The New England Patriots pass rush gave its best performance of the season in Sunday's Week 10 game against the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field.
This group sacked Bears rookie quarterback Caleb Williams nine times (two shy of a team record) and tallied 13 QB hits in a 19-3 win.
The Patriots front seven will have even more depth going forward after the team claimed defensive end Yannick Ngakoue off waivers from the Baltimore Ravens on Friday. Ngakoue didn't play in the victory over the Bears, which wasn't surprising since he had joined the team less than 48 hours before.
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What does Ngakoue bring to the Patriots?
"We’re excited to get Yannick here. I've watched him on tape for a very long time," Patriots head coach Jerod Mayo told reporters Monday. "He's been a very productive player in this league. He has not met with the team yet. In saying that, he'll get with the coaches here soon.
"I'm excited to really teach him the playbook and excited to see what he will bring to this team. Look, he's not just a pass rusher. This guy has the skill set to be able to play on all three downs, which is always exciting. Kudos to the scouting department and all those guys for always trying to improve our roster, and we'll see this as a way of improving us now and going forward."
Ngakoue tallied five tackles with 1.5 sacks in five games with the Ravens this season. He has totaled 70.5 sacks since making his NFL debut in 2016 with the Jacksonville Jaguars -- one of seven teams he's played for (including the Patriots).
The Patriots had just 16 sacks in nine games entering Week 10, which ranked 29th in the league. That number saw a huge increase after Sunday's nine-sack performance, and with the addition of Ngakoue, the Patriots have more depth and pass rushing talent to utilize on defense.
Generating an effective and consistent pass rush will be very important in Week 11 when the Patriots host the Los Angeles Rams and their talented offense led by star quarterback Matthew Stafford.
