FOXBORO -- Patriots defensive line coach Brendan Daly has a potpourri of big bodies with which to work this season.
If the situation calls for a space-eating 300-pounder, he can turn to Alan Branch, Sealver Siliga or rookie first-rounder Malcom Brown. If it's a lighter, penetrating athlete that the team needs then Rob Ninkovich, Chandler Jones and Jabaal Sheard are reliable players who can play both on the edge or inside at 260 pounds. And should the Patriots want somewhat of a hybrid between those two body types? Daly has former first-rounder Dominique Easley at his disposal when healthy.
Add to the mix rookies Geneo Grissom (6-foot-4, 252 pounds) and Trey Flowers (6-2, 266) as well as second-year player Rufus Johnson (6-5, 272), and it's a group that is shaping up to give the Patriots unique depth.
Through three weeks, they've worked in concert, complementing each other's skill sets while simultaneously allowing one another to maintain their stamina for longer stretches.
"That's the goal is to try to keep guys fresh and be able to execute late in the game," Daly said on Monday. "I think we've had varying degrees of success with that so far. Obviously we wish we would've finished off the Buffalo game a little bit better. The late touchdown against Jacksonville is not something that sits well. But I think going forward, keeping guys healthy, keeping guys fresh, not being gassed late in the game when critical situations come up is going to be a great thing for us.
"As long as they keep playing at a consistent level, we'll continue with that rotation. If things separate -- it may change based on game-plan, based on matchups, based on who's available, and how our health goes through the remainder of the season -- that may or may not change. We'll have to see as it goes."
To this point in the season, the rotation seems to be working just fine.
New England Patriots
The Patriots have 13 sacks on the season, which TheMMQB.com's Peter King pointed out puts them on pace for 69. That would be the most for any defense led by Bill Belichick during his 16 years as head coach in New England. (The team racked up 48 in 2013.)
Of those 13 quarterback sacks this year, Daly's defensive line has accounted for eight. Jones has three and Sheard has two, while Ninkovich, Branch and Brown each have one. And that doesn't account for the others they have helped to create, like the sack Jamie Collins recorded in Buffalo last week near the Bills goal line when Jones occupied two blockers to create a path for his teammate.
According to Pro Football Focus, the Patriots defensive line has also accounted for seven more quarterback hits and 22 total quarterback hurries. Though they had not been as effective against the run as they would have liked through the first two games of the season -- they allowed a league-worst 5.7 yards per carry until holding the Jaguars to a measly 2.8 yards per carry on Sunday -- they have been consistently disruptive to opposing signal-callers.
"I think there's been some good things," Daly said of his group. "We got a number of guys playing for us, a number of guys contributing, and that's a great thing. Hopefully that will serve us well through the course of the season. Obviously we played much better against the run yesterday than we had the previous couple of weeks, which was a point of emphasis. Pleased with that. And it's a good group of guys. They've developed some cohesiveness within the group, which is great to see. Hopefully we'll keep getting better and play better."
Sheard's contributions have been particularly noticeable as he's given the Patriots an opportunity to split up their defensive-end snaps through three games. Sheard has been on the field for 143 plays while Jones and Ninkovich have seen 166 and 171, respectively.
In 2013, Jones and Ninkovich led the team in defensive snaps, and last season Ninkovich continued to pace the team in that regard. Jones likely would have joined him among the Patriots most frequently-used players, but he suffered an injury that forced him to miss two months.
Signed in the offseason as a free agent, Sheard has allowed those two an opportunity to catch their breaths. On Sunday, he led the trio with 48 snaps.
"I think It's been very beneficial for us," Daly said. "Jabaal's come in and helped us. You see him getting a little bit more comfortable, to me, each time we go out there. More comfortable, less thinking, understanding what we're asking him to do a little bit better to where he can react and let his skill set take over. I think that's been beneficial for Chandler and Rob to be able to come off of the field a little bit and have a bit of a rotation there."
Those ends have also provided some of New England's more traditional interior linemen an opportunity to get a rest from time to time, depending on the situation. Already this season the Patriots have shown that they are willing to use Jones, Ninkovich and Sheard lined up as defensive tackles in passing situations.
"One of the things we like about the group as a whole is guys have some position flexibility," Daly said. "Guys can move and play different roles. They've done a little bit of that here over the first three games. We'll see going forward. Some of that may be dependent upon matchups, game plan, availability, what's the best group, who's available that week, and how can we best utilize all 11 people or however many we're playing . . .
"But I think that versatility, hopefully it gives offenses problems. Hopefully it gives people matchup issues and game-plan issues in terms of how they're identifying their protections, how they're blocking things in the run game. I think that's a benefit for us."
Bumping ends inside to play as tackles gives the Patriots some added quickness on the inside, but it's not necessarily an easy move. Daly explained that it takes a particular kind of player to be able to transition inside and handle the responsibilities that come with that type of change.
"There are certain guys," Daly said, "who are better than others doing it . . . There have been a number of guys over the course of time that have done that and been successful doing it. I think there's a number of guys who absolutely can't as well. That's a difficult thing to figure out at times.
"You look at a guy and you think, 'Well he should be able to do this.' But things happen a lot faster inside. I think it takes a little bit of a unique guy in terms of physical and mental awareness to be able to do that effectively. There are times where it is something that a guy can do, but it takes him a while to get comfortable doing it effectively."
What lets Ninkovich, Jones and Sheard to be effective inside is that they can process what they're seeing relatively quickly. Because it is a tighter area in which to work, their ability to read and react is essential, Daly noted.
"To me, the biggest thing is instincts and awareness," he said. "Things happen when you're down inside there. There's just more potential things that can happen, and it happens a lot faster. You're in a confined space.
"Somebody once equated it to, 'Playing defensive tackle in the NFL is like going out and playing in the middle of I-95.' [Stuff] is coming at you from all directions. It's at a high rate of speed. That's a prety accurate portrayal. You've got to be able to process that in a very fast manner, and it also requires the strength and the girth to be able to hold up in there regardless of what the situation is in terms of run or pass."
Through the season's first month, Daly and the Patriots have done well to identify which players can handle those jobs, and which players to fit around them.
It's early, but the results have been there for a group that was expected by many to step up its production as the personnel in the Patriots secondary dealt with a significant overhaul this offseason.
Here are some of the other highlights from our conversation with Daly . . .
On Brown: "He's done a nice job. Malcom's come in, he's worked hard, he studies. He's a smart kid. He's worked at trying to refine his technique and be more consistent there, which I'd say is probably the thing that he needs to continue to do. But he's done a good job for us, and I think he'll continue to help us, and hopefully even more as we go forward here. Pleased with what he's done, but certainly a work in progress."
On Easley: "There's obviously been some inconsistency with his injury situation last year, and then last week with the hip situation, but, you know, we're excited about Dominique Easley. Obviously when he's out there, he's got some explosiveness, he's got some quickness. He's got the ability to make plays for us. We gotta do a good job of making sure he stays healthy and keep him out there so he can be productive for us."
On the NFL Network special "Do Your Job," which featured Patriots assistants: "I did get to watch it, actually. It was a nice piece. NFL Films did a great job with it, I thought. It was interesting. When they came in the day that they did it, I didn't understand exactly what we were doing, and it was kind of five minutes beforehand they said, 'You're next,' and I said, 'Huh? They want to talk to me?' But it was a fun deal. Those guys, they were great. Good group . . . I grew up watching NFL Films obviously and loved all of the stuff that they did. It was fun to be a part of, for sure."