TUCSON, Ariz. — Injuries have been a major issue for the New England Patriots’ offensive line during the second half of this season.
Starting center David Andrews has missed three games. Isaiah Wynn hasn’t played in four weeks. Yodny Cajuste has been in and out of the lineup. Marcus Cannon has yet to return from injured reserve (and may not this season).
Trent Brown, meanwhile, has been available for every game this season. He’s started and played every offensive snap in 12 of them and came off the bench to play 68% of snaps in the other.
But while he’s been able to suit up, it’s been weeks since the big offensive tackle has operated at full capacity.
Brown revealed after Wednesday’s practice at the University of Arizona that he battled a bad case of the flu that caused him to lose 12 pounds and zapped his stamina.
“I’m on the uptick now, but I was fighting the flu for a couple weeks,” he said. “I’m glad that I’m finally feeling better. Hopefully, it continues to trend that way.”
Asked whether this was the sickest he’d been in his life, Brown replied: “Close to it. Close to it, for sure.”
Brown’s illness first was noted after the Patriots’ Week 11 win over the New York Jets, the only game this season he did not start. Head coach Bill Belichick said keeping him out of the starting lineup was a “coaching decision,” but Mark Daniels of MassLive.com reported it was because Brown was sick. He eventually replaced an injured Wynn and played 43 offensive snaps in a 10-3 Patriots victory.
Two weeks later, Brown was added to the Patriots’ injury report with an illness hours before the team’s Thursday night matchup with the Buffalo Bills. Had New England had any other tackles available for that game, Brown likely would have sat out. But with Wynn and Cajuste both ruled out with injuries and Cannon on IR, Brown gutted through his sickness and played every snap at left tackle, with recent signee Conor McDermott going wire-to-wire on the right side.
The Patriots’ next man up at tackle would have been James Ferentz, a 6-foot-2, 300-pound backup center. Ferentz took reps at left tackle — a position he’s never played in the NFL or college — during pregame warmups while Brown stayed in the locker room.
“I feel like I only give (myself an) option to be up and ready to play,” Brown said. “And I also know that that particular week, we didn’t have anybody else. We would have had a backup center playing left tackle, so I just had to try to gut through it for the team, and that’s just that.”
Brown also missed the first two practices last week before going the distance at left tackle in Monday night’s win over the Arizona Cardinals. But his condition now is trending upward. He was a full participant in practice Wednesday and was not listed on the Patriots’ first injury report of Week 15. He said he “hope(s)” to be back to 100% by Sunday’s game against the Las Vegas Raiders.
That would be a major boost for the Patriots’ struggling O-line, as Vegas boasts a pair of premier pass rushers in Maxx Crosby and New England alum Chandler Jones.
“Just being able to be out there, honestly, and feel like myself again,” Brown said. “(I’m back to playing) confidently and do the things that I like to do well.”
