After Demario Douglas’s benching, Hunter Henry recollects a pricey rookie fumble of his personal

Patriots

“I’m trying on the subsequent man, and never interested by what’s happening, and the ball will get poked out from behind. I truly misplaced the sport for our group.”

Hunter Henry is aware of what it’s prefer to fumble in a key scenario throughout a rookie season.

So, when he spoke to Demario Douglas on Monday, he had a narrative to share. The Patriots benched Douglas after a first-quarter fumble halted a promising drive in opposition to the Dolphins on Sunday.

Henry recalled beginning rather than an injured Antonio Gates throughout the third week of his first 12 months with the Chargers. Henry’s fumble, which got here late within the fourth quarter, price the Chargers the sport, Henry mentioned.

“I had a fairly good sport, we had been taking part in the Indianapolis Colts and we had a two-minute drive,” Henry mentioned. “We’re down possibly two. All we would have liked was a area aim. I run a very good route. There’s a few minute left within the sport, I catch the ball, and I form of get into an open area. I made the primary man miss, and I’m trying on the subsequent man, and never interested by what’s happening, and the ball will get poked out from behind. I truly misplaced the sport for our group.”

Whereas Douglas’s fumble occurred in direction of the start of the sport, the circumstances had been considerably much like Henry’s fumble. Douglas caught the ball on third-and-8 and juked previous a defender. However, Miami’s Bradley Chubb sprinted from behind and knocked the ball out.

Douglas mentioned after the sport that he wanted the expertise of getting the ball knocked out from behind to study from. Henry mentioned that his fumble in opposition to the Colts helped him mature into the veteran participant he’s right now.

“It actually woke me as much as this stage and humbled me lots,” Henry mentioned. “I discovered lots. I noticed that I wanted to carry onto the ball a bit of bit tighter. I form of conveyed that to him. I’m happening my eighth 12 months now and I feel I’ve solely had like one profession fumble in eight years within the league.”

Offensive coordinator Invoice O’Brien mentioned that Douglas will study from the error and that New England likes having Douglas on the sector.

Henry echoed these feedback on Wednesday.

“Pop is a good participant. We want him,” Henry mentioned. “He’s going to study from this, he’s going to study lots from it. He’s carried out quite a lot of nice issues for us.”