A New England Patriots legend is disagreeing with the decision made by coach Bill Belichick to bench receiver Demario Douglas in last Sunday’s game against the Miami Dolphins.
That legend is none other than former Patriots safety Rodney Harrison.
Douglas was benched following a fumble in the first quarter of the 24-17 loss to the Dolphins. The benching proved to be a notable move, given that New England struggled to get production out of the receiver position for most of the night.
Douglas finished the game with two catches on two targets for 19 yards. He took responsibility for the fumble and the benching earlier this week. However, Harrison had his own take on Belichick’s decision, as transcribed by MassLive’s Karen Guregian and Lauren Campbell.
“I didn’t agree with coach Belichick when he took the kid out because the kid — he’s trying his best. He’s making moves. And it’s not like he wasn’t trying to protect the football. He was trying to make plays,” Harrison said, during an appearance on the “Eye on Foxborough” podcast. “You don’t expect the 270-pound guy — 6′4″ — coming that’s gonna swipe the ball. When Ezekiel Elliott fumbled last week, I didn’t see him getting taken out the game. And this is a veteran player, a guy that has carried the ball thousands of times, established player in this league and then a rookie does it. He takes them out and you can really hamper a kid’s confidence, especially (someone), who I believe is going to be a very dynamic playmaker for the Patriots.
“I just didn’t agree with him taking him out. I’m not the coach. But in that situation, if I’m coaching I don’t take him out,” he continued. “I let him stand. I continue to feed him the ball and try to build up his confidence because he’s gonna be a good player. I mean, what does that do? Other than mess with his confidence?”
It was an interesting decision to say the least, given that Douglas had a strong opening game against the Philadelphia Eagles. He had four catches for 40 yards in that contest.
It looked as though the rookie was finding his groove in the offense. New England could have used his speed, particularly with the offense struggling in the early part of the game.
It will be interesting to see how Douglas bounces back this Sunday against the New York Jets. The Patriots will need to have all weapons at their disposal, as they look to avoid falling to 0-3 on the season.
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