Pittsburgh Steelers
fromMusket Fire
3 days agoThe one Patriots player who could completely flip Week 3 on its head
Carlton Davis III playing at peak form could transform the Patriots' defense and potentially shut down the Steelers' passing attack.
"We subbed and we got into our calls," Vrabel said. "We talked about this before, the best call is a decisive one that the players know and believe in and that they have confidence that they can execute their job. When we needed to get the drive stopped, we got the drive stopped. We had a plan to play these guys and how we wanted to play them."
There have been a lot of questions surrounding the Patriots' defensive roster decisions over the last few weeks, most of which stemmed from the unexpected release of safety Jabrill Peppers days after the roster cut deadline. Throughout the summer, he had looked like a roster lock, as he was barely on the field during the preseason, only to be abruptly released and leave the Patriots' secondary vulnerable going into the season opener.
The New England Patriots left plenty to be desired on defense in head coach Mike Vrabel's regular-season debut in Foxboro. The Patriots surrendered 10 pass plays of over 20 yards in their 20-13 Week 1 loss to the Las Vegas Raiders, including some back-breakers in the second half. There's not going to be many silver linings when you get burned repeatedly by 34-year-old quarterback Geno Smith,