Early on during Sunday’s loss to the Seahawks, Patriots linebacker and main communicator (green dot guy) Ja’Whaun Bentley was flexing his arm repeatedly, moving it around like a pitcher trying to get loose in the bullpen.
Shortly thereafter, Bentley left the game and didn’t return. Early reports on Monday speculated that the injury wasn’t that bad and he’d probably be able to play on Thursday night against the Jets.
Well, it turns out that it’s actually worse case scenario.
Around 7:30 p.m., Ian Rapoport reported that Bentley actually has a torn pectoral muscle.
Bentley is arguably the most valuable player on the team’s defense next to Christian Barmore. A fourth-year captain who commands respect in any room he walks into, Bentley is more than just a good player. With the ‘green dot’ duties, he certainly was the most important guy for communication purposes. He and Jabrill Peppers are two of the most physical players the Patriots have and now, without both Barmore and Peppers, this defense will have a tough time making up for those losses.
Kyle Dugger took over the ‘green dot’ duties on Sunday and Jerod Mayo talked about the transition during his media availability on Monday afternoon.
“Communication was good, and it was Dugger,” he said. “Remember, Dugger did it all last year as well, so it was not anything new for him. I’ve always been a huge believer in a linebacker having the green dot, but I’ll tell you, the way Dugger played yesterday as a whole and being able to handle the communication, he definitely filled in for that role.”
While Mayo and Dugger’s teammates have full confidence in his ability to carry the responsibility again moving forward if that’s the decision, it’ll be interesting to see if anyone else gets the role. Either way, this is just another early hurdle for Mayo and DeMarcus Covington to have to deal with on top of trying to rebuild the brand back to respectability.
In just one game and a few minutes on Sunday this season, Bentley already had a total of 12 tackles (7 solo) and a QB hit along with half of a sack. In his seven-year career, Bentley had 497 tackles (273 solo) with 21 tackles for a loss, 28 QB hits and 10 sacks.