FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- Special teams can often be overlooked until a breakdown produces a loss. The New England Patriots' special teams units had two major breakdowns in Sunday's 35-28 loss to the Eagles, and thus it's timely to highlight this area and some of the personnel involved.
Specifically, the blocked punt at the end of the second quarter.
Rookie Geneo Grissom was the left guard on the play, aligned next to snapper Joe Cardona. Fourth-year linebacker Darius Fleming was the left tackle, aligned next to Grissom.
On the play, Eagles special teams standout Chris Maragos shot through the gap between Grissom (who blocked inside) and Fleming (who blocked outside). Either Grissom or Fleming appears to be responsible for the breakdown (the sense is that it's Grissom), which had me going back to my special teams notes to highlight the left guard/left tackle combinations the Patriots have had on the punt protection unit this season.
Week 1: Geneo Grissom-Jerod Mayo (Steelers)
Week 2: Grissom-Mayo (Bills)
Week 3: Grissom-Mayo (Jaguars)
Week 5: Grissom-Mayo (Cowboys)
Week 6: Rob Ninkovich-Brandon King (Colts)
Week 7: Grissom-King (Jets)
Week 8: Grissom-King (Dolphins)
Week 9: Jonathan Freeny-Jon Bostic (Washington)
Week 10: Grissom-Eric Martin (NY Giants)
Week 11: Grissom-Eric Martin (Bills)
Week 12: Grissom-Fleming (Broncos)
Week 13: Grissom-Fleming (Eagles)
This highlights some of the turnover at the tackle spot, but that is generally pretty commonplace around the NFL on a week to week basis.
But overall, one thing I've learned from covering Bill Belichick's teams is that there is usually some form of accountability when a mistake such as a block occurs. Perhaps that leads to seeing Freeny, Ninkovich or Mayo back in one of those spots, or perhaps the return of Martin to the roster.
