After a superb rookie season in 2010 that consisted of seven interceptions, expectations were high for Devin McCourty heading into his sophomore year with the New England Patriots.

Unfortunately, that was anything but the case for the former first-round pick and the pressure will certainly be on McCourty heading into 2012.

Everybody knows the Patriots will always have one of the top defenses in the league as long as Tom Brady is around, but numerous teams exposed them for their weak defense in 2011–especially when it came to their passing defense.

New England ranked near the bottom of the league (31st) when it came to passing yards allowed per game and it’s difficult not to blame McCourty as one of the younger leaders on defense.

Considering how poorly they played last year, the defense can’t do anything but go up from here and how well McCourty and company perform will play a major factor in whether or not the Patriots can come out on top in the AFC once again.