3 players the Patriots should bench vs. Saints after week 4 embarrassment

Myles Bryant

This one is a bit tricky, given the circumstances he was put in after Christian Gonzalez left last week's game due to injury. But because of the addition of J.C. Jackson earlier this week and the possibility of Jonathan Jones finally returning, it seems fair to keep Myles Bryant on the sidelines as much as possible in this must-win game.

Contrary to popular belief, Bryant hasn't been playing poorly this season. Patriots fans have scapegoated him during his time with the team, some of it warranted, but he's been a solid contributor through the first three games of the season.

That all went down the drain when Gonzalez injured his shoulder in Sunday's loss. Dak Prescott started exploiting Bryant's weaknesses for the rest of the game and kicked it off on the first play Gonzalez missed by throwing to CeeDee Lamb on the next play for a 20-yard touchdown.

The rest of the game wasn't so smooth, either. Bryant allowed 4/4 receptions for 54 yards and the touchdown to Lamb. Although he wasn't the only member of the secondary who struggled in the game, the Cowboys sniffed out that he was one of the weaker links and took advantage of that throughout the rest of the game.

If Jackson and Jones are both active for Sunday's matchup with the Saints, expect to see Bryant more limited than he has been. If one remains out or both are inactive, we may see a repeat from the secondary of last week's performance, making it more difficult to scrape out a win.