The New England Patriots had a vision in mind when they signed free agent cornerback Carlton Davis this offseason to pair with All-Pro Christian Gonzalez. That vision became reality in a 23-20 upset victory over the Buffalo Bills on Sunday night.
While most teams have opted to match the high-powered Bills offense with heavy amounts of zone coverage this season, New England brought the fight to them. Playing more than 40 percent of their defensive snaps in man coverage, defensive play-caller Zak Kuhr trusted his top playmakers to get the job done in the secondary.
“We pride ourselves on it,” Gonzalez said about the man coverage responsibilities. “We want to play man. As a corner, that’s what you wanna do. You wanna go out there and be on an island. [Carlton and I] both look for the challenge. We both wanna see the 1s. It’s a lot of fun every week… We be out there ballin’.”
That approach paid off, as New England’s man coverage reps led to several key plays to help swing the game in their favor.
Two of the biggest came late in the fourth quarter when Gonzalez forced two straight incompletions — including a third-down pass breakup — that forced the Bills to settle for a game-tying field goal instead of taking the lead.
“It was just a plaster drill, like I was talking about earlier — just Josh scrambling, extending plays,” he said of the breakup. “You’ve got to find the open receiver, and once you’re in zone and he starts to scramble, it turns to man. So you’ve got to find a man and get to him. I saw Shakir was open, so I just ran to him and got the PBU.”
After missing the first three games of the season with a hamstring injury, Gonzalez played all 68 defensive snaps on a warm night in Buffalo.
For Davis, his second game playing opposite Gonzalez looked like the tandem he envisioned when he joined New England on a three-year deal.
“I mean, like during OTAs and camp, I knew it was everything I imagined when I signed here,” Davis said. “Just watching him — he’s such a gifted athlete. I knew what he brought to the table, and I knew if I could show up on my part, he would show up on his part, and we’d have a great tandem in this league.”
While Buffalo viewed the tandem as the best pair of corners they would face this season, Gonzalez and Davis make sure to note the group wouldn’t be complete without nickel Marcus Jones.
Jones made his mark Sunday night in man coverage as well, recording a third-down pass breakup against the bigger Keon Coleman and later undercutting an in-breaking route with post-safety help overtop to intercept Josh Allen in the red zone.
“I mean, it’s no surprise to me — nobody on this team. We see him do it every day at practice and in past years,” Gonzalez said. “That’s what he does. He’s a playmaker. So I’m happy for him, to see him go out there and make those plays.”
“It’s a three-man tandem,” Davis added. “He’s such a special player inside for us — he makes so many plays, and it shows up on Sundays… Playing with Marcus has been one of the great joys of coming to New England, and I’m happy to be a part of that DB group.”
Sitting at 3-2 on the season, New England will now continue to rely on that defensive backs — a group that Gonzalez believes is only getting started.
“It can be good. But we got to grow on it,” he said. That was a good game, but there’s a lot of plays we left out there and and more plays we can make and get better and fix things. So, we’re excited for it.”
