Patriots' Offensive Line Struggles vs. Dolphins; Injury Update

The New England Patriots were dealing with injuries up front throughout the week, and it showed in Sunday's loss to the Miami Dolphins.

Coming into Sunday's game against the Miami Dolphins, the New England Patriots faced a big problem.

Their offensive line, which was already one of the bigger question marks on the roster, was dealing with a litany of injuries. In fact, all five starters were on the injury report at some point this week. Trent Brown and Sidy Sow missed practice on Friday, Cole Strange and Michael Onwenu were limited participants and David Andrews was a full participant, but was limited earlier in the week.

Brown and Sow wound up missing the game, forcing Calvin Anderson and Vederian Lowe into the starting lineup. The Patriots did get good news in Onwenu and Strange both being active for the first time this season, but unfortunately, it didn't make much of a positive difference.

New England's offensive line struggled immensely in a 24-17 loss to Miami, allowing four sacks and seven hits on quarterback Mac Jones. Run-blocking was a similar struggle, as the Patriots averaged just 3.5 yards per carry and allowed eight tackles for loss.

Obviously, any sack is bad news, but the Patriots' allowed sacks at some very inopportune times. New England moved the ball into Miami territory on its opening drive, but a nine-yard loss on a sack forced a third and 21 and effectively killed the drive. Then early in the fourth quarter, Jones was sacked for a 10-yard loss deep in New England territory, setting Miami up for an easy touchdown on the next drive. Finally, an eight-yard loss on the Patriots' final drive of the game forced a third and 18, making an improbable comeback that much harder.

The thing is, this offensive line performed relatively well in the season opener against the Philadelphia Eagles. Yes, the Patriots allowed two sacks, seven quarterback hits and five tackles for loss, but considering they were without both of their starting guards, that's not too bad. Additionally, the Eagles' defensive front was coming off a historic season with 70 sacks and arguably got better over the offseason, so holding them to just a pair of sacks deserves some credit.

The Patriots' offensive line has shown that it can be at least serviceable, but if they want to overcome an 0-2 start, it'll need to be better than that.