CLEVELAND — On the second play from scrimmage Sunday, the Browns known as a play-action move the Patriots didn’t put together for as soon as in observe.
It began with Jacoby Brissett faking a hand-off left and three tight ends aligned to the precise. The inner-most tight finish sprinted upfield on a deep nook route angled towards the close to sideline whereas the opposite two blocked. After dragging the whole protection left together with his play faux, Brissett booted again proper on the lookout for his deep tight finish.
He fired.
Five seconds later, Patriots security Kyle Dugger was celebrating together with his teammates and Brissett’s move in hand. Although the play faux had pulled Dugger ahead, his thoughts, carrying a faint reminiscence of previous Browns movie he’d just lately studied, yanked him backward. Dugger had seen this play earlier than, and knew the place the ball would go.
“He literally watches film 24/7,” mentioned Pats security Adrian Phillips. “You don’t really see that from a lot of young guys, but the fact that he takes it so seriously and it’s showing on the field, it’s cool to see.”
The play had examined Dugger in the identical approach his coaches had examined him all week, forcing him to play move first inside a sport plan designed to cease the run. The Patriots supposed to halt Cleveland’s league-leading run sport with a personnel package deal that includes 4 defensive linemen, three linebackers and only one cornerback, which meant Dugger needed to assume full-time protection duties as a substitute of taking part in pseudo linebacker on early downs. Once the Browns declared their three-tight finish formation on their second play, his duties turned serving as a de facto exterior nook.
“I was just trying to get back into phase as the deep player, and I got my head back once I kind of caught up with him and got even,” Dugger recalled of the choose. “And turned around and caught it.”
Dugger’s interception not solely killed Cleveland’s opening drive, however offered robust subject place for the Pats’ first possession. Bailey Zappe and Co. shortly marched all the way in which to the Browns’ 1-yard line earlier than kicking a subject objective. Zappe later stole most headlines, as he threw for greater than 300 yards in his second begin.
But the second play typified a defensive efficiency that allowed the Patriots offense sufficient time to work out its rising pains round him. At halftime, the Pats led simply 10-6, thanks to not a Zappe passing landing however Rhamondre Stevenson speeding landing on third-and-10. Defensively, the Pats trusted an atypical sport plan would carry the day.
“I felt like I’d be too slow to fit the run,” Dugger mentioned, “so (I) definitely had to work on it throughout the week and just trust that I’ve got to do my job.”
Eventually, the Patriots held Cleveland’s high-powered operating sport to 70 complete yards, with Pro Bowl again Nick Chubb gaining simply 56.
“We tried to just stop them and we put all of our eggs in one basket,” Pats exterior linebacker Matt Judon mentioned.
And the Pats succeeded, due to their personnel, beginning with the 4-3 package deal and Dugger’s work of their extra common groupings. He completed with a team-high eight tackles and two move deflections. The interception marked his first turnover of the season; a operate of devoted movie examine and sensible game-planning executed by gamers who see a method for extra success within the coming weeks.
“We know that when we do what we’re supposed to do, we can be really good,” Phillips mentioned. “We have to be able to lock in each and every day and each and every game for us to get those results. But if everyone buys into that plan, and we execute the plan the way we’re supposed to execute the plan and nobody deviates, then we can be really good.”
Source: www.bostonherald.com