NFL Notebook: Don't expect Garoppolo to offer comment on ESPN story

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


1. We’ve heard from the Patriots. We’ve heard from Alex Guerrero. Maybe the only guy left who was near the center of the ESPN story who hasn’t offered his opinion on what happened -- and could clarify some of the info in the story -- is former Patriots backup Jimmy Garoppolo. But don't look for him to be offering details. People in Garoppolo’s inner circle do not expect him to talk much, if at all, about the situation. (One of the things that Garoppolo learned from his time with Tom Brady? How to artfully dodge questions as well as pass rushers.) To be fair, Garoppolo has a lot of his own stuff to deal with right now, given the fact that the Niners have already started their offseason, and Garoppolo’s own future remains relatively uncertain because he’s a pending free agent. One thing a source close to Garoppolo did say was that there was no ill will at all between Brady and Garoppolo. “There was a genuine friendship between the two. They weren’t especially close, but they respected each other,” said someone close to the San Francisco quarterback.

2. In the wake of some of the quarterbacking stories we’ve heard around these parts over the last few days, it’s always interesting to hear from the third member of The Wolfpack, Jacoby Brissett. In this exit interview conducted a few days ago, Brissett didn’t get into the dynamics between Brady and Garoppolo, but did seem to indicate that he enjoys a really good relationship these days with Brady. “We kind of grew another side of our relationship,” Brissett said of the last few months since the deal. “I got to call him for advice and just to vent. We both vented at times. It’s kind of cool to see that side of him.” And Brissett said he’s not shocked about the possibility of Josh McDaniels as a head coaching candidate, particularly with the Colts. “It’s no surprise,” Brissett said when asked about McDaniels. “He’s a great coach. He’s been a head coach before. He’s had success. It’s no shock.”

3. I’m trying to figure out if this is a good thing, a bad thing, or just a thing. The Bears are one of the teams interested in McDaniels as a potential head coach. McDaniels’ brother, Ben, has been an offensive assistant with the Bears for two seasons. Would McDaniels be interested in being a part of the same staff as his brother? For what it’s worth, it’s not like Josh couldn’t just hire his brother if he took another job. But it’s certainly food for thought as he continues on the coaching interview carousel.

4. With the end of the regular season, I wanted to update our big board listing the total career regular-season catches via Brady. Given the relationship between Brady and Wes Welker, it’s remarkable that there’s another pass catcher that is now one good season away from supplanting the former slot receiver as Brady’s all-time favorite receiver (albeit in more games). Anyway, here’s our top 10. (Again, these are just regular season passes from

Most catches from Brady, regular-season games only:
1. Wes Welker (563 catches in 78 career regular-season games with Brady)
2. Rob Gronkowski (472 catches in 100 games)
3. Julian Edelman (397 catches in 99 games)
4. Deion Branch (328 catches in 89 games)
5. Troy Brown (323 catches in 84 games)
6. Kevin Faulk (310 catches in 117 games)
7. Danny Amendola (211 catches in 65 games)
8. Randy Moss (192 catches in 36 games)
9. Aaron Hernandez (175 catches in 38 games)
10. David Givens (158 catches in 53 career games with Brady)

Active players who are on the outside looking in at the top 10 are James White (119) and Dion Lewis (92).

5. Lots of fun numbers in the year-end edition of the NFL’s Next Gen Stats Pack. From a New England perspective, here are a few that stood out for us.

a) Lewis had the fourth-longest play of the year when he covered 123.6 yards in his 103-yard kick return in the November win over the Broncos in Denver. (Chicago’s Adrian Amos went 128.6 yards on a 90-yard pick six in Week Six.)

b) Dont’a Hightower has the team's fastest sack — 3.47 seconds in a Week Six win over the Jets. (The fastest was an unreal 2.03 by Jacksonville’s Calais Campbell in Week 15.)

c) Duron Harmon had the fifth-longest tackle of the year — he was the guy who chased down JuJu Smith-Schuster on the receivers’ 69-yard pickup late in the Week 15 win over the Steelers. Harmon covered 86.6 yards on the play. (Denver’s Emmanuel Sanders was tops with 107.3 yards after an interception.)

