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New England Patriots defensive end Jabaal Sheard was a big story for all the wrong reasons three weeks ago when he was a healthy scratch and left behind to be seen at a Boston Celtics game while the rest of the Patriots traveled to San Francisco to take on the 49ers. It was a dramatic drop down the depth chart for a guy who had started the first eight games of the season.
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Though the free-agent-to-be has yet to return to the starting lineup, Sheard was a key playmaker in Sunday's win over the Los Angeles Rams. The veteran finished with four tackles, a QB hit and three passes defensed. His quarterback hit resulted in an errant Jared Goff throw that was intercepted by teammate and linebacker Kyle Van Noy.
Sheard especially impressed Patriots coach Bill Belichick with his coverage drops on a handful of occasions and getting his hands on the rookie's passes.
"We know he can rush the passer ... the coverage plays were pretty impressive," Belichick said. "It could be a season for a defensive lineman with the number of balls he had his hands on. Very impressive awareness and getting depth to get into the passing lanes, playing the ball. When you drop defensive linemen into coverage you generally don't get a lot of production from them in coverage. They take up some space and usually the quarterback doesn't want to throw the ball into the area where someone is standing. But in terms of making plays on the ball, they don't really make a lot of them. That was good by Jabaal yesterday.
"He rushed well. He played the run well. He's had a couple good weeks here, so it's good to see him string them together."
