FOXBORO -- The Patriots know that if receiver DeSean Jackson is on the field for Washington on Sunday, they'll have to be ready for the deep ball.
"They led the league in big-play passes last year and he had a lot of them," said Patriots coach Bill Belichick on Wednesday. "He’s a very explosive player, just tremendous at all three levels. He can catch and run, he can get over the top of the defense, and he’s a very good intermediate route runner who can get open and create space and take intermediate plays and turn those into big plays, too. Big threat."
Jackson left his team's Week 1 game against the Dolphins with a hamstring injury and hasn't played since, but he led the NFL with 13 catches of 40 yards or more last season.
Luckily for Patriots corners, they have two more-than-capable free safeties with good range -- Devin McCourty and Duron Harmon -- who can help them defend the deep part of the field against burners like Jackson.
"It's a blessing," Malcolm Butler said. "It's a blessing. Those guys, they're back there sniping, they come down and tackle. Couldn't ask for anyone else."
There's a fine line, though, between playing with a level of comfort -- knowing that someone will have your back if you get beat -- and playing over-aggressively. It's a line players like Butler have to toe, especially when facing deep threats like Jets wideout Brandon Marshall or Colts speedster TY Hilton.
"I think as a corner, you don’t count on that help," Belichick said. "I mean, you count on it on inside routes, but you don’t really count on it on go routes. The big part of that position is the quarterback. If the quarterback controls the free safety by looking him off, looking one way and throwing the other way, then that corner is probably not going to get any help. Now there are other components of that -- the pattern, the protection -- the quarterback’s ability to do that and so forth.
"I’m not saying that’s a given, but again, as a corner, it’s not like when you have a half field safety and you know that guy’s going to be back there at least on your half of the field. A middle of the field safety, there are some guys that can get over and guys that get great jumps on the ball and are instinctive and all that, and Duron and Devin have given us some of those plays, but I think as a corner, you can’t just sit there and say I have help over the top. You might, but you can’t really count on that."
It's a coaching point that has hit home for Patriots defensive backs, and one that they'll lean on this weekend with Washington's explosive playmakers in town.
"I'm still going to do my job," Butler said. "I'm not going to try to . . . All of us are still going to do our jobs. We're not going to try to do anything crazy just because we got the safeties behind us to make up for it. Just going to go out there and play the best we can, and deep down in our mind know that we got their help back there."
Butler: 'It's a blessing' to have help from Pats safeties | Comcast SportsNet - CSNNE.com
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