Getty Yasir Durant
The New England Patriots are 1-1 and their rookie quarterback Mac Jones hasn’t thrown an interception through the first 2 games of his NFL career.
The Patriots’ defense has been strong as they harassed New York Jets rookie quarterback Zach Wilson into 4 interceptions. That’s the good news. The bad news, or at the worst of all when it comes to the Patriots’ outlook and performance through 2 games is the play of its offensive tackles. Jones has been hit too much and the right side has been especially unreliable when it comes to pass protection.
Pat Lane of Pat’s Pulpit called out the Patriots’ O-Line and more specifically, the play of right tackle Yasir Durant. The team just traded for Durant who had signed with the Kansas City Chiefs in 2020 after going undrafted last season.
Patriots Analyst Says Yasir Durant Has Looked Terrible
If you’re looking for a straight, no-chaser take on the Patriots, take note of Lane’s columns. He doesn’t hold back in his critique of Durant and others who have struggled on the Patriots’ offensive line.
Lane wrote:
We knew that Trent Brown was going to be out for this game, and so there was a chance they’d struggle blocking at RT. The problem is that it wasn’t only the right tackle spot that had trouble blocking. Yes, Yasir Durant looked terrible for most of the game, and Justin Herron didn’t look significantly better, but it was Isaiah Wynn’s struggles that concerned me more. He’s the starting left tackle, and needs to be better than he was yesterday or the Patriots are going to be in trouble. The alarming thing is that I really thought this line was going to be one of the best offensive lines in football, and they have looked terrible as a unit for two straight games. I know that defenses are going to come after Mac since he’s a rookie, but they need to be better at slowing down defenders and creating more holes for the running backs. Here’s hoping they can turn it around soon.
It doesn’t get much clearer when it comes to pointing the blame.
What Does Belichick Think About the RT Play?
Patriots head coach Bill Belichick doesn’t seem panicked about the play of his right tackles–or at least he’s not allowing his concerns to be aired publicly. When asked for his take on the tackle play at a presser the day after the Patriots’ 25-6 win over the Jets, Belichick said:
We still need to spend a little more time here going through the film and talk about things, but I think we’re alright here. Got three players that have played it, and I think they’ve all done some good things. Trent [Brown], I mean not very much in the last two games, but you know, we know Trent can do a good job over there, and Yasir [Durant] and Justin [Herron] have both done a solid job there. We’ve had some breakdowns at really all spots on the line, all spots offensively. It’s just we’ve lacked some consistency. 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 that what we feel like we should have, but I think that’s really a whole team thing. Not any one individual, one guy. We planned to play Justin and Yasir both yesterday, and we did, and they both got some good experience, and they both had a lot of good plays, so we’ll see where we are this week and go from there.
Belichick isn’t likely to throw his guys under the bus, but this quote shouldn’t be taken the wrong way. We’ve seen in the past, Belichick will make a change at any position if he believes the next man up gives his team the best chance to win.