FOXBORO — Literally one play into the Colts first offensive collection, the die was solid.
Sam Ehlinger, making his second NFL begin, knew immediately he was going to be hunted and hounded all afternoon.
And so did the Patriots.
When Matthew Judon tore in on a stunt behind Lawrence Guy, and whipped Ehlinger down on his again facet not lengthy after he dropped again to throw, that set the tone for the Patriots protection.
Judon obtained to the quarterback, and with a wave of his hand throughout his face after the play, that triggered the remainder of the unit to observe go well with.
And did they ever. The Patriots introduced down Ehilinger 9 occasions through the 26-3 win over the Colts at Gillette Stadium. Judon and Josh Uche every had three sacks, with Ja’Whaun Bentley and Raekwon McMillan notching one, with Jahlani Tavai and Deatrich Wise sharing a sack.
Uche, who had as many sacks towards the Colts as he had all of final season, referred to as Judon the tone-setter and catalyst for the entire injury inflicted on the Colts offense on Sunday.
“We definitely feed off each other’s energy,” stated Uche, “and when you have a guy like Judon, everyone’s just getting in on the fun and we just feed off of it you know because now there’s blood in the water so now you know, it’s time to hunt.”
The sentiment was just about unanimous across the room. The gamers take their cues from Judon, who got here out of the gate firing on the quarterback, touchdown one takedown after one other.
“He’s a very electrifying player. Once he gets in the game and he does what he does, the crowd goes crazy, the juices start pumping and everybody just gets after it,” Wise stated of Judon’s influence. “Once he makes his play, you can see the morale of the team is building, the confidence of the team rising, our defense getting better and better, playing with more confidence, playing faster. He’s one hell of a player.”
Judon’s three sacks upped his whole to 11.5 sacks after 9 video games, which places him up prime with the remainder of the NFL’s cross speeding elite.
Last yr, he had 9 sacks after 9 video games, so he’s upped the tempo. And given all of the work he did within the offseason to try to guarantee he received’t run out of fuel towards the top of the yr, which was the case final season, he’s on tempo to have a monster season all through.
“My teammates go out there, put me in great situations to execute. My coaches call good calls. I’m just willing to do whatever I need to do for our defense to have success,” stated Judon. “Whatever that is, however it looks and however I need to play, I’m willing to do it. Today it was just one of those games.”
Along with the three sacks, Judon additionally had six tackles together with three for a loss, and 4 quarterback hits.
Uche wasn’t in the slightest degree stunned by the efficiency.
“This is one of the greatest I’ve ever seen in my life so it’s an honor to be able to learn from him and watch his game each and every day,” Uche stated of Judon. “I have him give me advice too, so it’s definitely good.”
The protection as complete was dominant. The Colts have been 0-for-14 on third down. And 0-for-2 within the crimson zone.
Coupled with the 9 sacks, that’s about pretty much as good as a protection can get.
Both Judon and Devin McCourty talked concerning the significance of getting a cross rush mixed with protection. With the secondary doing the job within the again finish, that gave extra time for the cross rush to attain.
In Judon’s case, although, it positive appeared like he was on prime of Ehlinger earlier than the Colts quarterback might look down area, a lot much less blink.
Judon, nevertheless, was positive to offer the secondary some props.
“I believe that the secondary covered their butts off today. It was a lot of coverage sacks,” he stated. “We simply must proceed to feed off that vitality and one another. No matter down and distance, the place we go on the market on the sector, the state of affairs we’re put in, it’s our job to get the ball again. It’s our job to cease the opposing offense.
“When we do that, we just roll, we just roll. We’ve seen it in a couple other games and today we had it.”
Source: www.bostonherald.com