by Derrik Klassen

No defense can beat the Los Angeles Rams by playing on its heels. Sean McVay has mastered the craft of moving defenders pre- and post-snap for the quarterback, and his brilliance is magnified by an offensive line that hardly allows any pressure versus simple four-man rushes. The more defenders McVay can manipulate in coverage and the fewer of them gunning for his quarterback, the better.

New Orleans Saints defensive coordinator Dennis Allen must have missed this memo. After a useless first quarter by Rams quarterback Jared Goff, the Saints defense failed to turn up the heat as the Rams were trying to get back into the game. Instead, the Saints regularly dropped seven defenders into coverage with four pass-rushers vs. the Rams' six-man play-action protections. Goff was allowed to throw himself back into the game against mostly soft coverages, topped off by a few legitimately great throws to complete the feat.

Bill Belichick knows better, though, and has the perfect personnel to get under Goff's skin. New England runs a press- and blitz-heavy defense, and they are excellent at both. With two linebackers who were pass-rushers in their past lives in Dont'a Hightower and Kyle Van Noy, as well as a mean secondary led by All-Pro Stephon Gilmore and breakout undrafted rookie J.C. Jackson, the Patriots have the players to press and blitz early, often, and effectively.

This strategy has worked well for them since the second half of the season, but it has been particularly strong during the playoffs. Neither Patrick Mahomes nor Philip Rivers -- the MVP favorite and another top MVP candidate, respectively -- could get past this overwhelming style of defense.

One thing the Patriots love to do is "pepper" the line of scrimmage with their linebackers. Sometimes all the linebackers go, sometimes none of them do, and other times they may be asked to read the offensive line's pass sets to determine which linebacker goes and which drops into coverage.

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Rivers gets toasted here because the Patriots generate a free rusher and cut off the hot route by "peppering" the line. The Patriots threatened with six pass-rushers vs. five blockers, meaning one offensive lineman will have to make a decision between two rushers and leave the other free. In this case, Van Noy (53) and Adrian Clayborn (94) are the conflict for the left guard. The guard ends up squeezing in for Van Noy, so Clayborn gets a free rush while Van Noy trails off of the initial blitz and cuts off the slant from the slot. Rivers is left with no choice but throw up a prayer or eat the sack.

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Here is Mahomes suffering the same fate as Rivers in the last clip. The offensive concept is not comparable, but again the Patriots generate a free rusher and have a defender to take away primary receiving options from the quarterback. It is likely Mahomes wanted Tyreek Hill (10) all the way on this play, but with the blitzer rushing his process and the defensive back capping Hill's vertical route with ease, Mahomes was not given a chance to complete this pass.

The Patriots' recent defensive prowess is especially impressive because if any quarterback could have defeated them, it should have been Mahomes. Mahomes has the arm, athleticism, and fearlessness to not be phased by press or blitzing. For the most part, Mahomes did appear unphased mentally, but the Patriots were just so suffocating for most of the game that he had to make a handful of miracle deep throws just to keep the Chiefs in the game. Their best play was "oh, clearly the defense does not believe they have to cover this deep down the field."

Goff is not Mahomes. That may be an obvious, and even unfair, comparison, but it is true. Goff, though impressive in the second half of the New Orleans game, is not consistent in showing wherewithal under pressure or when forced to beat teams with his arm. It comes in waves, but has yet to stick around. Goff is a generally good decision-maker and accurate throwing to zones, but he is not the type of quarterback that press- and blitz-heavy defenses worry about.

via Gfycat

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In one of New Orleans' few bright moments of pressure last Sunday, they brought a slot cornerback from the offense's left to disrupt Goff's thought process and rhythm. Goff opens the play peeking to his left, but comes back knowing he wants the back-side square-in route. Goff feels the pressure coming and tenses up in trying to deliver the throw. The ball comes out from an uncomfortable throwing environment for Goff and ends up sailing wide of the receiver. This was not an easy throw, per se, but it is one an NFL quarterback should be capable of making from the pocket and knowing he was coming back to it.

Here is an example of Goff's mental process versus the blitz. In this first screen shot, Goff should be anticipating the blitz to some degree. It is third down, and the Saints have to have this. Furthermore, Goff should know the blitzers will have to vacate the middle of the field, and if his receiver had an option to move into that space, he absolutely should have been going there.

By this point, Goff can confirm the blitz and see that there is no immediate defender in the middle of the field. It is a straight 2 vs. 2 out to the left, and the only way the Saints could make a play on a slant route from the two-receiver set would be otherworldly closing speed from the inside defender. We are talking Malcolm Butler-in-the-Super Bowl level reactions and closing, and even that only works under the assumption that the inside defender would play the inside route instead of purely the inside receiver.

via Gfycat

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For whatever reason, Goff and the receiver are on different pages and Goff throws the complete opposite way of the receiver cutting inside. To a degree, all miscommunications are the fault of both players, but Goff had all the signs to know where the ball needed to go to beat the incoming blitz and he did not execute on it.

With two weeks of planning, McVay will surely have answers to work around Goff's deficiencies. Even against New Orleans, McVay turned to a number of effective motion and jet concepts when the Saints were getting into deep zone shells with their cornerbacks or man coverage. McVay made the on-the-fly adjustment to work around the Saints' defense, and should have at least some semblance of answer to keep up with Belichick.

Still, this is the best the Patriots' defense has been in some time. New England is better against the pass than either of the defenses the Rams already faced this postseason, and poses a more threatening matchup from a scheme perspective. Goff is coming along nicely and McVay is at the forefront of offense in the league, but this aggressive, uber-talented Patriots defense is equipped to delay a potential Rams dynasty until further notice.