Back in early August, when training camp was beginning to turn into a bit of a grind for rookie Will Campbell, Morgan Moses provided some much-needed context. With Campbell’s debut as the New England Patriots’ starting left tackle now in the books, the veteran is back at it.
Meeting reporters at his Gillette Stadium locker on Monday, Moses spoke about his young teammate’s outing and the second-half struggles that plagued him during the Patriots’ 20-13 loss to the Las Vegas Raiders the previous day.
For the 34-year-old, who has started 163 more games in his career than Campbell, there is no reason to worry.
“It happens. Whether you’re in Year 1, Year 12, you’re going through phases in the game,” Moses said. “They get paid just like we do, and it’s for you to be the professional that you are and hone back on the techniques and things like that. But I told him, I said, ‘Look, my first start was against Aldon Smith.’ So, it happens. But you learn from that.
“And I think Game 1 is always the hardest because when you look at the film, people are playing vanilla looks, not giving you too much information. So, you get out there on Sundays and see some things that you probably didn’t see on tape, and you have to go out there and block them.”
Campbell and fellow rookie Jared Wilson manned the left side of New England’s offensive line against the Raiders. They “didn’t look like they were overwhelmed with a 21- and a 22-year-old on the left side of the line,” head coach Mike Vrabel said about the pair on Monday. Still, both had their fair share of ups and downs during the contest as well as moments they would likely want back.
In Campbell’s case, those included a pair of false start penalties as well as four quarterback pressures surrendered. One of those was a fourth quarter strip sack that he himself managed to recover to at least limit the damage.
“I just had to block, nobody else other than me,” Campbell said about that particular player after the game. “Got to get better, we’ll watch the tape and learn from it and fix it.”
With the first test now out of the way, Moses is confident that both Campbell and Wilson will be able to do just that.
“I think overall both of those young guys on the other side, they took a step forward,” he said on Monday. “Obviously, you know they’re getting challenged every week being a young side, but mentally and physically they are prepared to do that.”
