Losing both of Matthew Judon or Christian Gonzalez to damage would have been a large blow, however to lose each directly may probably be catastrophic.
How will the Patriots transfer ahead after shedding two of their finest defensive gamers to critical accidents? Linebackers coach Jerod Mayo mentioned Tuesday that others should step up of their absence.
“Judon’s been great for us in the locker room, in the meeting room and on the field, but we have other players,” Mayo mentioned. “It’s not going to be only one man, it’s going to be a number of guys attempting to fill that position. We’ll see what occurs, we’ll see if he comes again however within the meantime we really feel fairly assured concerning the guys on the roster.
“We have great players, we always talk about how the rush and the coverage have to marry up, so look, we have guys who can play in those roles,” Mayo continued when requested about Gonzalez particularly. “Obviously it hurts to lose a guy like Gonzo, but at the same time we’re going through that whole gameplan process right now and we’re pretty confident we have guys that can fill that role.”
One participant particularly Mayo mentioned will play a bigger position is rookie defensive finish Keion White, who has emerged as one of many protection’s most promising younger standouts and who will now be relied upon extra closely within the move rush with Judon out for the foreseeable future.
“He’s going to play more,” Mayo mentioned. “He’s going to play more simply said and we really need him to show up.”
Last week White performed a career-high 27 snaps, good for 39% of the full defensive snaps, and previous to that he’d been hovering round 30% by means of his first three video games. White, Josh Uche and Anfernee Jennings will all seemingly see their snap totals rise with Judon out, and Mayo mentioned White particularly boasts a singular skillset that’s allowed him to succeed early on.
“Every week we try to put more on his plate, he doesn’t really fit any mold, like the (Deatrich) Wise category or the Judon category, he can kind of do both to a certain extent,” Mayo mentioned. “He’s doing well and he’s growing each and every week in the classroom and on the field.”
As for the secondary, getting both Jonathan Jones or Jack Jones again from damage would make an enormous distinction, however Mayo declined to offer an replace on whether or not both may return on Sunday.
