Thursday, September 2, 2010

Patriots will have least experienced starting cornerback duo in league


The sudden season-ending injury to the Patriots' best cornerback Leigh Bodden has accelerated the youth movement in the team's secondary.

According to ESPN's Tim Graham, no starting cornerback duo in football will have played fewer games than New England's pair: Darius Butler and first-round pick Devin McCourty.

McCourty showed up well in his first two preseason games, but struggled badly against the Rams.  Butler has shown a lot of promise this offseason after an inconsistent rookie year.  Combine these two players with second-year free safety Patrick Chung and the Patriots may have the youngest starting secondary in the league.

Bill Belichick will have his hands full scheming to help out his young players and he no longer has a good pass rush to help out.

It's been a rough month for the Patriots defense. According to Bill Barnwell, the Patriots are the first team since the 2003 Cardinals to put two defensive starters on injured reserve before the season even started.  Patriots defensive end Ty Warren was also lost for the year.

source: PFT.com
author: Gregg Rosenthal

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