Develin lost to injury
Source says fullback suffered fractured right tibia
While the rest of the Patriots flew home yesterday, fullback James Develin stayed in Charlotte, N.C., after reportedly suffering a broken right tibia during Friday night’s 1716 win over Carolina.
Develin appeared to get his right foot caught in the turf as the Panthers attempted to bring him down at the end of a 10-yard reception with 8:18 remaining in the game. The Herald’s Jeff Howe confirmed the injury late last night, through a team source.
Patriots coach Bill Belichick yesterday told reporters on a conference call that Develin did not make the return trip home, but he did not offer any further updates on his injury, simply saying, “He didn’t come back with us on the trip. He’s down there in Charlotte, so I don’t have anything at this point.”
According to orthopedic experts, tibia fractures can take from 3-6 months to heal, depending on the injury.
Develin’s loss would leave a major void as fullback has become a key position in the offense, both as a blocker and receiving option. Develin is the lone remaining fullback on the roster after Tuesday’s release of Eric Kettani.
Belichick acknowledged a move might be needed.
“We’ll have to take a look at that,” Belichick said. “I’m not sure right now. It just happened last night. We’ll take a look at what our options are, talk about the situation and figure out what we want to try to do.”
Asked if there were any special precautions he tries to take to avoid injuries in the preseason, Belichick said, “Not really. We just try to do what we feel like is best for each player. Some things during a game that unfortunately happen, you just can’t control.”
‘D’ shows right stuff
The defense made an early statement by stuffing Panthers running back James Stewart twice on third-and-1 and fourth-and-plays on the game’s opening possession. Belichick was quick to credit his players for being strong at the point of attack and having good backside pursuit.
“It looked like on the first one, ( Jabaal) Sheard kind of got across the line of scrimmage and forced the ball to cut back and Chandler Jones, ( Jerod) Mayo and ( Alan) Branch were there on the cutback,” he said. “It looked like they never really got into the hole that they were trying to run to. I think Sheard’s penetration on the end of the line got them at the point of attack. The fullback couldn’t really get through and they got clogged up there so the runner had to cut it back into probably the weaker part of the blocking on the play.”
Of the fourth down stop, Belichick said: “Then, it looked like they basically flipped the play over and they were trying to combo block with the tackle and tight end on ( Rob) Ninkovich and Jamie ( Collins), and Jamie kind of shot the gap inside of Ninkovich. Nobody blocked him so when the runner had to stop and cut back, he lost his momentum.”
Easley looks strong
Another key on defense was second-year lineman Dominique Easley, who shrugged off the injury problems that plagued his college career (two torn ACLs) and last year’s rookie season with the Pats (season-ending knee injury in December). Easley repeatedly wreaked havoc on the Panthers offensive line and had three tackles (two for losses), a sack and two quarterback hits.
“He’s had a real good training camp,” Belichick said of Easley. “He’s taking a lot of reps, he’s improved his technique, his reactions and recognition. He’s an explosive athlete that was very productive in college and being able to get out on the field and take those reps in practice and improve. His health being better has been a key for us.”
Wayne gets feet wet
Reggie Wayne’s Patriots debut wasn’t exciting (21 snaps, no receptions, just one target by Tom Brady), but just having the veteran receiver on the field with his new teammates at game speed was a big step in getting acclimated to the offense.
“It’s always different in a game,” Belichick said. “Speed and timing, communication, not necessarily verbal but the timing and communication with the quarterback and the routes and so forth. Practice is good and that certainly helps but it’s never quite the same as the game. That’s something we can learn from and build on.
“You can go out there and practice all you want but it’s always a little different in a game so it was good to start that process. We’ve obviously got a long way to go but we’ll keep working on it.” . . .
The special teams had something of an up-anddown performance. The coverage unit had flashes of both good and bad while the kickoff return was rendered virtually nonexistent as the Panthers allowed them to return just one kick, a 30-yarder by Dion Lewis. On punt returns, Chris Harper and Robert McClain combined to average 10.3 yards on three chances.
“We had a couple of good coverage plays and then we had a couple that need to be better,” Belichick said. “We kicked the ball pretty well, not perfect. The return game had some moments where we had decent blocking, in some cases pretty good blocking. We didn’t obviously always get everybody but we got enough to get going.
“As far as blocking the point, the gunner, the penetrators on the punt and on the kickoff coverage, we didn’t get many chances on kickoff returns. There’s some things there to work with, some things we definitely need to improve on but it was competitive and Carolina is good in the kicking game. They don’t give you a lot of kickoff return opportunities. They’re a big, physical, special teams unit so that was good for us.”