The Patriots have struggled with serious offensive issues since the start of the season and clearly had their best game in that regard against the Bills. Part of the solution comes from Bromont guard Sidy Sow.
The first-rounder, a fourth-round pick in the last draft, stood out for all the right reasons as a right back making his third start of the season.
Analysis site Pro Football Focus (PFF), which breaks down every play for every player to then assign each player an individual rating, was enthusiastic about Sow’s play.
PFF actually gave him a glowing 86.4 grade for his overall game. Know that this is the highest rating given to a rookie offensive lineman so far this season.
That grade also earns him second overall among all guards in the league in the final week of action, something that pleases his head coach Bill Belichick.
“He behaves very well. He works hard and gives his best at everything that is asked of him. He takes the coaching well and has learned a lot. He still has more to learn, but he’s making progress every day and learning from his mistakes. “He’s a big boy, powerful and robust, but he moves very well,” praised the often taciturn man at his press conference on Wednesday morning.
An important role
To illustrate how focused the Patriots have been on offense since the start of the season, they used a sixth different combination of players in seven games on Sunday.
The right side of the line looked particularly problematic, but the use of Sow as a guard and the use of Mike Onwenu as a blocker changed the dynamic.
Quarterback Mac Jones was pressured on just 21 percent of his pass attempts and the ground game gained 96 yards, the second-best this fall.
“When the Pats needed to gain a yard, they ran right behind Sidy’s back. We are still talking about a recruit and that is very impressive,” remarked Jean Junior Petit, who coached him from sixth to fifth secondary school with the Incroyables at JH Leclerc School in Granby and watches his performances every week.
Great versatility
According to his former coach, Sow’s successes are due to his great understanding of the game and his technique.
“He’s such a thirsty guy. He has to absorb all the information from the trainers. They definitely like his badass side. “Sidy once said he loves football because it allows him to legally beat people,” he laughed.
“It’s crazy how versatile he is, not to mention he played defensive back for us and in college. It shows what a good footballer he is. He has a long reach and as soon as he gets his hands on another guy, forget it! We saw it clearly when he sidelined the Bills’ number 50 (Gregory Rousseau).
Reserved personality
If there is a single chapter in the beautiful story of Sidy Sow that the person who helped him regrets, it is that he prefers to avoid any attention. For several months, even well before his draft, he very rarely participated in media interviews or other discussions with alumni about his career.
“It’s a shame, we don’t know anything about his experiences. That’s unfortunate because we hear a lot about Matthew Bergeron and we know things are going well for Benjamin St-Juste. Things are going well for Sidy too, but no one knows that. Maybe he will come back to Quebec after the season and we can talk to him,” hopes Jean Junior Petit.