Another defensive masterclass for the New England Patriots earned the team their first 2023 regular season win on Sunday. They pummeled the New York Jets offense (as is usually the case) in a 15-10 road victory.
Three games into the season and it’s already clear that the Patriots have one of the best defenses in the league. Keep in mind, this has been a team playing with only one of their starting cornerbacks. Jonathan Jones, Jack Jones and Marcus Jones have all been out with injuries.
That has left the bulk of the work to rookie first-round draft pick Christian Gonzalez, Myles Bryant and Shaun Wade. Gonzalez’s sudden emergence into one of the league’s top corners has obviously been a huge help, along with the pressure the Patriots have been able to get up front.
It was like a full-on WWE session in the Jets’ offensive backfield with quarterback Zach Wilson getting body-slammed and rag-dolled by Patriots defenders through four quarters.
Today, we’re ranking the top-10 Patriots defenders in Week 3 by their Pro Football Focus grades. It’s important to note that we haven’t taken snap count into consideration for this particular list.
So while a player like linebacker Matthew Judon was the obvious MVP of this game, he wasn’t given a top-10 PFF grade.