Pats-Bengals preview: Defensive plan for Burrow is ‘controlled chaos’

Pats-Bengals preview: Defensive plan for Burrow is ‘controlled chaos’ originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

When asked to describe how his defense will try to bother Joe Burrow on Sunday, DeMarcus Covington’s eyebrows shot up and he flashed the hint of a smile.

“Controlled chaos,” he said.

The new Patriots defensive coordinator was the hire who flew furthest under the radar in an offseason where New England saw changes at head coach and offensive coordinator before bringing aboard a quarterback with the third pick in the draft.

There is no mistaking, though, this team’s clearest path to putting forth a competitive product on a week-to-week basis in 2024 is by fielding a punishing defense. And Sunday’s matchup in Cincinnati will give Covington, 35, an opportunity to show how he’ll put his own spin on a Bill Belichick-inspired scheme that has survived the test of time; since 2018, no organization has generated a better defensive EPA (expected points added).

“We always preach to the players about playing fast, playing aggressive, being fundamentally sound, and being able to create takeaways,” Covington told Next Pats this week. “That’s what we always talk about… That’s the formula for us.”

🔊 Next Pats: Patriots plan to drive quarterbacks crazy with CONTROLLED CHAOS | Listen & Subscribe | Watch on YouTube

The nuances of said formula have gotten more complicated with the introduction of a few new variables since Covington stepped into his current role after serving as Patriots defensive line coach since 2020. The best player in his position group a season ago, Christian Barmore, is out with blood clots. The team’s best edge rusher, Matthew Judon, has been traded to Atlanta.

In the absence of proven star-caliber sack artists, “controlled chaos” is the way. The Patriots are loaded with capable pressure-generators, including linebackers Ja’Whaun Bentley and Jahlani Tavai, as well as versatile linemen Deatrich Wise and Keion White. Edge players like Joshua Uche, Oshane Ximines and Anfernee Jennings will figure into their plans to wreck pass-protection schemes as well.

Covington is confident that there is plenty of pass-rushing juice on his side of the ball even in the absence of the two big names he had on the active roster coming into the year.

“We’ll make sure that we do a good job of attacking the offensive line and making sure we keep the quarterback in the pocket at the same time,” Covington said. “That’s what I mean by controlled chaos. We’re going to be aggressive with our pass-rush. And we have players who can rush the passer, too.

“We’re obviously gonna miss Barmore and Judon and the success we had with them. Just like anything else, people move on, things happen. We always have to have the mentality of next man up. The next guys, now it’s their opportunity to shine. You look at guys like Jennings last year, who didn’t probably play a certain percent of the time. Then you look at the end of the year — leading the team in tackles for losses. Who would’ve predicted that? Judon was out. There you go.

“Who’s going to be that Jennings from last year? I don’t know. Time will tell what will happen from there. But I do believe there will be somebody — and maybe not just somebody, multiple people — that will help us get that job filled.”

Bentley, in his fourth year as a captain, also feels there will be rushers in the Patriots’ huddle who exceed expectations with opportunities aplenty.

“I would say we’ve got a lot of hidden gems on this team,” he said. “Obviously you want Judon and Barmore but we got some guys on this team that can really rush the passer that the world don’t know about. They like to say that guys aren’t household names and things like that. Ain’t nothing we can really say to combat that. We just have to show what we got on Sunday.

“Obviously everybody wants to have the guys with the ‘big names,’ whatever that means. It’s like, ‘All right. Wait ’til Sunday.’ You guys can see what we got brewing and then go from there.”

One thing the Patriots may be able to do this weekend that they’ve done in past years without headline-generating pass-rushers? Lean on their versatility in order to deceive the opponent — whether it’s the quarterback they intend to bother or the offensive line tasked with protecting him.

Tavai looked at the names atop the lockers of front-seven defenders at One Patriot Place earlier this week and was in awe of the number of players who can realistically man more than one position in Covington’s defense. He knows they have the ability to trot out defensive looks that appear amorphous, perhaps with one defensive lineman backed by a mess of potential pass-rushers wandering near the line of scrimmage without declaring their intentions until the ball has been snapped.

“You don’t know who’s who,” Tavai said. “That’s the type of chaos that we can bring. Everybody they bring in here is very dynamic. Everybodoy can play multiple positions… That creates chaos. We love it.”

“It’s like a symphony,” Uche said. “You’ve got a lot of different moving parts, a lot of different percussions. But you have someone that’s orchestrating it so it flows together. That’s what I would equate it to. It’s a symphony. As long as you have a conductor, things will play smoothly.”

The new conductor gets his first crack at calling plays in an NFL regular season game on Sunday. It just so happens to come against one of the modern game’s most prolific passers in a season where the Bengals have Super Bowl aspirations. The Patriots are heavy underdogs (8.5 points), but if they’re to pull off something chaotic, it’ll be because Covington’s plan was well-orchestrated.

Let’s get to the rest of the preview…

Matchup that will surprise you

Rhamondre Stevenson vs. Bengals front seven

Cincinnati was 28th in success rate against the run last year. They were 31st in yards allowed per carry. And they might’ve gotten worse this offseason when it comes to that aspect of their defense.

They lost top defensive tackle D.J. Reader in free agency to the Lions. Two rookies brought aboard to try to solidify their front — Kris Jenkins (second round) and McKinnley Jackson (third) — are out injured. Stevenson, meanwhile, has had a strong summer after signing a contract extension earlier this offseason.

His line is loaded with question marks, but if he’s given a crease or two, he could help make the Patriots more productive offensively than many expect.

Matchup that will take years off your life

Trey Hendrickson vs. Chukwuma Okorafor

For those scoring at home, the single-game sack record is held by Derek Thomas, who had seven against the Seahawks back in 1990.

I’m not saying that’s in play on Sunday for Trey Hendrickson, Cincinnati’s top pass-rusher who aligns almost exclusively over opposing left tackles. But I am saying that when trying to envision how this matchup might go, it occurred to me that I should Google who held that particular record.

Okorafor has had a difficult summer, bouncing from right tackle — where he spent the vast majority of camp, and where he’s spent the vast majority of his career — over to the left side when Vederian Lowe was injured late last month.

Now Okorafor could be contending with a new position, a new scheme with a new coordinator, an apparent new rules emphasis that had him flagged several times in the preseason finale, and a pass-rusher who recorded 17.5 sacks last season (second in the NFL). Tough draw.

Matchup that will determine the outcome

Jacoby Brissett vs. Lou Anarumo

Brissett shared some of the quarterback practice workload with rookie teammate Drake Maye this week. Whereas oftentimes a starter will get nearly all practice reps in order to plan for an upcoming game, I’m told the Patriots gave Maye more than what would be viewed as a typical “backup” number of snaps in his first regular-season week as a pro.

It was not an even 50-50 split, but providing Maye valuable practice plays — getting him work with starters, allowing him to get real on-field prep work for an NFL defense — is part of New England’s development plan for the No. 3 overall pick.

It’s my understanding that the coaching staff continues to be pleased with how Maye has handled what’s been thrown at him, and he continues to spend time (along with Brissett and Joe Milton) with the team’s new virtual reality setup, where players can throw on a headset and bank hundreds of mental reps.

It’ll be Brissett’s show Week 1, though, and how he handles third-down looks thrown his way by Anarumo — who now has back veteran safety Vonn Bell to help run the Bengals’ on-field communication process — will determine just how competitive the season-opener ends up. Brissett went 17-for-22 for 278 yards and a touchdown (a rating of 133.7) in a Browns win over the Bengals back in 2022, which was Brissett’s only start against Anarumo that year.

Prediction: Bengals 17, Patriots 14