The New England Patriots defense was underwhelming for the 2017 season. Specifically, it was the run defense that was lacking more often than not.
The Patriots gave up 4.7 yards per carry, which was tied for the second-worst mark in the league with the Los Angeles Rams. The 114.8 yards per game they allowed ranked them 20th in the NFL as well.
Winning as many games as they did certainly help New England keep the yardage number now. They faced only 390 rushing attempts all season, the fifth fewest in the NFL. Had teams not needed to abandon the run early in games, the yards per game numbers would have been much worse.