Following three straight road games, the 5-2 New England Patriots return to Gillette Stadium where they will look to keep their four-game winning streak alive.
Here on Pats Pulpit, our focus this week both
wrapped up the win over the Titans and prep for the Cleveland Browns. For anything else not covered previously, let’s clean out the notebook. Welcome to this week’s edition of our Sunday Patriots Notes .
Gonzo’s return to form
Christian Gonzalez was sidelined for over two months after hobbling off the Patriots practice fields back in July with a hamstring injury. Once he was cleared to return, Gonzalez logged just a handful of practices before making his season debut back in Week 4.
The All-Pro cornerback went on to play 71 percent of the defensive snaps in his return, only being removed from the action with the game out of reach in the fourth quarter. A week after that, Gonzalez played 100 percent of the snaps in a primetime win over Buffalo.
Despite the heavy workload right out of the gate — which then continued in Weeks 6 and 7 — it took time for Gonzalez to truly return to football shape. But with fourth games now under his belt, Patriots cornerbacks coach Justin Hamilton sees his No. 1 corner looking like his usual self.
“To me, it feels like he’s starting to settle in to having his game legs,” Hamilton said. “I know the first game, I talked to him afterwards, and he was just like, ‘I got to get my legs back.’ Well, that’s to be expected. But he’s a competitive guy. Each day when he goes about his business, he doesn’t say much, and he’s not going to make a big scene. But he shows up when he needs to show up.”
With Gonzalez’s return, New England has been to deploy him opposite of Carlton Davis — a tandem the organization envisioned being one of the best in football when they signed the veteran to a three-year, $60 million contract in free agent.
But even with the sticky Marcus Jones manning the slot in between them, the Patriots defense has had issues playing man-to-man coverage this season. Entering Week 8, New England ranked dead last in EPA per drop-back while playing man (+0.39), and have dropped their overall usage the last two weeks playing 10 or less man coverage snaps in their last two wins.
“I see us as a defensive staff putting together a plan we feel is going to help us win the game,” Hamilton said. “You put a lot of it on film, so you start to see some of the beaters for that and try to put guys in position in that way.
“For the most part, we watch the opponent and we say, is man coverage the best way to defend them, to keep yards and points down, or is zone coverage? Then we put the plan together. The past few weeks, it’s been kind of having some zone eyes, vision on the quarterback, guys that can extend plays and scramble, and that’s been helpful for us. But at the end of the day, we just want to win — if that means man, we’ll play man. If that means zone, we’ll play zone.”
The blame can not specifically come down to the top cornerback trio. While each have given up plays at times — even Gonzalez suffering a rare loss against Van Jefferson in Tennessee — the group has largely been quiet in a good way. Gonzalez was lock down on five other man reps against the Titans. Davis allowed just one catch in man coverage the same game.
Issues, however, seem to stem from a more schematic standpoint. In a change from recent man structures, New England’s defense is often bringing extra rushers from the second level and taking a help defender out of the middle of the field — forcing each corner to largely play on a true island. That raises the potential debate: do you provide more help in coverage to potentially hurt your pass rush?
“When we play man, we’ve got to not let our man catch the ball,” said Vrabel, “we‘ve got to be able to get to the quarterback and force them to get rid of it maybe before those routes can separate or run away.”
Guy’s perspective
Before signing a one-day contract to retire a member of the Patriots, defensive lineman Lawerence Guy spent the day at Gillette Stadium observing practice and making a trip through the locker room. The 13-year pro was impressed with what he saw from the team.
“You can see the chemistry,” Guy said. “You can see every last person doing it for the person next to him. You can see the communication, the joyfulness that they’re having. And when you’re able to have that joyfulness on the field and on the sideline, you can see how the team’s going to build.”
Honey hole
After plenty of success pushing the ball downfield in college, Drake Maye has quickly become one of, if not the best deep ball passers in the NFL. His best throw has been the cover-two hole shot between the safety overtop and cornerback underneath along the sidelines, as seen by completions to Kayshon Boutte in Buffalo on the game-winning drive and to Mack Hollins last week in Tennessee.
“It’s one of those throws that you try to, you always say, ‘Hey, the hole shot’s open,’ and you look back on film and be like, ‘Man, I should have thrown the hole shot here.’ It’s one of those things when I’m starting to see Cover 2, it’s one of those, ‘Hey, let’s take advantage of it.’ It’s one of the voids in the defense,” Maye said.
