NFL Notebook: James White part of a new generation of Patriots' ironmen

Taking a weekend trip around the NFL with a focus on the Patriots…



1. Heading into the start of the 2016 season, the Patriots lost their two leading ironmen in quarterback Tom Brady and linebacker Rob Ninkovich, both of whom sported consecutive games played streaks of more than 100. With their suspensions to start last year and Ninkovich’s retirement, New England has been forced to hit the reset button when it comes to finding a spot among the league leaders in consecutive games played. Now, heading into Sunday’s contest against the Panthers, the Patriots have three players among the league leaders at their positions when it comes to consecutive regular-season starts: kicker Stephen Gostkowski, defensive lineman Alan Branch and running back James White. Gostkowski has played in 99 consecutive games, tied for fifth in the league among kickers. (Green Bay’s Mason Crosby is tops at 164.) Branch has now played in 43 straight games, fifth at defensive tackle. (Denver’s Domata Peko is tops at 115.) And White has played in 27 straight games, fifth among running backs. (Indy’s ageless Frank Gore leads with 99 straight.)

2. Through three games this season, veteran linebacker David Harris has played just seven snaps. To provide you with some sort of context, that’s just six more defensive snaps than Rob Gronkowski. (More on Gronk the defender in a second.) But according to some of his fellow linebackers, his presence on the roster goes beyond what he brings to the field. Harris has been a sounding board for some of his younger teammates. “Working with David has been great for me, because I’m able to ask him questions,” said linebacker Elandon Roberts. “Stuff I see, I come to the sideline when the defense is coming on or off the field or even in practice. I ask him ‘Hey, what did you see on this play? Can I do this? Should I do this more?’ When we’re in film and I’m watching I’m or if he’s watching me — if I’m watching him, I pick his brain, like ’Why did you do that?’ If I do something, I’ll ask ‘Do you think I did that well? Or should I do it another way?’ I mean, he’s been in the game 11 years. Come on, now. David is a real cool, humble guy. If he opens that big brain up to me, that 11 years of knowledge? I’m taking that in. That’s just the kind of guy he is.”

3. One leftover from my conversation with Damien Woody this week about Brady’s first start included a question I had about Dante Scarnecchia: What makes him such a good offensive line coach? Woody, who was an offensive lineman in New England from 1999 through 2003, said he played for two great offensive line coaches in Scarnecchia and Bill Callahan, but the genius of Scarnecchia is in the details. “The dude is such a stickler for the little things, the details,” Woody said of Scarnecchia. “I know it sounds cliche-ish, but trust me when I tell you that when it comes to offensive line coaches around the league, a lot of them are sloppy. You could ask them detailed questions about what you need to do to succeed: ‘Is my angle wrong on that block? What about my feet or hand placement?’ And they’ll come back at you and say, ‘I don’t know. Just go block the guy!’ Well, no (expletive). I know I need to go block the guy. You’re supposed to be my coach and tell me what to do.’ Dante isn’t like that. Every day in practice he was repetitive, but he was also creating building blocks. He’d never stray from the fundamentals; he’s a grinder about footwork and hand placement angles and everything. I’ve probably had nightmares about him yelling at me, but those things were always harped on, and he never relented from that.”

4. Got my hands on an early screener of the latest NFL Films story on the Patriots, a look back at the Tuck Rule game, set to air on Oct. 5 on NFL Network This one isn’t as exhaustive as some of the other New England-centric work NFL Films has done over the last few years, but it’s still a fun ride at everything that took place that evening, as well as the ramifications for all involved, including a look at how it was the first step that ultimately sent the Raiders reeling into a decade-long stretch of irrelevance. One story that was fun hearing was the story from former Oakland exec Amy Trask, on how Raiders owner Al Davis was trying to decide on picking Jon Gruden or Bill Belichick as a head coach in 1998. “That was the first and only time Al involved me in a coaching search, and I recommended that he hire Bill Belichick,” she says in the documentary. “The thing that stood out to me the most was how smart he is. I learned later from someone that there’s an expression there’s an expression for that in the New England area: Wicked smart. I’d never heard that before. But boy, he is so intelligent. Everything he said impressed me.” Davis went with Gruden, but the mind reels at what might have been: Bill Belichick in the Silver and Black?

5. Here’s the complete list of confirmed free-agent workouts in Foxborough this week:

C Gino Gradkowski (Delaware)
DB Harold Jones-Quartey (Findlay)
G Nate Theaker (Wayne State)
G Earl Watford (James Madison)

Easily the most intriguing name of that group is the 28-year-old Gradkowski. An interior offensive lineman who has played for the Ravens, Broncos, Falcons and Panthers, the 6-foot-3, 300-pounder was placed on injured reserve and released by Carolina earlier this month after spending the 2016 season with the Panthers. In the context of this conversation, you could also see the Patriots bringing in Gradkowski to quiz him about the Carolina scheme, as he played 235 snaps with the Panthers last season and was with them all summer long. Basically, if you wanted to find a guy who knows how to make Cam Newton uncomfortable, Gradkowski is probably your best bet on short notice.

(It's also worth mentioning that Mike Reiss of ESPN reported Friday that the following players were also in for workouts this week: linebacker Austin Calitro, center Anthony Fabiano, linebacker Cam Johnson, offensive tackle Jake Rodgers and offensive tackle Victor Salako. Given the Patriots' struggles when it comes to depth at offensive tackle, it wasn't a surprise to see a pair of tackles in town. And Fabiano is a local guy -- he went to Harvard, and is from Wakefield.)

