Patriots will face off against the Miami Dolphins. Finding a way to pick up a win in Week 5 will be crucial.

If they're unable to do so, the season could start getting ugly.

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