Patriots’ pass rush helps derail Derek Carr and the Raiders

FOXBORO – Last week, Russell Wilson wasn’t particularly hassled or bothered by the Patriots defense. With little pass rush to deal with, Wilson had plenty of time to find open Seahawks receivers, and made the Patriots pay.

Derek Carr?

At several key points in the game, the Patriots managed to dial up the heat, and the Raiders quarterback couldn’t breathe. Week 3, the Patriots finally showed off a pass rush, leading Carr into mistakes.

The Patriots front forced two fumbles by Carr, and both were impactful in the 36-20 win over the Raiders at Gillette Stadium.

The first one came in the second quarter, with the score tied at 3-3 and the Raiders at midfield driving toward a score after a 23-yard pickup by Devontae Booker.

Chase Winovich came roaring off the edge, and not only sacked Carr, but jarred the ball loose for defensive tackle Lawrence Guy to recover.

The second?

With the Raiders operating from their six-yard-line late in the fourth quarter, with the Pats having just scored to go up 29-13, Shilique Calhoun and Deatrich Wise tag-teamed for a Carr sack in the end zone. The ball was knocked loose, with Wise recovering it.

Initially, it was called a safety, but upon further review, the ball popped loose before Carr’s knee went down. Wise picked it up, and it was six points.

In all the Patriots defense produced three turnovers, had two sacks and five quarterback hits to improve their record to 2-1.

The rush was the key.

“Obviously anytime you can get a turnover, it’s a huge opportunity in terms of momentum and helping the team win and it’s something that any good defense, in my opinion, constantly emphasizes,” said Winovich. “We always talk about it from an offensive perspective, you know, certain defenses especially are really taught to . . . try to create turnovers, whether it’s a fumble or an interception. Ball disruption, basically.”

In all, the Patriots forced three fumbles, two by Carr, and one by running back Josh Jacobs. The latter came with the Raiders at the 12-yard-line on the verge of scoring.

The Raiders, meanwhile, also only converted 3 for 9 (33 percent) on third down. So while the Raiders rushed for over 100 yards, and Carr threw for 261 with a pair of touchdowns, the defense still made plays and got them off the field in key situations.

Defensive captain Devin McCourty said the Patriots are going to need that kind of pass rush, as well as continuing to be opportunistic with turnovers, to take down Patrick Mahomes and Kansas City next week.

“There’s no good secondary without a good pass rush, I don’t care who you are, what guys you have back there, it all goes hand in hand,” said McCourty. “There’s no good pass rush without a good secondary. So, that’s something consistently we go to work on and it has to be game in and game out of doing that.

“And we’ll have a huge test next week with  Mahomes’ ability to buy some extra time and them having a lot of skill players who can either go deep or do a great job underneath. Guys like (Travis) Kelce and Tyreek Hill’s a guy that whether he’s going vertical or horizontal, and (Mecole) Hardman the same thing. So, we’ll have our hands full going into next week and we’ll have to really continue that pass rushing coverage, marrying it up.”

 

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/2S4ngOS