New England Patriots
The Patriots need to avoid any more attrition after an injury-plagued win over the Ravens.
Welcome to Season 14, Episode 16 of the Unconventional Preview, a serious yet lighthearted, nostalgia-tinted look at the Patriots’ weekly matchup …
If you’re a Patriots fan, it’s endlessly amusing that a half-dozen years after Tom Brady’s exceptional 20-year run ended, the franchise has found another extraordinary quarterback in Drake Maye.
It’s especially amusing when you consider that the best quarterback in Jets history played when the franchise was in a different league, and by far the most legendary moment in franchise lore was Joe Namath’s victory guarantee before Super Bowl III. That’s right, III. The Jets have been waiting five decades for his true successor.
It’s not fair, but that’s how it is. And so the Patriots, in Maye’s remarkable second season, look for their 13th victory Sunday, and to finish with an 8-0 record on the road, which would be the third time in franchise history that they’ve achieved such a feat.
The Jets, under rookie coach Aaron Glenn, are a mess even by their standards. They’re 3-12 after a 29-6 loss to the Saints on Sunday, and undrafted rookie Brady Cook — who has one touchdown pass and six interceptions — will make his third start at quarterback.
The Patriots, coming off a come-from-behind 28-24 victory over the Ravens, should roll, providing that they don’t overlook a Jets team that is easily overlooked.
This one won’t be a battle with the Jets, but for a while it might be a battle with human nature after such a thrilling high last week.
Kick it off, Borregales, and let’s get this thing started …
Three players worth watching other than the quarterbacks
Rhamondre Stevenson: Most of the time when a Patriots player developed a fumbling habit during the Bill Belichick era, the player would become persona non grata for a while, relegated to the Stevan Ridley Doghouse For Fumble-Prone Ballcarriers.
For more than 20 years, Patriots fans were conditioned to expect major consequences when a player started coughing the ball up. So it came as a surprise when Stevenson — who led the NFL with seven fumbles last year — coughed up the ball twice in the 21-14 loss to the Steelers in Week 3. Maybe you’ll admit you were among them and maybe you won’t, but there were a significant number of Patriots fans who had seen enough of Stevenson for a while.
But Mike Vrabel didn’t bury him, saying the Patriots were counting on every player and noting that Stevenson had specific skills, such as an adeptness at blitz pickup, that were important to the team. He still didn’t bury him when Stevenson fumbled on the Patriots’ second series in the Week 5 win over the Bills, a game in which he later ran for two short touchdowns.
Looking back now, sticking by him was one of Vrabel’s best early decisions. Stevenson has just 425 rushing yards this season, with rookie TreVeyon Henderson emerging at the midway point as one of the most electrifying big-play running backs in the league. But he’s come through when the Patriots have needed him, including Sunday night against the Ravens, when he ran eight times for 51 yards, including the game-winning 21-yard touchdown run, and added another 27 yards on two catches.
With Henderson among the three Patriots (guard Jared Wilson and receiver Kayshon Boutte the others) in concussion protocol this week, Stevenson could have his heaviest workload of the season against a Jets run defense ranked 28th in the NFL (133.7 yards per game). It’s an opportunity he’s earned while rewarding his coach’s trust.
Jack Gibbens: Had to chuckle at Vrabel’s holiday-season-appropriate answer to whether Robert Spillane, who has missed the last two games with a foot injury (he dressed but didn’t play against the Bills), had a chance at playing this week.
“I don’t [believe so],” said Vrabel, “unless we get a Christmas miracle. Tiny Tim starts walking or something.”
Not-So-Tiny Spillane’s absence — barring that miracle — means that Gibbens will be anchoring the Patriots linebacking corps yet again. He’s done a fairly admirable job in the Next Man Up role. He led the Patriots with 10 tackles against the Ravens, and had 10- and 9-tackle games (against the Buccaneers and Jets) earlier this season when Christian Elliss was sidelined.
But it must be acknowledged that Gibbens is a backup for a reason — he’s not as fluid in space as even Spillane, a superb tackler who struggles in coverage. The Patriots still rank sixth in the NFL against the run (100.1 yards per game), but that number has been trending in the wrong direction for several weeks.
On Sunday night, the Ravens ran 33 times for 171 yards, and if not for the inexplicable decision by John Harbaugh (who has a history of inexplicable decisions against the Patriots) to bench Derrick Henry for the final two possessions, the Ravens might have held on for the victory.
