FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — When the New England Patriots played their New Year’s Eve game in Buffalo, Trent Brown wasn’t with them.
A healthy scratch for the first time in his Patriots career, Brown didn’t have a locker set up at Highmark Stadium and Vederian Lowe played the entire game at left tackle. Bill Belichick said New England played the guys they wanted to play, and a message was sent.
On Wednesday, Belichick was asked whether the free-agent-to-be would return to practice that afternoon, and the coach’s answer was straightforward.
“Yeah,” Belichick said, “I don’t think he’s on the injury report.”
However, when practice began on the backfields at Gillette Stadium, Brown was nowhere to be found.
The hulking tackle and Myles Bryant were the only two players missing during a light Wednesday session.
Later in the day, Brown listed on the injury report with an illness.
After the scratch was announced on Sunday morning, the Boston Herald’s Doug Kyed reported the team has struggled to keep Brown motivated since he lost money on playing time incentives. Belichick had little to say about the scratch after a 27-21 loss.
“We played the players we wanted to play,” Belichick said, declining to comment on Brown’s motivation.
Mike Giardi of Boston Sports Journal offered a deeper dive on the issues with Brown in the aftermath of Sunday’s game. The tackle missed most of November with multiple injuries, and Giardi reported that internally, the Patriots thought he could have come back faster than he did, but “the belief was that he was protecting himself and his future earnings in a season without the promise of a postseason.”
Giardi then cited an anonymous player, who told him, “A lot of us – almost all – are fighting for each other and for pride, even though the results aren’t what any of us want. It sucks that not everyone is willing to put it out there. I hope people who sign the checks are paying attention.”
Quarterback Bailey Zappe was asked in a radio interview what kind of teammate Brown has been during the Patriots 4-12 season.
“Personally with me, he’s always been great with me. I’ve never had an issue with him,” said Zappe, who will once again get the start in the season finale against the New York Jets on Sunday. “I can’t speak for anybody else. But for me, every time I’ve had a question asking him about guys that he’s played with the past, he’s always been open to answering those questions.
“I’ve never had a problem with him,” he went on. “Me and him are actually pretty close. We’re both from Texas. We like being in Texas, so we have that as a similarity. So we get along well. We always talk about other things. I’ve never had a problem with him, personally. But that’s my personal view.”
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