TUCSON, Ariz. — Josh Uche has quarterbacks spooked.
That shouldn’t come as a big surprise considering the Patriots linebacker’s mastery of the ghost move, a devilish pass rush technique in which Uche temporarily becomes an apparition at the line before reappearing in the pocket.
Offensive tackles are left grasping at the disappearing Uche, who sinks low before popping up and punishing the man with the ball.
“A little dip, yeah,” Uche explained shortly after the Patriots wrapped up practice Wednesday at the University of Arizona. “You just have to be able to get low and change to different levels and just be able to just be a football player. You can’t be robotic out there and it’s just fluidity.”
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The ghost move was popularized by pass rusher extraordinaire Von Miller, one of Uche’s idols, who has become a mentor and friend. Uche grew up watching and studying Miller’s moves and continues that every game day.
Miller reached out to Uche through a mutual friend during Uche’s NFL Combine preparations, and they’ve developed a friendship. He’s worked with Miller at the Bills star’s pass rushing summit and at his home in Miami.
“Ever since [the Combine], we kind of just grew the relationship, hung out, went out a little bit, practiced a little bit, and worked on pass rushes most importantly,” said Uche. “And just with him being a mentor, I couldn’t have dreamed this any better. Being able to just hit up Von Miller on the fly and he answers. It’s been great.”
Uche has been anything but robotic the last half-dozen games, in which the third-year player has racked up 10 sacks. That’s the highest total in the NFL since Week 8, 2.5 more than 49ers star Nick Bosa.
Uche is coming off another dominant performance, sacking Arizona’s Colt McCoy three times in Monday night’s win, which earned him AFC Defensive Player of the Week honors.
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Uche, who said his favorite move “is the one where I’m not thinking, I’m just going,” knows it’s important to have multiple moves to keep blockers off guard and off balance.
“It’s just a mixture of everything. You have to have everything in your repertoire, make people respect everything in your repertoire, and from there you could kind of just work off of it,” said Uche. “And also, you just have to have a flow of the game and understand how the game is going and just a bunch of different details, and being locked in on those allows for situations like that.”
While some in the NFL are just starting to notice Uche, he’s been a popular player with his teammates for some time. Matthew Judon, who leads the Patriots with 14.5 sacks, has been championing his protégé for two years.
“I told you all — I’m not our best pass rusher,” Judon said Monday. “Our best pass rusher is emerging.”
Uche and Judon are proving to be quite a combination. They are the only teammates with double digits in sacks, and teams must pick their poison.
“People are going to have to block and if they don’t and if they chip my side, then they worry about me,” Judon said. “Uche would do that every week. I love the way he’s playing, the confidence and poise, and it’s the most he’s been able to play since he’s been in the NFL. It’s taken a toll on him, but he’s going out there and having a lot of fun and success. We all knew it; we all knew what type of player he was.”
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Judon, Miller, and recently New Orleans’s Cam Jordan have jumped on the Uche bandwagon. On his Cam’s Corner podcast, Jordan recently compared Uche and Miller and commented, “Uche got that sauce now.”
Uche smiled when reminded of his contemporaries’ compliments.
“It’s an honor, man. I look up to those guys and to have those guys just recognize me, it means a lot and it’s definitely encouraging,” he said. “It makes me just that much more hungry to try to strive to be at those guys’ level. It’s good, but I just know that’s just the beginning. I have to keep going. I can’t get full — I just have to stay hungry.”
Uche, who struggled with injuries his first two seasons, has been healthy. Bill Belichick said that has really been the key to Uche’s surge in production.
“He’s always put good plays on film and good plays on the practice field, and he’s flashed. This year he’s been able to stay out there on a consistent basis and that’s allowed him to continue to move ahead and build on his repertoire, build his communication and execution with his teammates on pass rush games and communication, drops, coverage adjustments, and things like that, which he’s involved in, to a degree,” the coach said. “Just doing that on a consistent basis, day after day, week after week. That definitely piles up and makes it that split second faster. Whether it’s your reactions, communication, anticipation. I think those have really been the biggest things.”
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Jim McBride can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @globejimmcbride.
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