Patriots Matthew Judon Still Talking Playoffs
FOXBORO — While the New England Patriots 2022 season has been defined by ebb and flow, one consistent bright spot has been the play of linebacker Matthew Judon.
The 30-year-old has emerged as the team’s premier pass rusher, compiling 24 quarterback hits, one forced fumble and a league-leading 13 sacks. In fact, Judon’s play has been so impressive that he finds himself among the NFL’s tops in fan voting for the 2023 Pro Bowl.
However, New England’s preventive unit has struggled when pursuing the quarterback over the past two games, a thanksgiving night loss to the Minnesota Vikings, and most recently, a 24-10 loss to their division rival-Buffalo Bills at Gillette Stadium. Unsurprisingly, Judon’s stat sheet has failed to impress in either game, combining for six total tackles, one fumble recovery and zero sacks.
The Patriots have also been less-than remarkable, reverting back into last place in the AFC East, and outside of playoff contention after their Week 13 defeat at the hands of the Bills. Still, Judon and the Pats are more ready to toss in the proverbial towel.
“It's not over yet. Right? We're 6-6,” Judon quipped to reporters following Thursday’s night’s loss. We have more games to play. That's what we're going to do. We're going to go out there and we're going to play. We have to put this one behind us.”
Leaving Buffalo in the lurch will not be an easy task for the Patriots. Containing quarterback Josh Allen and Buffalo’s versatile offense continues to be a problem for the Pats defense. During the Bills’ first two offensive drives, the Pats attempted to take away Buffalo’s routes with man coverage. Allen found the end zone twice, hitting his two top receivers for scoring strikes. When the Patriots deployed the fire zone blitz, Allen was able to pick them apart.
In short, Allen did a solid job in recognizing the alignment and throwing over the areas in which the Pats sent pressure; both from the second level and over the slot. He did so without much opposition from the Patriots front seven.
To rekindle their success, New England must rediscover the right blend of man and zone coverages. With the Pats recent personnel growing pains in the secondary, New England’s most effective defensive outings have been those in which they managed to confuse opposing quarterbacks with a smart mix of coverages, which benefited both the defensive backfield and the front seven.
Some of that success can be attributed to the prowess of Judon, in tandem with second year defensive tackle Christian Barmore. Since first coming together, the pair have become quite the pass rush tandem, with at least one of them (if not both) finding their way into their opponents’ backfield more often than not.
New England’s defensive duo has been most effective in obvious passing situations. With Barmore drawing the attention of opposing blockers along the offensive line, Judon is often left one-on-one on the edge. This has freed the linebacker to pursue the quarterback.
However, Barmore has been absent from the Pats’ defense front since suffering a knee injury in Week 6. New England moved him to injured reserve; making him ineligible to return until a Dec. 18 road contest against the Las Vegas Raiders.
With Barmore sidelined, Judon has seen much more of the double-team from opposing o-linemen. The Vikings and Bills particularly have targeted his path to the quarterback, limping the effectiveness of the rush. Despite some pointing to Barmore’s absence as the primary reason, Judon insists that the Pats’ rush is stocked with more-than-capable players.
"I would love to have Barmore out there. But don't discount the people that are out there rushing. [Josh] Uche played a hell of a game. We have [Deatrich] Wise [Jr.] in there. We have [Davon] Godchaux. We have Daniel [Ekuale]. We all want Barmore out there, playing and back healthy. But we have some really good players. We have some really good players out there rushing the passer. Uche played a heck of a game.”
Uche continues to be one of the most positive stories for the Patriots in 2022. The Michigan product’s performance was one of the few top performers for the Pats on Thursday. Uche collected two sacks, brining his total to seven over New England’s past four games.
Yet, their charismatic team leader remains confident that the team’s pass rush will return to its aggressive nature in short order.
“Whoever we have out there, that's who we have out there,” Judon said. “We have to make it work. We have to hold ourselves accountable for every play on the field. We have to defend every blade of grass or turf. It doesn't matter who we're playing, what's the obstacles, what the offense's doing, what special team's doing … We have to stand up. We have to play with whoever is out there, is out there. If we're rushing, we're all rushing.”
Judon and the Pats will begin their preparations for Week 14. The team will travel to Glendale, AZ for a Monday Night Football matchup with the Arizona Cardinals at State Farm Stadium on Dec. 12.
Follow Mike D’Abate on Twitter @mdabateNFL and Listen/Subscribe to his daily podcast: Locked On Patriots
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