Through the first six weeks of the year, the New England Patriots' pass defense was hemorrhaging yardage. Each of the first six teams to face them threw for at least 292 passing yards, including three games of at least 330 yards. The last game in that stretch was against Josh McCown and the New York Jets. That's not a championship-caliber unit.
Since then, though, it has been a completely different story on the back end. Over what is now a 12-game sample, the Patriots have allowed an average of 212.2 passing yards per game, maxing out at just 273.