Another starter went down for the New England Patriots on Sunday during their win over the Las Vegas Raiders, but rookie Caleb Lomu stepped up big time. Left tackle Will Campbell suffered a reported knee sprain in the early second quarter when he got rolled up on. Campbell tried to come back to the sideline, but he couldn’t get back into the game. That meant Lomu, the Patriots’ first-round draft pick this year, had to finish the game at left tackle, a role he’s almost certainly keeping for however long Campbell is sidelined.
“Prepare Like a Starter”
Lomu wasn’t phased. He just took his preparation to the field, fully embracing head coach Mike Vrabel’s mindset. “Injuries are a part of football, which sucks,” Lomu said after the game. “Praying for everyone who has an injury, especially Will. But whatever happens, ‘You’ve got to prepare like a starter,’ is what Coach Vrabes tells us. It’s completely true. Anything can happen. So, prepare as a starter throughout the week, even if you’re not going to start, because things like this can happen.” Before Week 5, Lomu’s opportunities were super limited, mostly showing up as a jumbo tight end or in mop-up duty. He was the team’s No. 3 offensive tackle behind Campbell and right tackle Morgan Moses coming into the season. But against the Raiders? The dude played a career-high 49 offensive snaps, and 47 of those were at left tackle, filling in for Campbell. It was a bit of a homecoming for the 21-year-old, who played on the left side during his college career at Utah, even though he’d been trained primarily as a right tackle since landing in New England.
Thrown Into the Fire
Lomu’s readiness was obvious. “I was just ready to go,” he added. “Just like I said, prepare like a starter no matter what happens. As soon as it happened, I was ready to go do what I could to help the team win, and that’s what we did.” Even veteran captain Morgan Moses recognized that confidence in the young rookie. “He’s confident,” Moses said. “That’s the most important thing. You never know when your number’s going to be called, and obviously he’s been able to get some snaps at the big tight end spots. So, he’s been able to get used to the speed from preseason into the regular season. That’s always good. But he works hard. He’s a young rookie that asks a lot of questions in meetings. And he asks like, ‘Hey, how do you see things?’ “When you build that camaraderie off the field to be able to ask questions in meetings with me and Will, it just boosts the morale for everybody. He came in, and obviously, we’ve got to look at the film. There are some things that we all got to correct, but I think he did a hell of a job.”
With Campbell’s return date up in the air, Lomu is almost certainly gearing up for his first career start this week at either tackle spot. The Patriots are hosting the New York Jets in Week 6. And get this: the Jets just logged eight sacks in their win over the Cleveland Browns on Sunday. This kid is getting thrown into the absolute deep end, and we’re about to see if he sinks or swims.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Pats Pulpit.
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