NFL Notebook: 2017 Patriots find themselves at early crossroads

NEW ORLEANS -- Taking a Sunday-morning trip around the NFL with a focus on the Patriots…

1. Nate Solder is a smart guy who chooses his words very carefully. And so what he said in the wake of last Thursday’s surprising defeat to the Chiefs — “The thing that’s going to define this team is how we react to this loss” — shouldn’t be considered a hyperbolic statement. After Week One’s shocking result, Sunday’s game should provide an early-season litmus test when it comes to their mental toughness. Can they respond to the challenge of a road test in New Orleans? On the surface, it’s an unfair proposition; after all, they have to find a way to make it all work in the Superdome without Julian Edelman, Danny Amendola, Dont’a Hightower and Matthew Slater. But as Rich Ohrnberger told us, the level of expectation is highest inside the walls of Gillette Stadium, and that’s not going to change this week. (That's one reason why it was relatively muted around Foxborough this week.) Just ask the quarterback, who has thrown some shade in the direction of his teammates in his last two appearances at the podium. The good news is that they’re still on the short list of teams that are genuine Super Bowl contenders. And history tells us that when it comes to early-season challenges, they find a way to figure it out. But the bottom line is that the 2017 Patriots find themselves at a surprisingly early crossroads. To Solder’s point, how they respond will provide a glimpse into just what they’re capable of going forward.

2. The Patriots will put one of their most impressive streaks on the line Sunday in New Orleans against the Saints. Dating back to the start of last season, New England has won eight in a row away from home. (The 2016 Patriots were one of only seven teams in the history of the league to win eight regular-season road games in one year.) The mental toughness needed to consistently win away from home became one of the hallmarks of the ’16 team, and it will be interesting to see if the 2017 team will be able to keep that train rolling Sunday against the Saints. As my colleague Greg noted here, the Superdome doesn’t provide New Orleans with the same home-field advantage that it used to, but it’s still a challenging venue for road teams. (For what it’s worth, the Patriots current road win streak is nice, but still pales in comparison to the gold standard: The Niners won 19 consecutive road games between the middle of the 1988 season and the end of the 1990 season.)

3. The Patriots will have Slater and Devin McCourty as their primary NFLPA reps again for the second consecutive year, according to a league source. Both are holdovers from last year, as they both served as reps last season and elections are every two years. The duo remain as well-respected a pair of players as there is in the New England locker room, which makes their status as union reps a slam dunk. They have both served as team captains since 2011, as while other reps have come and gone in recent years — including Rob Ninkovich — the Slater/McCourty duo assures that the roster will continue to have excellent representatives at the table if player issues are raised over the course of the next year.

4. Two Bill Belichick history lessons to think about this week: One, this interview from Football Outsiders where the coach went in-depth about his time with the Giants and what made some of those defenses so special. And two, in his press conference on Friday, he was asked about the fastest guys he had ever coached. He named Slater, Randy Moss and former Giants defensive back Perry Williams off the top of his head. At the same time, he also made sure to note that when it comes to measuring speed, it’s different for different distances — basically, speed at all three levels is what’s ideal. One thing that we also took notice of was the fact that when Cooks’ speed was mentioned, his first comparison was to Deion Branch, something we’ve noted in the past. “You look at a guy like Deion Branch. He didn’t have that kind of top-end speed that some receivers had, but initially off the line of scrimmage, getting into the route fast,” he said. “McCourty is another guy that has probably good speed at all three levels – 20, 40, 60 kind of speed. (He) can run well at all of those spots.”

5. One of the little offbeat things that struck me over the last week — and the season opener against the Chiefs — was the size of Cassius Marsh’s shoulder pads. The newcomer, who was acquired from the Seahawks just before the start of the season, has remarkably small shoulder pads. While most shoulder pads have two levels of padding, Marsh has just one, making it look like he’s hardly wearing pads at all. I know he was really close with Michael Bennett when the two were teammates in Seattle, and Bennett also has remarkably small shoulder pads. Marsh said this week that part of it was something he picked up from Bennett, but it’s also a comfort thing for him. He can stretch his arms freely and have a greater range of motion. As for the acclimation process to the Patriots’ system, it’s coming along, but he acknowledges there were struggles last week against the Chiefs when he was targeted by Kansas City quarterback Alex Smith after being matched up on Kareem Hunt. It will be interesting to see his role Sunday against the Saints.

6. Remember the days when the Patriots’ roster consistent entirely of guys from either Rutgers or Florida? No more. Now, the two schools with the most guys on the roster are Michigan (Tom Brady, Alan Branch and David Harris) and Stanford (Johnson Bademosi, Cameron Fleming and Jordan Richards). In addition, there are two each from Rutgers, Arkansas, Auburn, Brigham Young, Arizona, Nebraska, Texas Tech and UCLA. There are one each from several other schools, including Alabama, Georgia, Clemson, Florida, Miami, North Carolina State and Texas. (If you include the players on injured reserve, Alabama and Georgia have two each.) Overall, Alabama and LSU tied for the most players on NFL Kickoff 2017 active rosters with 39 each. LSU has ranked first the past three years, with 42 players in 2016, 40 in 2015 and 38 in 2014 on Kickoff Weekend rosters.

7. In that same vein, the NFL had a breakdown of every opening day roster, and how each team stacks up against each other when it comes to things like height, weight and age. According to the league, the Patriots and Bucs are tied when it comes to the most players on their roster under six feet. (Both are 13.) However, New England is middle of the pack when it comes to players under 200 pounds — the Patriots have eight. By way of comparison, San Francisco has the most with 13. And New England had 10 players 300 pounds or over — only 10 teams have fewer than 10. In terms of overall experience, the Patriots’ roster has an average of 4.74 years of service in the league, tied with the Bills for the highest average in the AFC. And with five first-year players, they have the least amount of rookies in the league.

8. With the news that Jacoby Brissett has been named the starter for Sunday’s Colts game against the Cardinals, here’s a look at how some of Brady’s backups have done in their first start after leaving New England.

A) Matt Cassel: 9-20-09 with Kansas City: 24-for-39 for 241 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions in a 13-10 loss to Oakland

B) Brian Hoyer: 12-30-12 with Arizona: 19-for-34 for 225 yards with one touchdown and one interception in a 27-13 loss to San Francisco.

C) Ryan Mallett: 11-16-14 with Houston: 20-for-30 for 211 yards with two touchdowns and interception in a 23-7 win over Cleveland.

D) Drew Bledsoe: 9-8-02 with Buffalo: 26-for-39 for 271 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions in a 37-31 loss to the New York Jets

E) Damon Huard: 9-17-06 with Kansas City: 17-for-23 for 133 yards in a 9-6 loss to Denver.

9. Here’s who we have this week when it comes to our picks. (Last week, I was 11-3.) This week, I’ve got the Texans, Ravens, Bucs, Steelers, Patriots, Chiefs, Titans, Cardinals, Panthers, Raiders, Dolphins, Seahawks, Rams, Cowboys and Packers.

10. After opening on Thursday night and then having to endure an extra stretch before going back on the road for Week 2, the Patriots will slip into more of a regular-season routine this week as they prep for Houston to come to town. While the details still need to be worked out, expect a relatively normal work week for New England, with the practice week starting on Wednesday and rolling through Friday. The Patriots and Texans will kick off next Sunday at 1 p.m. at Gillette Stadium. It’ll mark the first “Sunday at 1” game in Foxborough for New England since last Christmas Eve against the Jets.