Patriots' OL in Tatters After Titans Loss; Optimism vs. Eagles?

Poor offensive line play doomed the New England Patriots in an ugly preseason loss to the Tennessee Titans

The New England Patriots ended their preseason with a dud on Friday night, falling 23-7 on the road against the Tennessee Titans.

The offense in particular looked extremely rough, and even that may be being generous. New England finished the game with a mere 79 total yards and eight first downs on 42 total plays, and held the ball for just over 21 minutes. 

There's plenty of blame to go around for the offensive ineptitude on display. Bailey Zappe and the other quarterbacks simply did not play well enough, completing just eight of 18 passes for 57 yards. However, an even bigger issue was the poor play of the offensive line.

The Patriots' makeshift unit allowed six sacks, including four of Zappe (who fumbled on three of them). The line wasn't much better in run blocking, as New England averaged just 3.1 yards per carry. 

Poor play is one thing, but the Patriots' offensive line also suffered yet another injury to add on to the pile. Early in the second quarter, starting right tackle Riley Reiff left the game with a lower leg injury and didn't return. After Reiff's departure, seven of the Patriots' 16 offensive linemen are now hurting in some way. Among those are starting guards Cole Strange and Mike Onwenu.

The Patriots have 16 offensive linemen on their roster, and seven of them are hurt:

Mike Onwenu, Cole Strange, Calvin Anderson, Conor McDermott, Kody Russey, Atonio Mafi (not in uniform tonight) and now Riley Reiff.

Not good.

— Zack Cox (@zm_cox) August 26, 2023

If the offensive line doesn't heal up and improve, it could present huge problems for New England out of the gate. The Patriots open their season against the Philadelphia Eagles, who had the most sacks in the league last season with 70 and added a pair of first-round pass-rushers in defensive tackle Jalen Carter and linebacker Nolan Smith. Needless to say, the Patriots' offensive line has a trial by fire to start the season.

Before the Patriots face the Eagles on Sept. 10, their top priority needs to be getting healthy and developing up front.

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