FOXBOROUGH – Starting linebacker. Defensive signal caller. Captain.
On paper, those titles describe Ja’Whaun Bentley’s role with the Patriots. But he was so much more.
He was the voice of the defense, the human command center controlling all the schemes and disguises dialed up by the coaching staff.
With the linebacker now lost for the season after suffering a torn pectoral muscle during the loss to the Seahawks Sunday, it’s a huge blow for Jerod Mayo’s defense, and the team as a whole.
Bentley was off to a great start both leading the defense, and making plays (12 tackles).
“He’s a big vocal part of what we do here,” linebacker Josh Uche said of Bentley Tuesday night following the team’s walkthrough practice. “It definitely hurts.”
That sentiment was echoed throughout the locker room.
“It’s tough. He’s our team captain. He’s our team leader. Everything we do in the linebacker room flows around Bent,” linebacker Raekwon McMillan said. “He’s our guy on defense. He’s been the guy for the last two or three years. He’s the voice of the team.
“There’s a lot of times everyone on the outside can hear his voice, even though you’re not in the huddle. He did a tremendous job leading us to the point where we have to carry the torch during the season.”
Against the Seahawks, McMillan picked up a lot of the slack, coming in after Bentley went down.
After spending much of the prior to seasons on IR dealing with injury, the veteran linebacker is ready for the challenge. He’s ready to get on the field, and contribute.
“That’s my brother. We were paired together. We cold-tubbed together. Hot-tubbed together. Saunas together. Everything, we did together in preparation for the games. But now that he’s down, it’s an opportunity for me, so I have to take advantage.”
McMillan will step in alongside Jahlani Tavai.
“Any injury on the team, it hurts, but it’s onto the next guy,” Tavai said. “It’s up to the next guy to step up to the challenge … there’s a lot of communication involved, but linebacker is linebacker. Nothing really changes. You have to go make plays. Whoever has the ball, you have to go tackle him.
“Whoever’s out there (in place of Bentley), we just have to make sure the communication from the front end to the back end is on point … we’re not nervous about it. It just sucks losing a teammate.”
Safety Kyle Dugger stepped in as the signal caller against the Seahawks, and will likely wear the green dot against the Jets Thursday night, and going forward.
