How Trent Brown Impressed Ahead Of ‘Huge Challenge’ For Patriots

There was no rust for Trent Brown in his return to the Patriots’ lineup Sunday.

After missing last week’s loss to the Miami Dolphins with a concussion, the big left tackle was excellent in New England’s 15-10 win over the New York Jets at MetLife Stadium.

Brown did not allow a single pressure on 30 pass-blocking snaps against a very good Jets defense, according to Pro Football Focus. He also was New England’s highest-graded run blocker in the win and received the highest overall PFF grade of any Week 3 tackle as of Monday afternoon.

Trent Brown vs the Jets:

🔹 30 pass blocking snaps
🔹 0 pressures allowed
🔹 92.4 PFF grade (1st among tackles) pic.twitter.com/DUZ0T0xPYq

— PFF NE Patriots (@PFF_Patriots) September 25, 2023

Brown’s play spearheaded the best offensive line performance of the season for the Patriots, who have battled myriad injuries up front since the start of training camp. Mac Jones was not sacked in 30 dropbacks, and New England rushed for a season-high 157 yards, led by Ezekiel Elliott’s 80 on 16 carries.

The Patriots will need a similar showing this week against the Dallas Cowboys, who boast what Bill Belichick called the best pass rush in football. Dallas’ defense also features one of the NFL’s top all-around players in All-Pro linebacker Micah Parsons.

“They rush the passer as well as anybody,” Belichick said Monday on WEEI’s “The Greg Hill Show.” “I know last year, the Eagles had great sack numbers — and deservedly so; they hit the quarterback a lot, too — but Dallas’ pass rush is as good as any I’ve seen in a while. They’re good inside, they’re good outside. Coach (Dan) Quinn really does a good job with the schemes as far as moving Parsons around.”

Belichick said Parsons is “probably the best defensive player in the league or certainly one of the top ones.”

“I can’t imagine anybody being more of a problem than he is,” the Patriots head coach said, comparing Parsons’ rare athleticism to Pro Football Hall of Famer Lawrence Taylor’s.

That’s high praise from Belichick, who coached Taylor with the New York Giants and views him as the greatest defensive player in history.

The Cowboys allowed just 10 total points over their first two games — lopsided wins over the Giants and Jets — before surrendering 28 on Sunday in an upset loss to the Arizona Cardinals. Despite that lapse, Belichick isn’t taking this defense lightly.

“They do enough to keep you honest and predict who’s going to be where and how they’re going to unfold, and there’s a lot of good players there,” he said. “So, yeah, it’ll be a big challenge for us. Blocking that front four will be a huge challenge.”

It remains to be seen whether the Patriots will have their full complement of O-line starters this Sunday. Brown, left guard Cole Strange, center David Andrews and right guard Mike Onwenu all started against the Jets, but Strange either suffered or aggravated a knee injury and couldn’t finish the game.

Vederian Lowe started in place of the struggling Calvin Anderson at right tackle. Lowe allowed eight pressures, per PFF’s charting, but no sacks in the win.