FOXBOROUGH - After his first subpar game of the season, it would have been nice to talk with Will Campbell about what he needed to improve heading into Sunday’s game against the Raiders.
Instead, the players weren’t available at the beginning of the week because of “Victory Monday” (and are off on Tuesdays). Thus, Campbell didn't want to look backward. Only forward for the 22-year-old.
“Yeah, I'm not going to talk too much about Buffalo,” he said. “I mean, we won the game. That's what matters. We're on to the next now. Take the stuff we did well, and you know, learn from the stuff we didn't do well, and get ready for the Raiders.”
That’s fine. It’s his prerogative to put the Bills game in the rearview mirror, but that doesn’t change what happened to the Pats' left tackle. One of the few smart things their defensive coordinator, Jim Leonhard, did was move their best pass rusher, Gregory Rousseau, from his normal alignment across from the right tackle and give him the most snaps he’s had all season on the other side, against Campbell. The result: 7 pass-rush snaps and 3 pressures, with Rousseau giving the 2025 first-round pick a hard time, not with speed, but with sheer power.
I spoke with a pair of pro scouts who work for rival AFC teams about Campbell. Both men have watched a number of Patriot games, not just this year but last. I believe that gives them a foundational knowledge of the player, and not just a snap reaction to some bad reps.
“That performance looked a lot like what we saw last year from him, at least when it came to facing better rushers,” said scout A. “In fact, it looked exactly the same. He tried to anchor late against