![EAST RUTHERFORD, NEW JERSEY - NOVEMBER 26: Myles Bryant #27 of the New England Patriots, Jabrill Peppers #5 of the New England Patriots, and Ja'Whaun Bentley #8 of the New England Patriots celebrate after Peppers' fumble recovery during the first quarter against the New York Giants at MetLife Stadium on November 26, 2023 in East Rutherford, New Jersey. (Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images)](https://985thesportshub.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/88/2023/11/GettyImages-1815059806.jpg)
EAST RUTHERFORD, NEW JERSEY – NOVEMBER 26: Myles Bryant #27 of the New England Patriots, Jabrill Peppers #5 of the New England Patriots, and Ja’Whaun Bentley #8 of the New England Patriots celebrate after Peppers’ fumble recovery during the first quarter against the New York Giants at MetLife Stadium on November 26, 2023 in East Rutherford, New Jersey. (Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images)
On Tuesday, we took our annual look at position-by-position grades for the Patriots offense in 2023. Now, it’s time to tackle the defense.
The Patriots’ overall defensive ranking dropped in 2023, from 11th to 15th. Their points allowed went from 20.4 per game to 21.5 per game. However, there is some context that alters the perception of those numbers a bit.
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In some ways, the Patriots’ 2023 defense was hurt by the struggling offense and special teams. Impacted highly by the Patriots’ three-and-out rate (2nd-highest in the league) and turnover rate (8th highest in the league), the Patriots’ defense had the worst average starting field position in the NFL. Opponents started on average at the 31.7 yard line. For comparison, the Patriots’ offense started on average at the 26.2 yard line.
Those short fields let to a good number of the Patriots’ allowed scoring drives. 23.4 percent of all of their scoring drives against came off of turnovers, which ranked third in the NFL.
One area the Patriots improved was against top quarterbacks. In the past, many pointed to the Patriots’ success as a product of facing a weak quarterback schedule. This year though they held some of the best in check. Per Evan Lazar of Patriots.com, the Patriots allowed an 89.1 passer rating and 6.8 yards per attempts against the combination of Jalen Hurts, Tua Tagovailoa (two games), Dak Prescott, Josh Allen (two games), Justin Herbert, and Patrick Mahomes. Against everybody else, those quarterbacks combined for 7.5 yards per attempt and a 96.6 passer rating.
That’s not to say the Patriots’ defense wasn’t without its issues. What worked? What didn’t? Let’s get into the grades (midseason grades can be found here)…