New England Patriots’ Plans For Young Rushers Chase Winovich, Josh Uche Unclear After 2021

Bill Belichick knew the line between rushing and containing the quarterback atop the AFC East was a fine one.

“If you miss him and he gets loose, that’s going to be a big problem,” the New England Patriots head coach said leading up to last Saturday’s wild card. “You can’t just stand there and watch him throw. That’s not the answer. But being undisciplined and just running around back there, letting him run, that’s not the answer either.”

No answers would be found in the defensive gameplan at Highmark Stadium. But that the defensive gameplan did not include outside linebackers Chase Winovich and Josh Uche was a concern for their development.

The 47-17 loss to the Buffalo Bills provided a snapshot of where the Michigan products, drafted one year and one round apart, stand entering 2022.

Winovich found himself a healthy inactive on a frigid night in Orchard Park. Uche found himself on the field for six out of 56 snaps.

No sacks nor takeaways were registered against an offense that started with seven consecutive touchdown drives and again finished without calling for a punt. Buffalo averaged 8.9 yards per play against New England. And at the center of it was a 6-foot-5, 237-pound dual threat who went 21-of-25 passing for 308 yards while adding 66 rushing yards.

Josh Allen had time to be patient in the pocket. He also had time to escape it and find tight end Dawson Knox in the back of the end zone on a scramble that spanned 9.64 seconds, according to Next Gen Stats. It was one of five touchdowns the 2020 All-Pro would throw.

More divisional meetings will require more athleticism on passing downs, but also trust in recent draft investments to hold their gaps and stay in their rush lanes.

New England’s usage of Winovich and Uche reflects that element of unknown.

Winovich arrived at No. 77 overall in 2019 and went on to post 11 sacks through two regular seasons before seeing his role transition to special teams. The 26-year-old began training camp on physically unable to perform and finished the campaign with 11 tackles and one quarterback hit across 13 games. He did not play a defensive down in the month of December before resurfacing in January against the Jacksonville Jaguars and Miami Dolphins.

Uche arrived at No. 60 overall in 2020 and ranked atop all rookie edge defenders in Pro Football Focus’ pass-rush productivity. The 23-year-old covered ground at different frame rate during his sophomore preseason. He then totaled three sacks in the initial two weeks of September. Yet those would be the last totaled. His regular season concluded with 11 tackles, four hits and one fumble recovery across 12 games.

Both Wolverines had stints on injured reserve due to respective hamstring and ankle issues. Both stood on a Patriots depth chart featuring veterans Jamie Collins and Kyle Van Noy as well as three-time Pro Bowler Matt Judon, a four-year, $56 million arrival who had 12.5 sacks before the bye yet went without one after it.

Both could have played a part when pairing an aggressive rush with vision and containment was the goal.