The Patriots’ secondary is much better than the one quarterback Caleb Williams torched in Atlanta, which narrows his margins for decision-making, quickness and throwing accuracy.
The Patriots could argue that they have the most talented secondary in the NFL when healthy, though they’ll be missing starting cornerback Carlton Davis because of a neck injury. Still, they should have three-time All-Pro safety Kevin Byard despite a chest injury and the league’s highest paid cornerback in Christian Gonzalez.
Byard was a ballhawk at the back end of the Bears’ defense the last two seasons, leading the NFL with seven interceptions last season, and has a wealth of practice reps against Williams in his mental database.
“He's a super savvy vet,” Williams said of Byard. “I've seen him work. ... It's going to be a great challenge for us to go out there and execute and complete passes.”
Nonetheless, the Patriots have shown vulnerability. While Gonzalez is an elite talent who shut down Jets star Garrett Wilson last week and has held quarterbacks to a 64.2 passer rating when they throw on him, the team ranks 24th in opponent completion percentage (66.1), 17th in opponent passer rating (90.3) and 11th in yards allowed per game (209).
With Gonzalez good enough to erase any team’s top wide receiver on a given day and Byard a constant threat to swoop in for a pick, Williams must be sharp individually, and coach Ben Johnson must diversify the passing attack. He wanted an array of weapons at the skill positions, and this is a game where that’ll be necessary.
The Bears’ pass rush was serviceable at best to begin the season, then lost its top two players in that department when Montez Sweat got suspended and Dayo Odeyingbo went on injured reserve with a quad injury. Sweat returns Nov. 2 against the Seahawks, while Odeyingbo is out until the Week 11 game against the Saints at minimum.
So who’s going to get the job done in their absence?
Defensive tackle Grady Jarrett played one of his best games Sunday and special teamer Daniel Hardy had his first career sack, but defensive coordinator Dennis Allen relied on blitzing nickel cornerback Kyler Gordon more than anything.
Gordon blitzed at least five times in his 17 snaps against the Falcons and got three sacks, a tackle for loss on running back Bijan Robinson and drew a holding call on Robinson as a last-ditch effort to stop him from getting another sack.
It was an amazing game by Gordon, but it helped that the Falcons saw next to nothing of him on any film they would’ve scouted from the last two seasons. He won’t catch the Patriots by surprise, so the Bears probably need to find pass-rush help through a more conventional method.
That puts all eyes on Jarrett, one of the NFL’s best pass rushers at his position in his prime, and defensive end Austin Booker to step up.
