Patriots Defense Proving They Can Hang With League’s Best

FOXBOROUGH — One by one, Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford’s passes fell harmlessly to the turf.

He shouldn’t beat himself up too much over his poor performance, though; the New England Patriots’ defense has been doing this to a lot of quarterbacks lately.

Stafford finished Sunday’s game 18-for-46 (39.1 percent) for 264 yards (5.7 yards per attempt) with an interception and a 49.5 passer rating. Over the past five games, quarterbacks are 96-for-177 (54.2 percent) for 1,254 yards (7.1 YPA), seven touchdowns, six interceptions and a 75.9 passer rating.

Those quarterback’s names are Jay Cutler, Peyton Manning, Andrew Luck, and Stafford.

The Patriots’ defense has goals, and they won’t let anyone stand in their way, regardless of the name on the back of the jersey or the reputation they bring into the game.

“We want to get up there in the top five in passing yardage [allowed],” Patriots cornerback Browner said after the game, “so if we can tighten up on [our coverage], I think that’s one way we can get better and get more turnovers, interceptions and fumbles.”

It’s hard to imagine the coverage being much tighter than it was on Sunday. Stafford completed three of nine pass attempts into Browner’s coverage, with Browner lined up mostly on Lions wide receiver Calvin Johnson.

The 6-foot-4, 221-pound Browner has the length to match up with Megatron, and he stood up to the challenge of one of the best receivers the NFL has to offer.

“My eyes lit up,” Browner said of getting the news that he would be covering Johnson. “When Bill said that, I said, ‘heck yeah’ to him. I was looking forward to that, and it was a fun matchup today. It was a fun battle with somebody my size.”

Browner’s physicality was a key to the Patriots’ ability to shut down the Lions’ offense, and the Patriots will be leaning on him for more shutdown performances in the future.

Cornerback Darrelle Revis was just as impressive, allowing only one reception into his coverage on nine attempts and logging three pass-defenses in the process. But Revis, Browner, and everyone else knows that it’s not all about the coverage.

“The defensive line has been doing a great job of putting pressure on quarterbacks throughout the whole season,” Revis said. “We’ve just got to continue to play consistent across the board. They say the defensive line and the secondary are attached together, and we continue to do that. We played great in the d-line area and we played great in the secondary as well.”

The Patriots’ defense will have a big challenge ahead of them in facing the Green Bay Packers next week. Led by quarterback Aaron Rodgers, the Packers could threaten the Patriots’ defensive credibility — or the Patriots could prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that they are the favorites to hoist the Lombardi Trophy.

Next week could go a long way in furthering that case.

“It says a lot,” Browner said of the defense’s ability to stand up to three straight division leaders. “Because these are not just [division] leaders, these are great teams. That receiving core is awesome. I played with Golden Tate in Seattle, and I knew of his ability. He’s like a running back once he gets the ball in his hands. Everybody knows about Megatron, so we get up for these guys, man.”

With weapons like Jordy Nelson, Randall Cobb, and Davante Adams at receiver, the Patriots will have a new set of challenges to deal with next week. But with so much momentum and so many proven quarterbacks already laid to waste, the Patriots have already proven they can hang with the best offenses and quarterbacks the league has to offer.