Patriots young offensive line comes through

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FOXBORO - When the news hit that veteran center Ryan Wendell was inactive for Thursday's season opener, that meant one thing: A young offensive line already without Bryan Stork just got younger.

The Patriots have three rookie offensive linemen on their team in David Andrews, Tre' Jackson, and Shaq Mason, and all three of them were to have pretty big roles on the night.

Rookies? They didn't look like them on many occasions, as Tom Brady had plenty of time to do his thing en route to going 25/32 for 288 yards and four touchdowns.

"Yeah, we worked pretty hard getting [Andrews] up to speed, and he did a tremendous job," Brady said. "I think all three of those rookies that played on the inside did phenomenal. It's a tall task to get them up to speed with all different variations and protections and adjustments that we tend to make, and I thought they really hung in there. They played with a lot of toughness, so it was great. Dave did a great job at center. Tre' [Jackson] and Shaq [Mason] and the two tackles are phenomenal, so it was great protection all night, It really allowed us t get some guys open down the field."

Andrews got the start at center, and Jackson got the start at right guard. Mason would rotate in, and just like that three kids were thrown into the fire. Of course, having Nate Solder and Sebastian Vollmer at the tackle spots helps.

But the rookies were ready for action.

There were no wide-eyed rookies in the locker room after the game. Just the standard Patriots response: Glad we won. We'll look at the film. Try to improve next week.

Rinse and repeat.

The word "content" comes to mind when hearing how Bill Belichick thought the unit played in its first game together.

"David [Andrews] pretty much went all the way at center and then Shaq [Mason] and Josh [Kline] and Tre’ [Jackson] kind of all three played some guard," Belichick said. "Overall I’d say the pass protection was OK. We had some running plays that weren’t great, some that were OK. I thought [Dion] Lewis ran the ball well. I don’t know if we blocked it as well as we’d like to. We’ve got a lot of work to do, but I thought they competed well and they hung in there."

For the rookies to make a smooth debut in the rainy conditions and on the same night the team unveiled its championship banner says a lot.

It's never a good thing when the offensive line is part of the story. Those guys want to remain under the radar because that usually means they're doing their jobs.

"I don't think there was any really surprises," Andrews said. "We were very well prepared and we were just able to go out there and do what we did and control what we can control . . . I thought we did a good job. We have a long way to go, a long way to go. So get back to work and take what we learned from this game and improve."

Mason couldn't help but smile a bit when thinking back on the last few hours of his night - the beginning of his NFL career.

"It felt really good," Mason said. "It felt good to get out there and go out there and have some fun. It definitely felt good. And get a team victory."

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