FOXBOROUGH, Mass — Some losses hurt more than others, and for the New England Patriots, losing Mike Onwenu for the season may have been one of the toughest blows they could have absorbed.
On Sunday, they felt every bit of it.
The right guard suffered a broken ankle in the Patriots' Week 2 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers, with Greg Van Roten coming in to replace him. And it was the veteran who started once again on Sunday against the Jaguars, but he also went down with an injury. Next up was Walter Rouse, who came in rather than Ben Brown. On Monday, head coach Mike Vrabel addressed the reason for that decision.
"Walt has been working there. We felt confident that was the plan going in, that Ben Brown would be the center and then the first left
guard in. That’s where he had been working, and it’s good to have Ben back healthy," he told reporters. "I’m sure he will help us; he’ll probably have to help us this week. I thought Walter had a few mistakes, but he competed and will have to improve. I’m sure Ben will be a part of that process going forward, and we will see where Greg Van Roten is here after a few more tests."
But on Sunday, the glaring issues on the right side were apparent, and it remains a key weakness that the team has to fix.
One way they can do so is by moving their starting left guard over to the other side to play next to Morgan Moses. The majority of his NFL snaps have come at left guard, which is where he spent most of his time in college, recording 926 snaps there. However, he did take 139 snaps on the right side too.
And when speaking with Patriots Wire, Vera-Tucker was asked about the possibility of the move as well as his comfortability with the potential switch.
"I mean, I feel pretty comfortable. I bounce back from right and left on the line. So, I feel like as long as I have a week of preparation, I'm good," Vera Tucker told Patriots Wire. "Just kind of getting your body adjusted to it because your body hasn't done that. So getting body adjusted and taking care of your body, then just doing what do you."
"I've been a team first guy my whole career," he added. "So if they seem like or if they think that's best for the O-Line and the team, then I'm down for it."
Through three games with the Patriots, Vera Tucker has shown steady improvements. In Week 1, he allowed four pressures, followed by just one against the Steelers. And then, despite the team's struggles in their bad Week 3 loss, Vera Tucker gave up zero pressures.
"I always think there's room for improvement. So, unless we get the dub, I'm never really satisfied," Vera Tucker said when reflecting on his play. "That's just my mentality. So always things to work on. Excited to always work on things. But I feel like I'm getting more comfortable with this offense and playing next to this guy right here," he said, pointing to left tackle Campbell. "So feeling good. We just obviously have a lot of things to work on."
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This article originally appeared on Patriots Wire: Alijah Vera-Tucker could offer Patriots solution to O-Line struggles
