For the first time this season, the New England Patriots started a new left side of the offensive line in Week 13 on account of injuries to rookie starters Will Campbell and Jared Wilson. Fortunately for the Patriots, the offense dominated and should only be credited with two of the three sacks on quarterback Drake Maye against the New York Giants.
The Patriots reset their offensive line using Vederian Lowe at left tackle and Ben Brown next to him at left guard. This was the first time this season that New England didn’t have a rookie on the line in a game. For all intents and purposes, the left side only allowed one sack, when Abdul Carter worked off his block from Lowe and got to Maye for the first time in the second quarter.
It’s worth pointing out that the other two sacks that happened were not at the fault of the left side of the offensive line. One came through the gap between Morgan Moses and Mike Onwenu, while the other was more so Maye scrambling out of the pocket on his own direction. Maye taking three sacks in Week 13 is the most he’s had since Week 10 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, which is another team that has a solid defensive front.
In other words, there was a lot to celebrate, especially for head coach Mike Vrabel.
Mike Vrabel Sung Ben Brown, Vederian Lowe's Praises on Tuesday
On Tuesday, Vrabel couldn't hide how proud he was after the backup duo's performance during the team's press conference.
“Good. I thought that they were excited about playing," Vrabel said. "And I think that is probably the thing that pleases me the most, is that they wanted it- Vederian (Lowe) wanted to go out there and play and compete and block. And Ben (Brown) fought and battled, and I know he had a holding call, but I’ve seen worse, and there was worse yesterday. They were excited about playing, and they were prepared, and they were ready to go.”
As great as things went for the O-line, the Patriots’ run game, however, wasn't perfect on Monday. The running back tandem of TreVeyon Henderson (67) and Rhamondre Stevenson (40) totaled 107 yards on 23 carries against a Giants defense that leads the NFL with 154.2 rushing yards allowed per game.
This is something that New England has struggled with all season, and going up against a susceptible defense, it was expected that the Patriots would be successful running the ball, but they didn’t even hit their middle-of-the-pack season average of 112.9 yards per game (20th in NFL). Hopefully, Vrabel's praise for Brown and Lowe encourages the entire unit to step up moving forward.
In Week 13, the Patriots did use an unbalanced line many times against the Giants to establish the run, but that didn’t work out as expected. In doing so, offensive tackle Thayer Munford played six snaps as an eligible receiver, and the offense only totaled 16 yards. He was on the line for Maye’s touchdown pass to Kayshon Boutte at the end of the first quarter.
With the Patriots on their well-earned bye week this week, it gives them more opportunity to reflect on what they can do to enhance the run game and the offense overall to better their chances for the rest of the season and the playoffs.