SAN FRANCISCO — Dominance on the defensive line has helped propel the Patriots on an unlikely run to Super Bowl 60.
When the playoffs began, Mike Vrabel told Milton Williams and Christian Barmore that “the big dogs come out in January.” The two have gotten off leash and wreaked havoc on opposing offensive lines.
As interior linemen, Williams and Barmore have combined for 16 quarterback pressures and three sacks. Even when they haven’t gotten home, the two have collapsed pockets and prevented quarterbacks from stepping up, allowing edge rushers like K’Lavon Chaisson (14 pressures) to feast.
“We’re closest to the quarterback when they drop back,” Williams said at the Santa Clara Marriott on Wednesday. “The greatest quarterbacks in this game struggle with interior pressure. So any quarterback, I don’t care what kind of talent you have, what kind of arm you’ve got, if you get interior pressure it makes them uncomfortable, speeds up their clock, forces them to put the ball in harm’s way.”
When the Patriots made Williams the highest-paid player in franchise history with a $104 million deal last March, they envisioned him forming a two-headed monster alongside Barmore. That’s come to fruition when the games have mattered most.
“Milt is a hard worker. He’s a hell of a guy,” Barmore said. “There’s things that me and him are so close about… He motivates me and I think I motivate him every day we come in this mother(expletive). Literally, that’s my guy. He’s got my back, I’ve got his back.
“We watch so much tape together. We watch so much tape and we study guys really well. We just do a lot of extra film together.”
When opponents are in obvious passing situations, there’s only one question at the snap now: Which one of them is getting double teamed?
“Who’s the (offensive line) slide going to go to, me or him?” Barmore said. “We’re trying to see who the slide is going to go to. That’s the mission: Whoever gets the one-on-one, gotta dominate and win. That’s the goal.”
At this stage of the game, Williams says opposing offensive coordinators have begun adjusting and putting them under the microscope.
“When they game plan, I’m pretty sure they start with the d-line,” Williams said. “Because if you don’t block us, you ain’t going to be able to move the ball. Having (Barmore) as a running mate has been great. We challenge each other every day. We’re competing every day. We want the best for each other. We want to eventually be the best. So we stay on each other and continue to push each other every week.”
Williams has felt disrespected throughout the postseason.
First, the Patriots heard about the Chargers defense, then Houston’s vaunted group, and finally the Broncos in the AFC Championship Game, all statistical Top 5 units. New England outplayed each of them, holding their playoff opponents to 8.7 points per game.
Asked if he still feels like the Patriots aren’t getting enough credit, Williams said the film speaks for itself. And if Super Bowl 60 is hanging in the balance on Sunday at Levi’s Stadium, the Patriots know which big dogs need to make a play.
“I feel like we’ve shown enough. They can ignore it as long as they want to, but we’re going to keep doing what we do every time we step on the field,” Williams said. “We’re going out there and we’re going to try to dominate. I feel like we’ve been doing that throughout this whole playoffs.
“I tell B-more all the time, our team is going to go as far as we take them. If we keep dominating up front, we’ll continue to win.”
