NFL Notebook: Patriots facing most important practice week of season

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



1. After six months, the Patriots have arrived at the most important week of practice of the season. Sure, a sizable part of it is because they’re headed for the biggest game of the year. (And you also need to make sure guys who are banged up like Rob Gronkowski, Deatrich Wise and Malcom Brown are sufficiently ready to go.) But in the wake of Super Bowl wins and losses over the last dozen-plus years, the outcome of many of those games can be traced to how things went in practice in the days leading to the big game. In the days before Super Bowl XLII, several players indicated they had an awful week of practice, which set the tone for the upset loss to the Giants. Conversely, the wins over the Eagles (Super Bowl XXXIX) and Seahawks (Super Bowl XLIX) were marked by exceptional practice weeks where players and coaches were fully engaged, set aside potential distractions and showed the mental toughness needed to finish the job. This week, multiple players indicated the next few days aren’t about putting the topper on the 2017 season, but looking for a few final things — matchups, tendencies, whatever — that might provide an edge come Super Bowl Sunday. To that end, one last good week remains paramount. It’s also about maintaining the focus and putting in the sort of week that’ll be necessary to beat a team like the Eagles. The Patriots can’t afford to do anything less.

2. I am an admitted special teams honk, so when Rick Gosselin’s annual special teams rankings are released, I have to hold myself back from writing something on it the day it’s released. He revealed his 2017 rankings this week, and Gosselin had the Patriots as the third-best special teams unit in the league, trailing only the Rams and Chiefs. (The Ravens and Cowboys round out the top 5.) Gosselin’s formula involves the league’s 32 teams being ranked in 22 kicking game categories and assigned points according to their standing – one for best, 32 for worst. Overall, Los Angeles finished first in six of the categories and runner-up in five others, and were a Top-10 finisher in 18 of the 22 categories in these special-teams rankings. As for the Patriots, they were particularly strong in coverage, finishing third in the NFL in kickoff coverage (18.8 yards) and fourth in punt coverage (4.56 yards). It’s an interesting and informative study, one that Bill Belichick has acknowledged in the past.

3. In no particular order, here are our four favorite moments from “The Two Bills” with Belichick and Bill Parcells, which will be shown on ESPN Thursday at 9 p.m.:

a) The uncomfortable moments. The two are sitting at a table in the Giants’ locker room in a conversational setting, and the camera allows us to see the reaction when one person says something. It never gets edgy, but you can sense some awkwardness when things like their respective relationships with Robert Kraft and Belichick’s abrupt departure from the Jets (which created some frostiness between the two) are raised.

b) The video of Belichick’s resignation from the Jets. In year’s past — and with not much archival footage seemingly available on YouTube — it was recalled by some to be a bit of a mess. But he comes off pretty well, all things considered. Belichick also explained what was at the heart of his decision to leave the Jets.

“Essentially, the problem I had with the whole arrangement was when all this transpired, there was no owner,” he said. “Mr. (Leon) Hess passed away after the (1998) season. There were two potential owners, (Woody) Johnson and (James) Dolan. I hadn’t spoken with either one, but I had issues with both. The whole ownership configuration was a major factor in my decision.”

c) How skeptical some of the Giants confess to being about the arrival of the formerly mustachioed(!) Belichick and what he might contribute to the coaching staff. “I thought, ‘You’ve got to be kidding me,’ ’’ said Lawrence Taylor. “This guy never played football in his life. He’s probably used to ping-pong or something.’ ”



d) The sight of the two coaches walking through the Giants’ Legacy Club and peering at the four Lombardi Trophies. Belichick and Parcells acknowledge the two they won together in New York, and then, Belichick points to the other two: “These are the two we gave’ ’em.” Parcells chimes in: “You should’ve never lost that one game. Tyree.” And at the very end, the two are standing there on the exterior of MetLife Stadium, and they arrive at the conclusion that producers want to get footage of them walking through the Jets locker room. Both scoff and decide to take a pass.

There’s a ton more — it’s certainly appointment for viewing for any Patriots fan curious to know the origin story of Belichick and the Patriots.

