Bill Belichick Doesn't Sound Too Concerned About Right Tackle Situation
By Michael Hurley, CBS Boston
BOSTON (CBS) -- Through two games, the view from the outside on the Patriots is that they've had a bear of a time getting decent play at the right tackle position.
From the inside, though, there doesn't appear to be much concern.
Late in Bill Belichick's Monday morning video conference with reporters, the head coach was asked about the play at right tackle, where Justin Herron and Yasir Durant have seemingly struggled in place of Trent Brown. Belichick was also asked if he'd consider sliding Mike Onwenu from left guard to right tackle, where he excelled last season as a rookie.
Without saying anything specifically, Belichick seemed to indicate that the team feels that Brown will be able to return sooner than later, and the fill-ins have been doing fine.
"We still need to spend a little more time here going through the film and talking about things, but I think we're all right here," Belichick answered. "We've got three players that have played it, and I think they've all done some good things -- Trent, not very much in the last two games, but we know Trent can do a good job over there. And Yasir and Justin have both done a solid job there."
While Durant allowed three sacks in the first half on Sunday, Herron was likewise beaten numerous times in Week 1 and also took a holding penalty. Herron replaced Durant against the Jets, and his play did improve as the game went on.
Herron has a PFF grade of 42.3 (out of 100) thus far this season, while Durant has a 60.7 grade.
While the sacks stand out, Belichick said that the consistency issues are a team-wide issue, not just a problem at right tackle.
"We've had some breakdowns at really all spots on the line, all spots offensively. It's just we've lacked some consistency," Belichick said. "Even though we have a lot of good plays and we've moved the ball and we've put ourselves into positive field position a lot of times this year, we just don't have enough results points-wise than what we feel like we should have. So I think that's really a whole team thing, not any one one individual, one guy."
Brown returned to practice on Friday, after missing practice on Wednesday and Thursday, following his calf strain suffered in the first offensive series of the season. For now, it sounds like Belichick is OK with what the Patriots have at the position.
"So we planned to play Justin and Yasir both yesterday, and we did. They both got some good experience and they both had a lot a lot of good plays," Belichick said. "So, we'll see where we are this week and go from there."