The New England Patriots faced a challenging loss last Sunday against the Commanders, and it was particularly notable that two regular cornerbacks, J.C. Jackson and Jack Jones were absent from the field during the first two defensive series.
Head coach Bill Belichick was very tight-lipped about their absence and didn’t provide much information about why they didn’t play.
In their place, Shaun Wade got the opportunity to start, despite not having played on defense in the previous two weeks.
However, Wade’s playing time was minimal once Jackson and Jones entered the game. Belichick simply stated that “they all played,” without elaborating further.
However, a report indicated that performance reasons might have influenced the decision to start Wade. On Tuesday, Patriots cornerbacks coach Mike Pellegrino shed some light on the situation.
“I feel like the narrative’s a little messed up. Like, what did Shaun do to really earn that? Everyone’s trying to make it about those two,” Pellegrino said, via Nick O’Malley of MassLive.com. “I think the narrative should be more pushed towards, ‘What did Shaun do right to earn that opportunity?’ Because Sean has done a lot of great things here for us in this past year and is a different player than what he has been in the past.”
Patriots CB coach says "narrative's a little messed up" on J.C. Jackson, Jack Jones. https://t.co/wl5Dx2ypxM
— ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) November 8, 2023
He tried to shift the focus to why Wade played, rather than explaining why the other players were benched at the start of the game.
Unfortunately, Pellegrino failed to address why Wade only played during the early snaps but didn’t see much action for the rest of the game, which ultimately ended in a 20-17 loss for the Patriots.
Moreover, there has been no information released regarding how the Patriots plan to handle their cornerback playing time in their upcoming game against the Colts in Germany.
It looks like we’ll have to wait until Sunday morning to find out how the playing time will be distributed among the cornerbacks.