6. One of the reasons Brian Flores has been sought out as a potential head coaching candidate is the fact that the New England linebackers’ coach has also done a tremendous job this season as the guy in charge of red zone defense. The Patriots have made a habit this year of timely takeaways in the red area, which includes Harmon’s pick of Ben Roethlisberger in the end zone at the end of the win over Pittsburgh. Overall, New England is best in the league when it comes to red-zone defense, allowing opponents to score on just 72.9 percent of their trips inside the 20-yard line. “He always says every time we get a red area stop, we’re closer to winning the game,” veteran safety Devin McCourty said this week of Flores. “When we needed to play good in the red area, and we were able to complement each other, our offense comes in and they have a big drive, and if we give up three, they go get seven. And now? the pressure’s back on. And then, we get a red area turnover, and then we go score. Now we keep them at zero and get seven. That changes the game.”

7. We like the guys from Football Outsiders (full disclosure — I have written for them on multiple occasions), and we’re fans of their playoff odds page. Right now, when it comes to Super Bowl odds, their top three games all involve the Patriots. According to FO, there’s a 16.4 percent chance of seeing the “Randy Moss Memories Bowl” (New England and Minnesota), a 13.8 percent chance of the “Super Bowl XXXVI rematch” (Patriots and Rams) and a 13.2 percent chance of a “Super Bowl XXXIX rematch” (Eagles and Patriots). Check out their full list of possibilities here.

8. You want to scare the life out of a football writer? Ask him to make predictions, and then revisit those predictions at the end of the season. In August, I went all-in on a dozen over/under regular-season scenarios for the 2017 Patriots. Click through to revisit my thoughts, and feel free to mock accordingly. By my count, I got seven of them right and four of them wrong (but I was close on a couple). One should be wiped off the board — Julian Edelman’s production — because of injury. Not bad. Not great, but not bad.

9. The usually low-key David Andrews was pretty happy this week, as the Georgia product had a lot of pride regarding his alma mater and its performance in the Rose Bowl against the Oklahoma. “The best college football game I’ve ever seen,” Andrews told me a few days after the double overtime win over the Sooners. He hasn’t yet had a chance to talk with Alabama guys like Hightower and Cyrus Jones about a potential wager for the National Championship game.

10. If you’re a Patriots’ fan watching the National Championship Game, you might want to keep an eye on Alabama linebacker Rashaan Evans, who some draft pundits believe could be headed to the Patriots if New England keeps its pick at the end of the first round. The 6-foot-3, 234-pounder — who wears No. 32 — has played on the inside and outside over the course of his career at Alabama. He has 13 sacks in three seasons, including six this past season, good for second on the team.



11. In addition to Evans, here’s a complete look at what some draft pundits are predicting the Patriots will do if they keep their pick at the end of the first round:

SI.com — LB Rashaan Evens, Alabama
CBS Sports — LB Rashaan Evans, Alabama
USA Today — DE Sam Hubbard, Ohio State
SB Nation — DE Sam Hubbard, Ohio State
Draft Tek — WR Christian Kirk, Texas A&M
San Diego Union-Tribune — CB Joshua Jackson, Iowa
NFL Draft Scout — DL Taven Bryan, Florida

12. Last week against the Jets, the Patriots were hit with four penalties for 49 yards (not counting the flags that were declined or offset). At the close of the regular season, New England ended with 95 penalties (seventh-fewest in the league) and 835 penalty yards (eighth-fewest). The Patriots opponents committed 111 penalties (ninth-most) and 1,035 yards (sixth-most). Kudos to McCourty, who played 1,029 snaps this season (per Pro Football Reference) and did not commit a single penalty. Among the offensive starters, the lowest penalty award goes to guard Shaq Mason, who played a team-high 1,136 snaps and committed just one penalty this season. The highest, via NFLpenalties.com (which include penalties declined or offset) were:

Nate Solder: 9
Rob Gronkowski: 8
Stephon Gilmore: 7
Jonathan Jones: 5
Brandin Cooks: 5

By way of comparison, here’s a look at how the Patriots have done in the penalty department the last five seasons.

2016: 93 penalties, 819 yards
2015: 96 penalties, 859 yards
2014: 120 penalties, 1,080 yards (most of the Belichick/Brady era)
2013: 69 penalties, 625 yards
2012: 97 penalties, 840 yards

(For some perspective, the lowest total of the Belichick Brady era came in 2008, when it was 57 penalties for 501 yards).

13. Wild card picks? I’m glad you asked. Chiefs, Rams, Jaguars and Saints. (More playoff picks from Greg and me here.)

14. The strange thing about this coming week? The Patriots will prep for a divisional game on Saturday night against the Bills, Chiefs or Titans, so they’ll reconfigure the schedule within the walls of Gillette to make Saturday feel like a Sunday. That means they’ll just push their usual schedule back a day. So if you hear a player get the day of the week wrong, no worries. They’ve just tweaked their schedule accordingly.