4. I got a terrific question this week from my friend and reader Jason Notte Flint, who wondered if I knew the last member of the Patriots to actually play in the Pro Bowl. My first guess was someone from the 2015 team, the one that made it all the way to the AFC title game in Denver before falling just short. But it turns out that while seven members of the Patriots were named to that AFC Pro Bowl roster, no New England players ended up playing in that year’s game. It looks like you have to go all the way back to January 2014 to find a member of the Patriots who played in a Pro Bowl: In that classic showdown we all remember between Team Rice and Team Sanders, kicker Stephen Gostkowski (Team Rice) and special teams captain Matthew Slater and offensive lineman Logan Mankins (Team Sanders) were part of the glorified flag football game at Aloha Stadium in Hawaii. Team Rice ended up with a 22-21 win, with Gostkowski delivering a couple of extra points in the win.



5. Niners GM John Lynch said it makes too much sense for his team not to sign Jimmy Garoppolo to a long-term deal. “When you find the right guy at that position, it’s really good for your franchise,” Lynch said while speaking at the Senior Bowl. “We believe we found the right guy. Now, the challenge is getting Jimmy signed. We’re working hard toward that. We’ll see. I think he wants to be with us and we want him there. So I think it makes too much sense not to happen … it’s just a matter of getting it done.” Garoppolo’s rookie contract runs out on March 14; however, the 49ers can apply the franchise tag at any point between Feb. 20 and March 6.

6. Good to see old friend Romeo Crennel return to his post as defensive coordinator with the Texans after Mike Vrabel departed for the head coaching job in Tennessee. Crennel is one of the really nice people in the game, and the reaction of the players says a lot about what they think of the 70-year-old, who spent several seasons as the defensive coordinator in New England more than a decade ago. (For what it’s worth, Crennel is also in “The Two Bills.”) Some of the defensive issues in Houston last season were because of a rash of injuries to the likes of J.J. Watt and Whitney Mercilus, but it’s hard not to notice that with Crennel as the DC two years ago, the Texans defense finished ranked first overall in total defense and was 11th in the league in scoring defense (20.5 points per game). This past season, Houston was last in the NFL in points allowed per game this past season, surrendering an NFL-high 27.3 points per game. “He has all the pelts on the wall,” Texans Pro Bowl cornerback Johnathan Joseph said of Crennel. It’ll be interesting to see the progression of the Houston defense with Crennel back in charge and a healthy Watt.

7. Love hearing the news that former Patriots linebacker Tyrone McKenzie could be in line for a promotion if he ends up joining Vrabel’s staff in Tennessee. McKenzie, a third-round pick of New England in 2009, was an amazing story: he worked overnight at a Hampton Inn to support his widowed mother who was injured in a car accident. Despite those setbacks, he earned second-team All-Big East at University of South Florida. A knee injury robbed him of his rookie season with the Patriots, but after he was released, he ended up with shorts stints with the Bucs and Vikings. Last year, he was an assistant special teams coach with the Rams, and could now end up joining Vrabel’s staff with the Titans. A good guy who deserves to have good things to happen to him.

8. Twitter released some stats on how the NFL season played out on social media this past week, and the Patriots were revealed as one of the most Tweeted about teams in the league. Brady was the most Tweeted about player during the regular season and the early stages of the playoffs with more than three million mentions. The three most-mentioned Patriots players this season were Brady, Gronkowski and James Harrison. And the Week 1 loss to the Chiefs and the Week 15 win over the Steelers were two most-Tweeted about games of the entire NFL regular season.

9. Last Sunday against the Jaguars, the Patriots were hit with one penalty for 10 yards. That makes five penalties for 47 yards in the two postseason games, not counting flags that were offset or declined. Here’s a look at who was whistled for what:

DB Brandon King: 1 (unnecessary roughness on special teams), 15 yards
LB Marquis Flowers: 1 (offensive holding on special teams), 10 yards
LB Nicholas Grigsby: 1 (offensive holding on special teams), 9 yards
DL Lawrence Guy: 1 (offensive holding on special teams), 8 yards
CB Eric Rowe: 1 (illegal contact), 5 yards

10. It’s going to be a fun week in Minneapolis. Greg and I are schedule to leave here Monday around midday, and we’ll be at opening night at the Xcel Energy Center, where Patriots’ availability will be 8:10 p.m. to 9:10 p.m. Here’s a look at New England’s media availability for the rest of the week (all times EST), as well as some of the other things we’ll also be covering.

Tuesday: 12 noon-12:50 p.m.
Wednesday: Commissioner Roger Goodell press conference 2-2:30 p.m.
Wednesday: 5 p.m.-6:15 p.m.
Thursday: 5 p.m.-6:15 p.m.

For those of you who are going to the game, we are currently trying to put together a BSJ meet-and-greet sometime later in the week. Stay tuned for updates.