Loss of Bennett painful
But TE group better for short-term return
FOXBORO — Martellus Bennett was placed on season-ending injured reserve Monday with a hamstring tear. The tight end had six receptions for 53 yards in the two games he played with the Patriots after being reacquired via waivers from the Green Bay Packers. But while he wasn’t around very long, Bennett did provide a boost for the tight end group as a whole, as both Rob Gronkowski and Dwayne Allen benefited from his presence.
Allen hadn’t caught a pass until Bennett arrived on the scene. So Bennett seemed to bring out the best in him. In the past three games, Allen has four receptions for 37 yards and a touchdown.
Gronkowski, meanwhile, appreciated Bennett taking some of the pressure off him in the red zone. The two-touchdown game by Gronkowski in Sunday’s win against the Miami Dolphins was just the latest example of him playing his best football of the season.
Asked yesterday what he loses with the tight end on IR, offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels talked about Bennett being fun and productive in a short period.
“You hate for that to happen with any guy, and certainly we were excited to have Marty back and looking forward to trying to build as we went through the year,” McDaniels said. “You know, he was here for those couple weeks and worked hard to get himself caught back up in the offensive system and was fun to be around and gave us some production in the time that he was in the game. We only had him for a short time, so it’s not like we’ve had him for four months.
“So, we’re going to keep rolling along like we normally do. We’ve got a group of guys that are available to us each week, and whatever group that is, we’ve got to do the best we can to put those guys in great position to have success and give them each a role that they can function in and play well.”
The Patriots, who were carrying four tight ends after signing Bennett off waivers, have Gronkowski, Allen and Jacob Hollister on the roster.
Screen shot blurry
While there’s a lot to like about the Patriots offense, the screen game isn’t one of those things. Coach Bill Belichick in fact called that phase of the passing game “disappointing” during a conference call.
“We’re not getting enough out of it,” Belichick said. “We’ve run a lot of different types of screens — receivers, backs, tight ends, quick screens, slower screens. We’re just not doing a good job. I’ve got to do a better job of coaching them, and we’ve got to do a better job of executing them. It’s as simple as that.”
The coach was asked if screen passes still could be a positive by forcing the defense to slow down, despite not gaining yards.
“Based on what we’re gaining on them, (opponents) should be happy every time we run one,” Belichick said.
Once again, that’s a notso-subtle jab at the offense’s execution. McDaniels didn’t argue the point.
“Obviously, we’d like to improve our production in that area of our offense,” McDaniels said. “We’ve always taken a lot of pride in executing screens well and doing it properly and trying to gain some chunk yardage in those plays. As of late, we haven’t done as well as we would like, and we’re certainly going to work hard to try to improve that.”
Ebner leaves hole
Along with losing Bennett, the Patriots also lost core special teamer Nate Ebner for the season. Ebner tore his ACL on a successful fake punt he executed against the Dolphins.
“Nate’s been an absolute stalwart on special teams for us for a long time,” fullback and special teamer James Develin said. “But we’ll have guys to fill in, and we’re all going to have to pick up our game collectively and make up for that. It’s a shame to see him go down, but that’s the game of football, and so we’ll make the adjustments we need to and move on.” . . .
Receiver Chris Hogan walked through the locker room without his arm in a sling for the first time since injuring his right shoulder against the Chargers in Week 8 . . . .
The Patriots made moves to fill open rosters spots.
Linebacker Nicholas Grigsby was signed to the 53-man roster from the Baltimore Ravens practice squad. Offensive lineman Jason King also was brought back into the fold.
Grigsby was with the Los Angeles Rams in training camp but was released before the start of the regular season. He joined the Ravens practice squad Sept. 19.
King was signed in May by the Pats as a rookie free agent out of Purdue. He went through training camp with the team but was released before the start of the regular season, then was on the practice squad briefly before he was let go. He also was on the Ravens practice squad but was released Oct. 31.
Cloutier mourned
The Patriots were saddened to learn of the passing of Dave Cloutier, the first Maine native to play on the team. He died in Palm Coast, Fla., at 78.
Cloutier signed as a free agent with the Boston Patriots in 1964 and appeared in 12 of the team’s 14 games that season as a defensive back and punt returner. He starred at the University of Maine as a running back from 1959-61.