The Jets running game is decent, ranking ninth with 124.2 yards per game. Running back Breece Hall ran for 58 yards on 14 carries in the first meeting with the Patriots, the most yardage a running back had totaled against them to that point. He hasn’t run for more than 68 yards in the past six games, but he needs just 46 yards to reach 1,000 for the season, so he figures to get plenty of opportunities.
Milton Williams: Oh, yes, it will be awfully good to have arguably their best defensive player back. Williams missed the past four games with an ankle injury suffered in the previous meeting with the Jets. He will help some against the run, though that aspect of the defense was starting to develop some fissures before his injury. But his greatest value will be as a pass rusher. Despite missing those four games, he still ranks third on the Patriots in sacks (3½, including one that locked up their first win of the season in Week 2 against the Dolphins) and is tied for third in QB hits (eight).
The flashback
The Patriots and Jets have met 133 times in their long history, which began with the birth of the American Football League in 1960. The Patriots have won 76 of those games, the Jets 56 (about 20 more than I expected), and there has been one tie.
Say, anyone out there remember the tie?
It’s certainly not recent. On Oct. 2, 1966, Namath and the Jets rallied from a 24-7 deficit with 17 unanswered fourth-quarter points to … well, decide nothing. Ties stink and they always have, no matter the sport.
In the next day’s Globe, columnist Harold Kaese was neither impressed with Namath and the Jets nor thrilled with the Patriots’ effort after taking a big lead behind a pair of Larry Garron rushing touchdowns.
“The Patriots should have piled it on against the Jets even though the game was on TV,” wrote Kaese. “They should not have been nice and stuck to the ground. The price they paid was a tie that almost ruined their first-place hopes for the season.
“The Jets may have left town still unbeaten, but they are hardly the A.F.L.’s answer to the Green Bay Packers,” he continued.
“Nor is Joe Namath football’s answer to Sandy Koufax. He threw a number of warheads in the fourth period, but only before Boston’s anti-missile defense had been drugged by all the duds he threw before that.
“Sometimes the pros are so unprofessional that losing rather than winning seems to be the game’s objective.”
OK, a couple of thoughts: As it turned out, neither the Patriots nor the Jets won the AFL East Division. The Jets started 4-0-1 but finished 6-6-2, even with Namath — who probably drew Kaese’s unfavorable comparison to Koufax because the ace lefty had just pitched the Dodgers to the pennant that same day — leading the AFL in passing (3,397 yards).
The Patriots were 1-2-1 after the tie with the Jets, but got it together and finished 8-4-2, the second tie coming against the Chiefs in their 10th game.
In a weird way, the ties did hurt them — they finished just behind the division champ Bills, who went 9-4-1. Thank goodness the NFL finally added overtime a few years after the merger with the AFL, in 1974.
Grievance of the week
Feels like I’ve been writing for two months now that there’s not much to gripe about with this team that has rocketed past all preseason expectations, at least from those of us outside of their locker room.
Even my (minor) complaint this week is tied to how good they are. It was a bit of a bummer to learn that only Maye and cornerback Christian Gonzalez made the Pro Bowl from a 12-3 team.
I would have liked to have seen cornerback/punt returner Marcus Jones — a game-changing player who has three interceptions, three fumble recoveries, and a pair of punt-return touchdowns — get a Pro Bowl acknowledgment. He’s a terrific player.
Tennessee’s Chimere Dike beat him out, and he is a worthy choice — he also has two punt-return touchdowns and leads the league in all-purpose yards (2,269). But Jones probably deserved that nod given how he’s contributed to his team’s success, whereas Dike’s Titans are 3-12.
As for other Patriots that should have made it? You can make cases for receiver Stefon Diggs, tight end Hunter Henry, and Williams, even though he’s missed the last four games.
But honestly, the players chosen over them were probably more deserving. Which reveals one more cool thing about this Patriots team: Vrabel and his staff are doing a remarkable job getting the most out of just about everyone on the roster.
Let me tell you, if he doesn’t win Coach of the Year, that’s when I’ll be committed to a grievance.
Prediction, or will the Jets ever intercept another pass?
The win over the Ravens had at least a temporary cost. Nine Patriots had to visit the injury tent during the game. Seven did not return. Eight players did not participate in Wednesday’s practice, including Spillane, Boutte, receiver Mack Hollins, cornerback Carlton Davis III, and linebacker Harold Landry. The Patriots will overcome their injuries against a hapless Jets team, but it’s imperative that they take care of business early and get out of this one without further attrition. Patriots 34, Jets 10.
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