There is a big part of me that hates myself for writing this article. I’ve long disdained the cliché of the bend-but-don’t-break defense. Football is a game of context, and calling a defense bend-but-don’t-break is typically an oversimplification that eliminates important context like matchups, score, down, distance, etc.
But sometimes things just are what they are. And in 2017, the only thing in more pliable than the hamstrings in Alex Guerrero’s office was the New England defense. I’m not inferring that the coaching staff coaches “bendability,” no coach is happy to give up first downs all over the field, but the data speaks for itself: this is perhaps the most bendable, bend-but-don’t-break defense we’ve ever witnessed.