The New England Patriots dropped a competitive 30-24 contest to the Chicago Bears on Thursday night. After a long weekend off, they’ll soon turn their attention to the Miami Dolphins.
Most of our attention on this week was on the Bears game. With little time to do so, let’s clean out the notebook from Thursday night and the week.
Welcome to the latest edition of our Sunday Patriots Notes.
Rookie report
The New England rookie class projected largely as a developmental group following this past NFL Draft. But through
the first seven weeks of the season, the group has been relied upon.
The Patriots have seen their rookies play the second most amount of special teams snaps in the league this season, while the team’s first three selections have impressed.
OT Caleb Lomu
The Patriots’ first-round pick remains the third tackle on the depth chart behind Will Campbell and Morgan Moses. That hasn’t kept Lomu off the field, as he has seen extensive action twice as an injury replacement while additionally taking on the jumbo tight end role.
Lomu has been impressive in his 160 offensive snaps, showing intriguing traits as a pass protector such as his ability to anchor and recover. He allowed just one total pressure in the two games in which he saw extensive action playing both left and right tackle.
“Just trying to get ready each and every week. It’s a lot of new things for him,” Mike Vrabel said. “It’s a new league for him. Coming from college, being 21, and it’s a tough position to be able to go out there and play. I think he’s gotten better.”
OLB Gabe Jacas
The power rusher continues to look more and more comfortable as the season continues. His performance Thursday night in Chicago may have been his best as a pro as Jacas tallied five pressures — flashing his patented bull rush on one instance to power through left tackle Ozzy Trapilo.
Jacas’ raw strength and power are legit, and his emergence has helped make an edge group that seemed like a position of weakness a strength through seven weeks.
TE Eli Raridon
New England’s third-round pick has established himself in the offense playing 44% of the offensive snaps as the No. 2 option behind Hunter Henry. Raridon’s athleticism has translated to the pros and Josh McDaniels has done a strong job using the tight end on runaway routes to get him on the move.
While the coaching staff has been impressed with Raridon’s growth as a run blocker, it’s expectedly still a work in progress for the rookie, who was at the point of attack for several run stuffs in Chicago. But the work as a receiver, and the mismatches he can create, leaves excitement for the future as Raridon becomes a bigger and bigger piece of the offense.
“I think he’s tried to figure out how to block people at this level,” Vrabel said. “I think he blocks better now than what he had shown in previous exposure. I think that he’s growing and gaining confidence each and every day. He’s an exciting young player that’s fun to work with.”
Maye’s performance
Outside of the interception and some pre-snap issues identifying pressure, Drake Maye was excellent Thursday night as he kept the Patriots competitive with the Bears. Chicago head coach Ben Johnson left impressed.
“He’s an outstanding player. It’s very hard to bottle him up,” Johnson said. “You only rush four, and he finds a way if he doesn’t see anything down the field to find an open gap and skirt on through. And then I think what’s really impressive is how he can find these little outlets and these dumps where they’re still running vertical for catch-and-run opportunities…
“He’s caught his rhythm now at this point of the season and probably will continue to do that.“
Brown’s performance
Following Brown’s return against the Jets, we were encouraged in his movement and separation ability in his return from a high ankle sprain. The same explosiveness did not look present against Chicago, which hopefully is a byproduct of playing two games in five days after returning from an injury that can linger.
The Bears did work to take A.J. Brown out of the equation Thursday night, often clouding his side of the field and taking away his intermediate routes. But, the Patriots will need more from their No. 1 wide receiver moving forward regales.
Vrabel vs. Refs
Mike Vrabel was one of three head coaches — joining Aaron Glenn and Nick Sirianni — who were fined $250,000 this week for conduct towards officials. The fine could reportedly be repealed with good behavior, which perhaps influenced Vrabel’s post game words when discussing Will Campbell’s questionable false start penalty.
I don’t know. I’m not in good favor with the officiating department so I probably shouldn’t say anything.”
A.J. and Hurts
Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts is expected to miss the remainder of the season with blood clots. When asked about the situation this past week, Brown sent love and prayers to his former quarterback.
“It’s a tough situation, man,” Brown said. “I’ve got a lot of love and respect for him, praying for him. I didn’t know how serious it was. I think all of us kind of found that out, but he’s a tough guy. He’s a tough guy, and he can handle anything. I don’t mean that lightly. I know it’s serious. But he can handle it, and I pray God continue to keep his hand on him. It’s a lot of love and respect from this way. Speedy recovery, and a lot of love.”
NFLPA
The Patriots elected Drake Maye as their NFLPA Voting Player Representative this past week. Maye will serve on the 32-member Board of Player Representatives and hold the team vote.
“I think it’s an honor,” Maye said. “It’s an honor to represent this team, represent the Patriots and to represent the players and the players in this league. I’m going to try to gain some knowledge about how the league works and knowing that this position carries a lot of weight in this league … I know Coach Vrabel was the player rep here. Just trying to make sure that the coaches and players are doing all right.”
Maye was elected along with altnerates Will Campbell, Marcus Jones and Brenden Schooler.
Jolly Ranchers
During halftime of the Raiders game, cornerback Charles Woods had a different request for Mike Vrabel.
A grape jolly rancher.
The following week against the Jets, Vrabel made sure to keep the grape-flavored candy in his pocket. He gave one to Woods in the fourth quarter and soon after, the cornerback hauled in his first career interception to help seal a Patriots victory.
“I kind of like him. He’s got a little street rat in him,” Vrabel said of Woods. “The story was, he was like, ‘Coach, can I get a Jolly Rancher?’ I was like, ‘Are you serious?’ I’m like, ‘Yes.’ At halftime, it was like I was coaching one of the kids’ teams in ninth grade, 9-year-old football. I was like, ‘Yeah, sure, have a Jolly Rancher.’
“Then we won the game and then I joked about it when he got a game ball. We called him Jolly Rancher, JR now for short. Then last week I said, ‘I’m ready to go. I got your grape Jolly Ranchers.’ Put one in, and the next play, he got an interception. I was like, ‘This is crazy.’”
Week ahead
After enjoying the weekend off, the Patriots will return to the facility on Monday before resuming a typical in-season schedule before next Sunday’s game against the Miami Dolphins.
This means Mike Vrabel media availability on Monday, off-day on Tuesday, and three straight practices plus injury reports from Wednesday through Friday. The team will then hold a final walkthrough on Saturday before departing for Miami.
