How do the Patriots defend the deep ball? Can Flacco have deep ball success against them?

[bt12483]

I think the Pats are good enough at stopping the run with their front 7 that they'll seldom need to sneak safeties into the box, or atleast not enough to make it that big of a weakness against the deep ball.

Is that why Rice averaged 5 yards per carry in the first game?

And that was before we unleashed Pierce and our revamped OL.