Sure, the NFL is now seemingly all about offense.
Football is dominated by superstar franchise quarterbacks and their elite wide receiver sidekicks.
Not that we needed evidence to back up the accepted truth, but the last few postseason Super Bowl runs and this offseason’s trendy trades and crazy contract signings across the league have proven that offense is where it’s at. Russell Wilson, Aaron Rodgers, Deshaun Watson, Davante Adams, Tyreek Hill and the offensive rest have ruled the headlines this March and April.
It’s no different in New England. Mac Jones’ every move is notable. How he’s going to deal with the loss of offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels is THE question surrounding the Patriots. His need for a true No. 1 target continues to be the white whale of roster moves for many a Foxborough fan.
It’s all offense, all the time.
But with the bulk of free agency in the rearview mirror and the opportunities of the 2022 NFL Draft barely more than two weeks away, shouldn’t a heck of a lot more time, effort and energy in Patriot Nation be focused on the defense?
Sure, maybe the Patriots offense will be “tweaked significantly” for Jones in his second NFL season.
Maybe the trade for DeVante Parker will add an impactful new layer to the pass-catching mix.
Maybe Joe Judge and Matt Patricia’s suspect fit for key roles on New England’s offensive coaching staff isn’t really ludicrous enough to be former NFL QB and ESPN analyst Dan Orlovsky’s “most concerning thing” in the entire league this offseason.
Forget No. 1 WR talk and salacious intrigue over the coaching staff, plenty of mock drafts are now focused on the Patriots upgrading the offensive line, a unit that traded away arguably its best player in guard Shaq Mason for apparent cap purposes this spring.
But the New England defense that was THE disappointing story over the final month of 2021 thanks to an inability to force the Josh Allen-led, division-leading Bills to punt even once in a pair of lopsided losses has seemingly been forgotten.
When Buffalo bounced the Patriots from the postseason with a 47-17 beatdown, one of the aftermath talking points surrounding the defense was the coaching on that side of the ball. Questions arose about the leadership provided by playcaller Steve Belichick and key voice Jerod Mayo, neither of whom had the validation of the coordinator title.
Since then, little has changed for the better on the New England defense. Pro Bowl cornerback J.C. Jackson and his Patriots-leading eight interceptions bolted to the Chargers in free agency. Veteran linebacker Kyle Van Noy -- who played more than 75 percent of New England’s defensive snaps and was among team leaders in tackles, sacks, forced fumbles, passes defensed and QB hits as the best player at the second level of the defense – was released.
Fellow linebacker and longtime defensive leader Dont’a Hightower, who played nearly 60 percent of the snaps a year ago, remains a free agent.
It’s not even really arguable at this point that a defense that fell apart down the stretch last season has experienced a net loss of talent this offseason. Heck, the biggest addition might be cornerback Malcolm Butler, the former Super Bowl hero who was out of football a year ago and at the age of 32 is a dubious comeback story at best.
Was the Patriots defense as good a year ago as its No. 3 ranking in points allowed would indicate? Not even close.
Is the New England defense as good today as it was last season when it couldn’t get the stops it needed to beat quality opponents? Certainly doesn’t look that way.
As the presumed franchise QB in New England, obviously Jones’ future is in many ways the future of the Patriots. That’s the way the NFL works.
Defense may no longer win championships as the cliché goes, but the lack of a competitive defense can sure as heck derail almost any team.
Right now there are far more questions than answers surrounding the New England defense heading into 2022. Certainly far more questions than there are about the team’s Jones-led offense that returns the bulk of its key contributors and starters.
But maybe if no one acknowledges the lack of playmakers on the Patriots defense, if no one notices that there are still questions about the unit’s coaching staff leadership, if the divide between the group and the Bills’ pace-setting offense is simply passed over like water under the bridge, then maybe it’s not really a problem at all.
So let’s just keep focusing on Jones and the Patriots offense. Ignore the elephants and whistle past the graveyard.
That’s the NFL way!