Though the reason might have been more due to illness than anything, Trent Brown, one of the better left tackles in all of football, didn’t start at that position for the most important game of the season.
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After the game, all Bill Belichick would say of the matter was that it was a “coaching decision” not to start Brown, which might have been more understandable if they just made a point to platoon Brown and Wynn rather than ostensibly sit Brown altogether. He was active and healthy enough to play, and the coaching staff decided playing Wynn was the better decision, though.
Of course, Brown’s sojourn on the bench didn’t last long as Isaiah Wynn, who started at left tackle for the first time this season, left the game with a foot injury and might miss significant time, according to Jeff Howe of The Athletic. His time on the field wasn’t great, though, as he surrendered two sacks and got overpowered a few times, clearly not looking like himself.
Asked about when he and the coaching made the decision not to start Brown on WEEI’s “Greg Hill Show” Monday morning, Belichick had a simple response: “It doesn’t really matter.”
Aside from simply being a terse response to a question he didn’t really want to answer, there’s also an unfortunate truth to it. No, it really doesn’t matter anymore, does it?
Wynn got hurt, forcing Brown back into the lineup anyway. Unless Brown stays sick or either he or Yodny Cajuste plays terribly, Wynn probably doesn’t see the field again for New England.
Meanwhile, David Andrews might have just suffered a season-ending injury to his thigh just after returning to the team following a two-game absence. James Ferentz is in for him for the foreseeable future, and he’s been struggling to hold his own at center.
Cole Strange’s play has suffered next to Ferentz and didn’t look quite right with Andrews in the game, either, and Wynn being out combined with Ferentz being forced into the line now means Strange’s two primary replacements are now unavailable. Undrafted rookie Kody Russey looks like he’d be the next man up if another injury or bout of ineffectiveness hits the offensive interior.
Then, what happens if one of the tackles gets hurt? Do you finally kick Mike Onwenu out to right tackle and then compromise the interior further?
Long story short, the Patriots’ offensive line situation is now a hellified mess, and they’re likely to be severely limited offensively as they go into their most important stretch of the season. The defense has played very good football to this point — they’re arguably the defense in the league — but this team can’t consistently survive with an offense that can’t score touchdowns. That problem isn’t going to get rectified with this offensive line looking more patchwork by the day.
Sure, it’d be nice if Belichick could be honest with us every once in a while, and it’s annoying to never have accountability for all of these clandestine, enigmatic decisions. But if we’re being real, he’s right: something as trivial as when he and the staff decided to cook up this plan to bench Brown doesn’t matter anymore.
From here on out, he has to play, and the rest of this walking-wounded line has to do what it can to maybe have a functional offense. It’s academic at this point.
