The last time the New England Patriots and San Diego Chargers met prior to Sunday night, Antonio Gates had four catches and a touchdown in the teams’ 2010 meeting.
New England made sure Gates wasn’t a factor this time around.
The Patriots defense held Gates, arguably the best receiving tight end in the NFL, to no catches Sunday.
“They would put a corner and a safety on me, or two safeties,” Gates told reporters after the game. “… they did a lot of different things to take me out of the game. I kept working at it, kept trying. The end result was I couldn't get the ball to come my way.”
Following a dismal performance by New England’s pass defense against an average Miami Dolphins squad, the Patriots had a solid gameplan for the Chargers’ usual stout air attack.
Taking Gates out of the game was a big part of it.
“They gave us different looks, a combination of things, making it difficult for me to release off the ball,” Gates said. “With the defensive end, linebacker and the safety dropping down to help once I released. They made a lot of funky looks, but I have a tremendous amount of confidence in the guys around me to make plays. We just didn't make enough plays today.”
Bill Belichick’s defensive unit showed a plethora of looks, doubling a receiver on one play and playing a soft single coverage on them the next. They gave up 348 passing yards to San Diego quarterback Phillip Rivers, but four turnovers — including two interceptions — overshadowed the big yardage.
Belichick still recognizes there’s still a lot of work to do in the pass defense department.
“I'd say the big problem we had yesterday was we had our chances to get off the field and we just didn't do a good job of it,” Belichick said Monday. “We had several plays we could have made on third down that I think were pretty makeable plays and we just didn't make them.
“So we have to do a better job with our pass rush, with our coverage, with our overall execution of the defense against the passing game than we did yesterday or than, really, we have in the last two weeks. I don't think it's any one specific thing or one particular player or position or anything. We just collectively need to do it better.”
Follow Nick @NickStDenis
Tweet
