FOXBORO -- The Patriots have moved on from Jamie Collins, and in his place they've put their trust in rookie sixth-round pick Elandon Roberts.
Roberts saw 58 of a possible 70 defensive snaps in Sunday night's 31-24 loss to the Seahawks, according to Pro Football Focus, indicating that he was deployed in a variety of situations -- not just as a run defender. Edge defender and linebacker Shea McClellin saw 16 snaps against Seattle, and linebacker Barkevious Mingo was not used defensively.
SEAHAWKS 31, PATRIOTS 24:
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The lone target Roberts saw in pass coverage was a long one. He trailed Seahawks running back CJ Prosise when Prosise ran under a perfectly-placed Russell Wilson 38-yard pass on third-and-six with 11:09 remaining in the game. Five plays later, after a successful Patriots goal-line stand, Seattle kicked a field goal to go ahead, 25-24.
"We said all week they were going to play a 60-minute game," Roberts said. "It came down to 60 minutes. It was a tough loss, but tomorrow we're going to get in, watch the film, make corrections and move on from Seattle."
The 58 snaps were a season-high for Roberts, exceeding the 50 he saw against the Bengals in Week 6. That his workload saw a bump with Collins no longer in the picture came as no surprise.
New England Patriots
"It's not a big, 'Oh, I gotta do this. Oh I gotta do that,' " Roberts said. "What I gotta do is I gotta do my job for the team. Nothing individual for me. Just do my job for the team. Tomorrow I'm gonna do my job, I'm gonna get in, we're gonna watch film as a defense, make corrections and get on to the next opponent."
The Patriots gave up 31 points at home and forced the Seahawks to punt just twice in the loss. As highly as Patriots players and coaches may think of Roberts, did they miss Collins?
"He's a really good player," Patriots safety and captain Devin McCourty said, "but it doesn't matter if we missed him or not. We just gotta go out there and play better and try to get a win next week."