Antonio Brown made his Patriots debut in New England’s 43-0 win over the Miami Dolphins on Sunday.
Despite a host of off-field issues, including sexual assault and rape allegations, Brown looked comfortable in his first action of the 2019 season, grabbing four passes for 56 yards and one touchdown. Head coach Bill Belichick joined WEEI’s “Ordway Merloni & Fauria” on Monday and said the All-Pro wideout’s integration into the offense still is a work in progress.
“I think it went about maybe the way we thought it would,” Belichick said of Brown’s debut, per WEEI. “There’s no set formula. We got to play some and we’ll build on that and see where we are at.”
He didn’t venture far off of that when asked further about the debut, stating that it was good to have him out there, but, as is the case with plenty of things early in the season, there’s a ways to go.
“Yeah, again, we didn’t use him for everything,” Belichick added. “We used him for things that he had done some reps on and he felt comfortable with and so forth. A couple of those played out early, but not necessarily by design. It just worked out that way. It is good to have him out there and we’ll see where it goes from here.”
As for Brown’s off-field issues, Belichick made sure to avoid the topic, noting it’s a league matter that the Patriots are not involved in.
New England shifts its focus to a Week 3 matchup with the New York Jets at Gillette Stadium. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. ET.
