The depth at the Patriots’ cornerback position was already paper thin before rookie standout Christian Gonzalez went down with a shoulder injury in the first quarter of Sunday evening’s blowout loss in Dallas.
With Jack Jones and Marcus Jones still on IR and Jonathan Jones missing his third straight game, New England has been piecing things together in the back end, buoyed by the first-round pick Gonzalez’ impressive early play.
With Gonzalez lost after just 18 snaps against the Cowboys, it pushed Myles Bryant (70 snaps, 100 percent), Shaun Wade (62 snaps, 89 percent) and Jalen Mills (26 snaps, 37 percent) into larger or different roles than might have otherwise been the case.
It was a season-high in playing time for Bryant, a career-high for Wade and a season-high for the versatile veteran Mills, who may be pushed more into a cornerback role again with Gonzalez potentially missing some time. All three were relatively active, including Bryant finishing second on the team with 10 tackles and two forced fumbles. Wade had six solo tackles.
Mills notched five tackles.
The good news is that there is a chance that New England could get one or both of Jack Jones or Jonathan Jones back this week. Jack Jones is eligible to come off IR and indicated on social media this past weekend that he’d be back “ASAP.” Jonathan Jones practiced on a limited basis all last week before being rule out prior to the trip to Dallas due to his ankle injury.
Beyond the altered roles and reps in the back end, here are some other notes from the Patriots’ snap counts against the Cowboys.
--New England's offense was on the field for a season-low 55 snaps against Dallas. With Mac Jones getting benched in the third quarter (40 snaps, 73 percent), the only Patriots to play all of the snaps was an offensive line made up of Trent Brown, Atonio Mafi, David Andrews, Mike Onwenu and Vederian Lowe. Andrews is now the only offensive player to play every snap through the first four games of the season.
--The highest offensive snap total from a non-lineman was DeVante Parker with 45 snaps (82 percent). Parker had the second-most targets in the passing game with four, finishing with two catches for 33 yards.
--Despite an NFLN report that Ezekiel Elliott would get expanded reps in his return to Dallas, his role didn’t really change much. The veteran played 22 reps (40 percent), finishing with just 16 yards on his six rushing attempts for the struggling rush offense. Elliott has now played between 35 and 40 percent of snaps in three of four games this season.
--Meanwhile Rhamondre Stevenson got his usual starter snaps (35, 64 percent), although that led to just 30 yards on his 14 attempts.
--Tight end Hunter Henry played in 79 percent of the offensive snaps or more for the fourth straight game to open the season. Henry played 44 snaps (80 percent), and was New England’s most efficient offensive player. He had four catches on five targets for 51 yards, all team highs and the only Patriot to record more than two catches on the game.
--Wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster saw by far his lowest playing time of the season against Dallas with a season-low 26 snaps (47.3 percent). The big offseason free agent signing had just one catch for 14 yards on his five targets.
--The Patriots were on the field for a season-high 70 defensive snaps against the Cowboys, with Bryant and safety Jabrill Peppers the only defenders to play every play. Seventeen players were on the field for at least 26 of the snaps.
--Kyle Dugger missed his first seven defensive snaps of the season, playing 63 plays (90 percent). Dugger led the defensive effort by a long way, his 15 tackles five more than any other player, including 12 solos.
--Leaving the game with a reported biceps injury in the second half, Matthew Judon played a season-low 41 snaps (59 percent). Judon tied for a team-high with two QB hits, but went without a sack for the first time this season.
--Jahlani Tavai had a pretty active game, tying his season high with 46 snaps (66 percent). Tavai finished with six tackles, including two for a loss and his first sack of the season as well as a pass defensed.
--Rookie defender Marte Mapu played a career-high 35 snaps (50 percent), finishing with two tackles to show for the effort.
--Adrian Phillips’ role on defense continues to be quite limited, logging just 16 snaps (23 percent) in Dallas, the fourth straight game to open the season he’s been 25 percent play time or less. But, the veteran has become a core special teams contributor logging a game-high 24 snaps in the kicking game.
--The other core New England special teamers in Dallas to log 24 snaps were Matthew Slater, Brenden Schooler and Chris Board.
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