01:00 AM EST on Friday, December 23, 2005

BY TOM E. CURRAN
Journal Sports Writer

FOXBORO -- There is a clear line of demarcation in this Patriots season from when they went from a bad defensive team to -- at least statistically -- a darn good one.

In the third quarter of the season's 11th game in Kansas City, Trent Green hit Dante Hall for a 52-yard touchdown pass on first-and-10 from the Chiefs' 48. Since then, there have been 69 first-down plays run against the Patriots that have gained 199 yards -- an average of 2.9 per play.

Including that touchdown pass to Hall, there were 300 first-down plays against the New England defense and they gained 1,866 yards, an average of 6.2 yards per play.

There's a staggering difference between dealing with second-and-7 and second-and-a-long-3.

The difference between having a defense that's just hanging on, unsure of whether to duck or cover, and one that has to make the offense guess what it's going to do.

"Third down is absolutely related to first down," head coach Bill Belichick said yesterday. "Absolutely. If you can do a good job on first down, then that makes your job on second down a little bit easier. Then if you do a good job on second down, then that makes your job on third down a little bit easier. If it's third-and-2 or third-and-3, the offense can do anything they want. The quarterback can run. They can hand the ball off. They can throw to any of the receivers. Anybody can gain 2 or 3 yards. When it is third-and-10, there are fewer people that are able to gain that much yardage on that play. You can't release all five guys down the field very often. You might be able to do it with three. Maybe four. But again you're just defending less things. If they run it, even if they block everybody, you still have a chance to come in and make the tackle before the guy gets a first down. You just have fewer things to worry about."

So what happened? Well, for the remainder of that Chiefs game, Kansas City really was killing clock because it led, 26-3. But in the locker room after that game, one could sense that the Patriots had spent enough time trying to cover for their patchwork secondary. All the extra guys they dropped in coverage didn't help. People still got open.

If that's the way it was going to be, the team decided, it might as well play to its strengths -- its powerful and experienced front seven. Blitzing, twisting and wreaking havoc, the Patriots have blown out three consecutive opponents, destroying offensive game plans along the way.

"We realized we were having third-down problems, so we figured the best way to help that was to win on first down," said inside linebacker Tedy Bruschi. "Let up 7 or 8 on first down and they're going to be needing 1 or 2 yards on third down. How do we fix third down? Let's fix first down. The front seven's made more of an effort to stop the run and then when we get in those third-and-long situations, our rushers can rush and we can bring some more of our pressure package."

There have been other factors entering into the Patriots' success. The return of key personnel on their defense. The quality of their opposition. Better communication throughout the defense. But perhaps the most concrete evidence from inside the game (other than the scoreboard) that the Patriots are better now than they were for the first 11 weeks can be seen in the first-down defensive numbers.

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Here's how the Patriots fared defensively on first downs in each of their 14 games and what the opposition achieved rushing and passing:

GAME 1

PATRIOTS 30, OAKLAND 20

29 plays, 234 yards (8.1 average)

13 runs for 43 yards

16 passes for 191 yards

NOTE: The final nine first-down plays by Oakland were passes. Oakland had first-down plays of 29, 28 and 73 yards in the first half.

GAME 2

CAROLINA 27, PATRIOTS 17

22 plays, 59 yards (2.7 average)

15 runs for 46 yards

7 passes for 13 yards

NOTE: Carolina's final 11 first-down plays were runs. The Panthers completed one first-down pass all day.

GAME 3

PATRIOTS 23, PITTSBURGH 20

22 plays, 144 yards (6.5 average)

12 runs for 40 yards

10 passes for 104 yards

NOTE: The Steelers had a first-down touchdown pass of 85 yards. Twelve of their first 16 first-down plays were runs.

GAME 4

SAN DIEGO 41, PATRIOTS 17

30 plays, 210 yards (7.0 average)

23 runs for 103 yards

7 passes for 107 yards

NOTE: The Chargers, leading handily, ran on their final 12 first downs.

GAME 5

PATRIOTS 31, FALCONS 28

26 plays for 142 yards (5.5 average)

12 runs for 45 yards

14 passes for 97 yards

NOTE: Matt Schaub threw six first-down incompletions for Atlanta.

GAME 6

DENVER 28, PATRIOTS 20

25 plays for 205 yards (8.2 average)

16 runs for 65 yards

9 passes for 140 yards

NOTE: After running on six of their first seven first-down plays, the Broncos had consecutive first-down pass plays of 19 and 55 yards.

GAME 7

PATRIOTS 21, BUFFALO 16

32 plays for 220 yards (6.9 average)

20 runs for 97 yards

12 passes for 113 yards

NOTE: On their first eight first-down passes, the Bills managed 37 yards. Then the Pats' defense softened, allowing 76 yards on the next four attempts.

GAME 8

INDIANAPOLIS 40, PATRIOTS 21

32 plays for 192 yards (6 average)

18 runs for 65 yards

14 passes for 127 yards

NOTE: After running with minor success on their first eight first-down plays, the Colts threw it on seven straight first downs and gained 60 yards. That loosened up the Pats' run defense some.

GAME 9

PATRIOTS 23, MIAMI 16

32 plays for 234 yards (7.3 average)

16 runs for 49 yards

16 passes for 185 yards

NOTE: While moving downfield for a would-be tying score, Miami completed three first-down passes for 80 yards late in the game. The Dolphins had nine completions of 10 or more yards.

GAME 10

PATRIOTS 24, NEW ORLEANS 17

29 plays for 190 yards (6.6 average)

11 runs for 38 yards

18 passes for 152 yards

NOTE: New Orleans, playing catch-up, threw on its final 12 first-down plays and gained 118 yards against a pass defense that once again broke down late.

GAME 11

KANSAS CITY 26, PATRIOTS 16

29 plays for 262 yards (9.0 average)

16 runs for 67 yards

14 passes for 195 yards

NOTE: This was the nadir of first-down defense. The Pats allowed 66 yards on the first three first-down passes by KC. Trent Green went 10-for-12 for 190 yards on his first 12 first-down throws.

GAME 12

PATRIOTS 16, JETS 3

20 plays for 51 yards (2.6 average)

8 runs for 11 yards

12 passes for 40 yards

NOTE: The Jets had eight first-down plays go for 0 yards. The Jets tried to get it going on the ground by running on their first five first downs but gained only 3 yards. Were it not for a 17-yard garbage time completion, the numbers would be worse.

GAME 13

PATRIOTS 35, BUFFALO 7

17 plays for 85 yards (5 average)

5 runs for 1 yards

12 passes for 84 yards

NOTE: A 58-yard bomb to Lee Evans on a first-quarter first-down play skewed the numbers. Buffalo got 3 or fewer yards on 13 first downs.

GAME 14

PATRIOTS 28, TAMPA BAY 0

22 plays for 47 yards (2.1 average)

12 runs for 27 yards

10 passes for 20 yards

NOTE: Tampa ran on 10 of its first 12 first-down plays but gained more than 3 yards just once -- a 4-yard gain before the half. The Bucs only had one first-down play of more than 9 yards on first down.

(Sacks were counted as passes. Kneel-downs and clock-killing plays were excluded).