6. Gronkowski was having a good time at the podium on Thursday talking about a few different things, including the fact that he was out there on defense for the last play of the game against the Texans. Gronkowski was playing a deep safety role to prevent the Hail Mary, a job that had gone in years past to the likes of Randy Moss. He was pretty proud of his defensive work, including the fact that he played defensive end in high school. (According to his Arizona bio, as a high school junior, he had 73 tackles and six sacks at Williamsville North High.) His self-scouting report as a defensive player? "If they put me at D-end ever, you'd see I'm a hybrid D-end. Maybe one day I'll switch to it. I've thought about that." It sounds ridiculous on the surface, but for a team that’s seen Julian Edelman, Troy Brown and Mike Vrabel get reps on both sides of the ball, it’s something worth filling away.

7. From spending time in the New England locker room over the last month or so, one thing that’s pretty evident is that Edelman is still spending a lot of time around Foxborough. We haven’t had a chance to speak with him, but passing his locker every day, it’s clear that he’s been a fairly consistent presence at Gillette. Edelman has always had his stuff spread out around his locker, and even though he’s been out of the lineup with a knee injury, the sprawl in the area around his locker makes it look like he hasn’t missed a day of work. It’s unclear what his surgery schedule looks like — I know that in many cases, when you’re talking about knee surgery, the swelling needs to go down before the doctors can operate — but he certainly hasn’t disappeared. (For what it’s worth, kudos to Edelman and our friend Tom E. Curran on the impending release of Edelman’s book, “Relentless.” It looks like a winner — order your copy here.)

8. In this week’s edition of “The Belestrator” on Patriots.com, Belichick said offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels overheard how Texans cornerbacks Jonathan Joseph and safety Andre Hal would react the next time against the wide receiver while allowing a first down. “I think Hal was telling Joseph, ‘The next time they do this, you are going to trap and I'm going to go over the top.’” According to Belichick, that was one of the reasons why they decided to tweak one of their passing plays, a sequence that led to a big 47-yard touchdown pass from Brady to Chris Hogan. But now, Joseph is saying not so fast. "I read that and heard something about it," Joseph said Friday when asked about Belichick’s story. "I don't know if there's any facts to it or if it's correct. I think I know that one particular play they're talking about, and we weren't in that same particular coverage. So that's why the two stories don't match up together." For more on Joseph’s take, check out the story in the Houston Chronicle.

9. On Sunday against the Texans, the Patriots were hit with five penalties for 69 yards, not including the calls that were declined or offset. Through three weeks, that’s 20 penalties (12th fewest) for 190 yards (15th fewest). Here’s a breakdown of the flags that have gone against the Patriots this season:

Most penalized players, listed by total flags and with total yardage lost:
Team: 3 (Delay of Game, Illegal Shift, Defensive 12 men on the field), 16 yards
CB Stephon Gilmore: 2 (Defensive Pass Interference, Unnecessary Roughness), 49 yards
OL David Andrews: 2 (2 Offensive Holding), 20 yards
ST/RB Brandon Bolden: 2 (Running Into the Kicker, Offsides — both special teams), 10 yards
CB Malcolm Butler: 1 (Defensive Pass Interference), 20 yards
LB/ST Harvey Langi: 1 (Facemask — special teams), 15 yards
ST/S Brandon King: 1 (Unnecessary Roughness — special teams), 15 yards
OL Marcus Cannon: 1 (Offensive Holding), 10 yards
WR Brandin Cooks: 1 (False Start), 5 yards
LB Kyle Van Noy: 1 (Illegal Contact), 5 yards
TE Dwayne Allen: 1 (12 Men On The Field), 5 yards
DE Trey Flowers: 1 (Defensive Offsides), 5 yards
CB Jonathan Jones: 1 (Defensive Offsides), 5 yards
ST LB Cassius Marsh: 1 (Running Into the Kicker — special teams), 5 yards
QB Tom Brady: 1 (Illegal Forward Pass), 5 yards

Most penalized by position
Special teams: 5 penalties for 45 yards
Cornerback: 4 penalties for 74 yards
Offensive Line: 3 penalties for 30 yards
Team: 3 penalties for 16 yards
Quarterback: 1 penalty for 5 yards
Defensive Line: 1 penalty for 5 yards
Tight end: 1 penalty for 5 yards
Wide receiver: 1 penalty for 5 yards
Linebacker: 1 penalty for 5 yards

Most frequently called penalties
Offensive Holding: 3
Defensive Offsides: 2
Running Into the Kicker: 2
Unnecessary Roughness: 2
Defensive Pass Interference: 2
Illegal Forward Pass: 1
Defensive 12 men on the field: 1
Facemask: 1
Offensive 12 men on the field: 1
Illegal Shift: 1
False Start: 1
Delay of Game: 1
Offsides: 1
Illegal Contact: 1

(Oh, and not that we’re interested in jinxing him, but Gronkowski has now gone three games without taking an offensive pass interference penalty.)

10. Last week, I was 8-8. On the season, I’m 31-14. This week, I’ve got the Packers, Saints, Jaguars, Patriots, Titans, Steelers, Vikings, Falcons, Niners, Broncos. Bengals, Rams, Eagles, Bucs, Seahawks and Chiefs.

11. Strange week looming for the Patriots. They’ll play Sunday at 1 p.m. at home against the Panthers, but will face a quick turnaround, with a Thursday night game in Tampa Bay looming. That means they’ll get back to work quickly, with light work on Monday and a busy day Tuesday before (in all likelihood) holding a walk-through before leaving for Florida on Wednesday. With the short week, it results in a stretch of three games on 12 days — the most game action in a two-plus week stretch they will face at any point in the 2017 regular season. One of the things that distinguished the 2016 team was their mental toughness, which was on full display when they won three games in 12 days late in the regular season to burnish their resume and show they had championship character. It’s early in the season, but three games in 12 days will provide a glimpse into whether or not this team has what it takes to replicate the work of the 2016 bunch.