Patriots defense setting the tone for complementary football

The New England Patriots step into the Thursday Night Football spotlight to face the Chicago Bears this week.

The Patriots’ defense will have a tall task in containing and limiting Bears quarterback Caleb Williams, but that unit has been a cornerstone of consistency for New England, especially when the offense has experienced some ebbs and flows in its play.

“That’s our mindset every week,” Patriots defensive tackle Milton Williams said. ”No matter what team offense we’re going against, no matter what our offense does, it matters how we play and how we execute at a high level, and no matter where we’re at on the field, just put the ball down, let’s play defense, cover every plate of grass.”

The Patriots have done that very consistently week-to-week. The Pats are allowing just 18.8 points per game, the fifth-lowest total in the league. They are also holding opponents to the sixth-fewest yards per game average in the league at 300.8 yards. New England’s offense directly benefits from that type of play from the defense.

“They’ve been playing good, you know, I feel like they give us that energy.” Patriots wide receiver DeMario “Pop” Douglas said. “I feel like they’ve been playing good, special teams they’ve been playing good, so I think that complementary football is starting to get going. So if we keep playing complementary football, then it’s going to be good.”

Last week in their 26-19 win over the Jets, the Pats’ defense finished with three sacks, four pass breakups, six quarterback hits, and an interception.

“We’ve been playing well these past couple weeks on offense, special teams, offense, defense, so the momentum is just going to continue to carry possession by possession from each group,” Patriots edge rusher Dre’Mont Jones said. “You feel that energy, so you want to go out there and kind of match it.”

The Patriots and Bears face off in Chicago Thursday night at 8:15 p.m.

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