“Growing up, playing a lot of 7-on-7, and they say that 7-on-7 wasn’t great for football, but it’s great for quarterbacks seeing hole shots and throwing hole shots. You’re throwing some pace on it and still getting some arcs. So, I’m glad Mack [Hollins] made a great play. I think it’s becoming more and more of a thing in the league of trying to show different things and go to Cover-2. So, it’s something that I like throwing. It’s one of my favorite throws.”
Late hands
An 18-yard completion from Drake Maye to Stefon Diggs down the left sideline in Tennessee showed the growing chemistry between the receiver and quarterback. It also showed the veterans ability to flash late hands in order to not let the defensive back make a play on the football.
In Josh McDaniels’ coaching career, one receiver’s set of late hands stands out among the rest.
“Randy [Moss] was spectacular at it. Probably the best I’ve ever seen when we had him here,” he shared. “I thought Stef did a great job on the one on Sunday.”
900 catches
Diggs could be in store for a high-volume game against an aggressive Browns defense that could force the ball out of Maye’s hands quickly. The four-time Pro Bowler needs just four receptions to reach 900 in his career, which would make him the 29th player in NFL history to reach that mark.
Among active players, Diggs finds himself fifth in receptions behind Travis Kielce (1,035), Keenan Allen (1,018), DeAndre Hopkins (993), and Devante Adams (988).
Murphy’s surprise welcome
Newcomer Caleb Murphy had quite the surprise for him during Thursday’s padded practice.
Working in positional drills to open the day, outside linebackers coach Mike Smith inserted himself into a wrap-and-roll tackling drill before surprisingly form tackled Murphy down on the crash mat — a superstitious trend Smith started during his time in New York with newcomers in his room.
Fellow linebackers observing started laughing and welcoming Murphy to the room.
“The best is when you see their face and you’re looking down and they’re just like looking up like what the heck,” Smith said with a laugh. “We work hard, we study hard, but have fun too, and enjoy it. Maybe helps him loosen up in the room and ask a couple questions and realize this is just a game. Don’t ever doubt yourself. The only way we can all learn is we all talk… I want everybody to be in this together.”
Protecting home turf
Since 2023, the Patriots are a league-worst 4-15 in home games. They know that must improve — starting with a Week 7 win over the Browns.
“Protect the house,” Stefon Diggs said. “We’ve been road warriors for weeks now. It’s time to get back to the crib, get back in front of our home crowd, and give them something to be proud of. Playing for that name on the back of your jersey and the front of your jersey. Building that energy at home is going to be huge going into the later part of the season.”
Bubba’s future
As the Cleveland Browns travel to Foxboro this weekend, Ray “Bubba” Ventrone will make his return to New England where he spent multiple stints as a player — where he overlapped with Mike Vrabel — and was a member of the coaching staff from 2015-17.
Now serving as a special teams coordinator for the Colts and Browns since 2018, Vrabel sees potential future head coach qualities in Ventrone.
“Great competitive spirit as a player. I mean, he was a Tasmanian Devil. Enjoyed the time with Bubba immensely. And then being able to be with him in Cleveland last year, it was fun to just see his relationship and connections with the players,” Vrabel said. “The way that he coaches, his energy, his evaluation of players. So, he’s done a great job in his role, and I’m sure that if presented with those opportunities, he would do an amazing job with any head coaching opportunities that would come his way.”
Week ahead
A two-game home stand will continue for the Patriots as they’ll prepare for an out-of-conference matchup with the Atlanta Falcons. Ahead of a matchup against another member of the 2024 QB class in Michael Penix, New England will likely maintain their typical in-season schedule in Week 9:
- Monday, Oct.. 27: Mike Vrabel media availability, player media availability
- Tuesday, Oct. 28: Day off
- Wednesday, Oct. 29: Practice, Mike Vrabel media availability, player media availability, injury report
- Thursday, Oct. 30: Practice, player media availability, injury report
- Friday, Oct. 31: Practice, player media availability, injury report
- Saturday, Nov. 1: Pre-game walkthrough, practice squad elevations
- Sunday, Nov. 2: Game day vs. Atlanta Falcons at Gillette Stadium (1 p.m. ET)
