Patriots Defense Deserves to Be the NFL’s MVP

Now we know that you can’t award MVP to an entire section in a team but with the way things are going, the Patriots defense seem like the only worthy contenders for NFL MVP. It obviously can’t happen with the way voting works but just because it hasn’t happened it doesn’t mean we should rule it out.

Hear us out.

The entire Patriots defense unit’s performance has been jaw-dropping. We’re in a time where scoring in an NFL football game is at its highest, along with rule changes and point of emphasis increasing yardage and scoring totals. The New England Patriots defense are in a league of their own when it comes to suppressing opponents. Some might argue that the level of competition the Patriots are facing isn’t challenging enough. And others might bring up the fact that they have an easy schedule regarding opposing quarterbacks. However, even with all of that factored, the Patriots defense are killing it.

Here are the Receipts for the Patriots Defense

We remember how they handled New York Jets quarterback Sam Darnold. And he was experiencing a rather successful first game back from mono against Dallas Cowboys.

Moreover, the Patriots defense has been such a successful unit that we don’t even notice how whittled the offense has been. The offensive line and receivers have been plagued by injuries. Add that to Rob Gronkowski’s retirement and you can understand why New England is pushing hard to land more pass catchers, recently adding Mohamed Sanu.

Looking at the numbers, the Patriots defense averages a margin of victory at 25 points through nearly half a season – the NFL average is 11.5. Furthermore, the Pats are still one of two undefeated teams and that’s thanks to their defensive line.

Patriots Defense Stats

If that doesn’t convince you, then let’s take a look at some key defensive metrics.

Statistic	Patriots (Overall Rank)	Next Best Team	NFL Average
Opponent scoring drives allowed	5 (1^st)	49ers – 11	26
Offensive points allowed	27 (1^st)	49ers – 57	140
Opponent yards per play	3.96 (1^st)	49ers – 4.22	5.56
Opponent passer rating	34.6 (1^st)	49ers – 64.6	91.4
Opponent 3^rd-down conversion rate	14.3% (1^st)	49ers – 26.3%	38.1%
Opponent red zone scoring	16.7% (1^st)	49ers – 23.1%	55.1%
Takeaways	22 (1^st)	Panthers – 15	10
Interceptions	18 (1^st)	Panthers – 9	5
Opponent 1^st down efficiency	37.8% (1^st)	Texans – 41.4%	48%

As they say, the numbers don’t lie.

However, as much as we’d like to think they’re perfect, they are fallible. Even though they still perform above the NFL average, they rank 18^th in yards per carry at 4.15. They’ll be facing some pretty strong offensive lines after their bye in Week 10. But, if the Patriots defense line manages to keep up with this performance, they will be a historically significant defense by mid-December.