It’s like a bat signal to the rest of the league.
The root of the Patriots’ defensive meltdowns have been obvious and reinforced in the fallout of each of their four games this season. Future opponents — starting in two nights with the Buccaneers, and then the Jets and Falcons and everyone else — would be idiotic not to test the fundamental breakdowns in coverage that have repeated on a weekly basis.
Defensive backfield captains Devin McCourty and Duron Harmon were truthful Sunday after the 33-30 loss to the Panthers when they each acknowledged the defense can’t be any simpler.