The Patriots’ former head coach expressed his disappointment with New England’s underwhelming run defense.
The New England Patriots’ inability to stop the opposing running game has cost them dearly over the last few weeks, and has been the subject of considerable scrutiny. The most prominent person to voice dissatisfaction is former Patriots head coach Bill Belichick.
The future first-ballot Hall of Famer, who left New England this offseason, criticized the run defense multiple times and through multiple channels over the last few days. One common refrain was his perplexity over the results given that the team retained most of the personnel that ranked first in the NFL in yards per run just a year ago.
While this does gloss over some high-profile absences compared to 2023 — Christian Barmore, Ja’Whaun Bentley, Jabrill Peppers, Matthew Judon — the bottom line still remains: the unit of defensive coordinator DeMarcus Covington has struggled versus the run.
Belichick’s criticism could therefore also be read as a slight toward Covington. The first-year DC, however, is not concerned about what his former boss had to say.
“I don’t really look too much into it like that,” he told reporters on Thursday.
“Bill’s done some great things for me. He’s the one who brought me here. I learned a lot of great things from him. I was the defensive line coach for four years. Before that I was outside linebackers and insider linebackers coach. I’ve been to Super Bowls. I’ve not been to Super Bowls. Been to the highest valley, been to the lowest of the valley. So, for me, I don’t really focus on that.”
Starting his career at the college level, Covington arrived in New England as a coaching assistant in 2017. In 2019, Belichick promoted him to outside linebackers coach before moving him to the defensive line the following year.
He remained in that role until earlier this year, when new head coach Jerod Mayo named him his defensive coordinator. In seven games at the helm, Covington’s unit has given up 23.0 points per average, not counting scores surrendered by the offense and special teams.
Stopping the run in particular has proven to be an issue for the Patriots so far. After a solid first two weeks, teams have averaged 167.4 rushing yards against New England over the last five.
Nonetheless, Covington remains optimistic.
“I do know our run defense is going to get better,” he said. “We’ll do a better job on that. I’ll do a better job on that. And for me, we talk about accountability. I’ll take accountability.”