Sunday’s win over the Buffalo Bills featured a major change in the New England Patriots’ starting lineup on offense with Mike Onwenu bumping out to right tackle.
It sparked the best offensive game of the season, especially from that line. Moving Onwenu from right guard to right tackle addressed one of the Patriots’ biggest weaknesses this season and triggered a noticeable improvement in run blocking and pass protection.
It’s a move that fans and media have asked about for years – and it worked. So, are the Patriots sticking to it?
“We’ll see,” said offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien when asked if Onwenu would stay at right tackle. “We’ll have to see how it goes. We’ll see where we are. It’s Tuesday. We practice tomorrow, so we’ll see where everybody is relative to health and all those different things as we move forward.”
It was the phrase offensive line coach Adrian Klemm used when asked if that was the plan moving forward.
“We’ll see how that goes,” Klemm said. “It’s all dependent on what availability is for everyone across the board, so with Cole (Strange) coming back and some other things happening in our group, it afforded us an opportunity to put him out there. If it gives us an advantage, which it definitely did the last game, we’ll continue to do that. So there are a lot of different factors that factor into that and we’ll continue moving forward with whatever’s best for the team.”
It was even the line Coach Bill Belichick used right after Sunday’s game.
“Yeah, we’ll see. I’ll talk to Mike about it. I don’t know. Yeah, I don’t know. We’ll see how it goes,” Belichick said.
The Patriots are historically reluctant to tip their hand with any lineup decisions. However, it’s hard to argue with the results of Sunday’s performance. With Onwenu lining up at right tackle – something he did as a rookie in 2020 – the unit had its best performance of the season.
Belichick noted that the move started with a conversation he had with Onwenu following the Week 6 loss to the Las Vegas Raiders. On Tuesday, Klemm said that the coaching staff had considered the move for some time – and finally decided to go through with it against Buffalo.
“It’s been something that, even before he came back, that just because of the depth, the number of injuries that we had, it was kind of in the back of our heads, that we knew that it might be a chance that that could occur,” Klemm said. “It was just a matter of when he started being more comfortable.”
Klemm emphasized the fact that Onwenu has been working his way back into the lineup slowly after undergoing ankle surgery this offseason. So far, Onwenu has been willing to put in the work to play both positions and continue to develop.
But as Klemm noted, that could be at guard or tackle. The big thing for the coach is getting the team’s fourth-year lineman back to his previous condition.
Ultimately, the decision to put Onwenu on the field came down to the coaching staff wanting to put their five best offensive linemen on the field.
“This week, we felt like that was the best five this past week and Mike played that as a rookie. He’s played tackle. He’s played guard. He’s one of those rare guys that can do those things and he did a nice job for us and we’ll see how it goes this week,” O’Brien said. “But Mike was a guy that was definitely willing and able to do that.”
CUNNINGHAM, FLOWERS OUT: The Patriots waived quarterback/wide receiver Malik Cunningham and released defensive lineman Trey Flowers on Tuesday.
The team now has an open spot on its 53-man roster. The Pats signed Cunningham to their active roster ahead of their Week 6 loss at Las Vegas, where he was the only available backup to Mac Jones. He was a healthy scratch for Sunday’s win over the Bills. If he goes unclaimed on waivers, the undrafted rookie could re-sign to the team’s practice squad, where he started the season, as soon as Wednesday.
The Pats released Flowers, 30, near the end of his 21-day window to be activated from the PUP list. Had the Patriots declined to activate him this week, Flowers would have been out for the season.
THE SEASON is officially over for Marcus Jones. The second-year defensive back, kick returner and occasional receiver went on injured reserve on Sept. 22 with a torn labrum, an injury suffered in Week 2 against Miami.
It was confirmed Tuesday when receivers/returners coach Troy Brown said Jones was out for the year. Brown made the comment off-handedly when he was asked about Pop Douglas’ progress as a punt returner, a role he took over from Jones, who was expected to fill it before he was injured.
“With Marcus being out for the year now with whatever his situation is, hopefully (Douglas) can go back there and have some confidence,” Brown said.
Jones was second in the NFL in punt return average and total return yards as a rookie with 12.5 per punt for 1,007 total, numbers that earned him All-Pro status. He had two interceptions to go with 35 tackles.
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