When you prepare for the New England Patriots’ defense, there are a lot of factors that come into play.
This is a unit that cycles in a ton of different personnel groupings. They’re extremely multiple with their fronts, lining up in a wide variety of alignments with four, three, and two down linemen. Not only do they have at least two distinctly different nickel packages with five defensive backs, but they also have multiple dime groups (with six DBs) and even "dollar" subpackages (with seven DBs). Their linebackers all have a responsibility. Their defensive linemen line up everywhere and all play a role.