New England Patriots Matt Patricia praises Trevor Scott, Derrick Martin

Trevor Scott and Derrick Martin each had a sack in the New England Patriots seven-sack demolition of Ryan Tannehill and the Miami Dolphins offensive line, and that was instrumental in the Patriots ability to hold the Dolphins scoreless in this one. Defensive coordinator Matt Patricia praised both players, and I found his comments from the conference call on Derrick Martin to be especially interesting. That’s mainly because Martin is a lesser known player as a backup DB for this team.

Patricia said when asked about Scott’s role this season, “Trevor has done… over the course of the season, you take a look at the role he’s had and the opportunities he’s had when he’s been able to deal with them, he’s really tried to develop and come along. Obviously he was available for us and did a good job for us in the first game versus Miami and it just steadily improved throughout the season. Like all the guys on the defense, hopefully throughout the entire season, you get to this point and you’ve done a good enough job to improve yourself week by week and that’s really what we’re trying to do. Trevor has certainly done that and become more familiar with the system and communication and the different things that we’re trying to do.”

Trevor Scott was once a great pass rusher for the Oakland Raiders, and he looked good this preseason for the Patriots. He started to receive a large role with the team after the injury to Chandler Jones against the Indianapolis Colts last month, and he took that opportunity and ran with it. Scott isn’t the best run-stopper, but the Patriots have plenty of talented players to stop the run. The main thing this team needs is a solid pass rushing influx in the rotation, and Scott is that guy. He can also help drop off in coverage and stick with less-athletic tight ends like Anthony Fasano. Overall, it is great to have him on the team and his importance has risen due to injuries to Jones and now Rob Ninkovich, as well as the suspension of Jermaine Cunningham.

Now on to what Matt Patricia said about Derrick Martin, “Derrick Martin is an extremely high energy, true professional that comes to work every day and just brings a tremendous attitude of going to work and having fun and just really studying and being disciplined. I think he’s a guy that, again, another guy we had to throw out there or put out there and you feel confident he’s going to do his job to the best of his ability, at least be in the right places at the right time and really try to communicate and do what he’s asked to do. It’s good to have those guys on your team that maybe necessarily don’t get all the reps but that can step in and just be able to function at a high level.”

Martin sounds like a great fringe-roster guy to have, and he has managed to stick on the roster and make an impact at points during the season. After that sack and some solid performances as a depth guy, Martin will continue to get some looks for the Patriots. His importance also grew due to injuries, as both Alfonzo Dennard and Aqib Talib have been nicked up recently. Dennard, in fact, did not play yesterday against the Dolphins.

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