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Darrelle Revis Is Key To New England Patriots’ Week 11 Win

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By @Will_Gellman

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The New England Patriots have been on fire lately, winning their last five games in a row in convincing fashion. In Week 11, however, the Patriots will face a tough challenge on the road against Andrew Luck and the Indianapolis Colts. Luck currently leads the NFL in touchdown passes with 26 and passing yards with 3,085. With that said, Luck is vulnerable if you can take away his best receiving options. That is where Darrelle Revis comes in.

Assuming that Revis shadows T.Y. Hilton for most of the snaps, he should be able to take him mostly out of the game due to his height advantage. If he were to do so, Luck would have to look to his next best target, Reggie Wayne. A few years ago, Wayne would have been a major threat, but he has lost a step or two in the past few years. Brandon Browner should be able to shut him down (or at least limit him) due to his physical nature. That would leave just Donte Moncrief, Dwayne Allen, Coby Fleener and Ahmad Bradshaw as viable pass catchers.

Moncrief is a decent receiver but by no means a threat, Allen and Fleener make their bones in the red zone most of the time and Jamie Collins should be able to hold his own against Bradshaw. If Revis can handle Hilton and Browner can take out Wayne, Luck will have trouble finding open receivers and will turn the ball over. He is mistake-prone at this point in his career, and the Patriots must take advantage of that. The Colts don’t run the ball a lot either, running just 36 percent of the time, the lowest percentage in the league. Given that fact, it stands to reason that taking away Luck’s passing options is the recipe for beating them.

Hilton is by far the Colts’ most explosive and talented receiver. Revis taking him out by himself would cause a domino effect for the rest of the secondary. If he were to struggle in that matchup, the opposite effect would occur, a struggling secondary. For that reason, Revis is not only the most important defensive player for the Patriots in Week 11, but you could argue that he is the most important player on either side of the ball.

Will Gellman is a New England Patriots writer for www.RantSports.com.  Follow him on Twitter, “Like” him on Facebook or add him to your network on Google.

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