One last look back on some behind-the-scenes stories from Patriots' 2018 season

ATLANTA -- I’ve had the great fortune to be able to tell a lot of stories about the Patriots this year. With the season set to end on Sunday, consider this list some of the stories behind the stories. In no particular order, here are a few of the most indelible personal memories I’ll take away from my time covering the 2018 Patriots.

1. It was hot. Really hot. And Danny Etling wasn’t coming off the field. The rookie quarterback kept throwing over and over and over again to fellow rookie Braxton Berrios. Practice had long since ended, but there was Etling, throwing and throwing and throwing. He finally finished, gathered up the pads for both Tom Brady and Brian Hoyer, and started wearily trudging off the field. I was one of the only reporters left, and as I saw Mark Robbins of Patriots’ PR approach Etling to gently steer him in my direction, you could see he had no interest in speaking with reporters. Not that he was standoffish or anything, but it was the end of a long, hot workout, and the last thing you want to do in that instance is talk to a reporter. But lucky for me, I was wearing an Indiana State T-shirt. Etling was born and raised in Terre Haute. (Coincidence? There are no such things as coincidences around Gillette Stadium.) Etling saw my shirt, came over and shook my hand. “I wasn’t going to stop for you,” he said with a smile, "but then I saw your Indiana State shirt.” He proceeded to talk for 20 minutes, and couldn’t have been nicer.

2. Isaiah Wynn was called out at the end of the in-stadium practice July 30. If you can catch a punt, he was told, the players will get two curfew-free nights. The big fella dropped back inside the 10-yard line. While Julian Edelman and Braxton Berrios were behind him, whispering advice, Ryan Allen let fly with the first one … that went right through his arms hands. After Edelman coached him up a bit — keep the elbows together, big guy — he got a second chance, and, well…



You never saw 90-something grown men so happy. And I'm pretty sure Lane Johnson has no idea what he's talking about.

3. The last preseason game can be a slog. The 53-man roster has been pretty much decided, the regular season is days away. Basically, everyone is just simply ready for the start of real football. This year — per tradition — the Patriots played the Giants in the preseason finale. There was no real story of importance going on between the lines, so I decided to go to the New York locker room and find Nate Solder, the former left tackle who signed with the Giants as a free agent. (As I was standing outside, a very loud security guys' walkie-talkie was blaring outside the Giants locker room. “TOM BRADY’S CAR IS ON THE LOADING DOCK. I REPEAT -- TOM BRADY’S CAR IS ON THE LOADING DOCK.”) As a sportswriter, you never know how those situations are going to go. Nate was unfailingly polite to me when he was with the Patriots, answering plenty of questions about offensive line play over the years. But how was he going to react? I staked out his locker, and he came around the corner. When he saw me, he had a big smile, and we had a great discussion about his time in New England, the greeting he got from his old teammates before the game, and his new life with the Giants. (At one point, he was explaining something, and for a second, I thought I saw a flash of regret when it came to his decision.) In the end, it was clear that while you can take the player out of New England, you can’t take New England out of the player: there were times when he was pressed about his experience with the Patriots, but the ever-thoughtful veteran (who always chose his words carefully) would preface things by saying, “I have to watch the way I say this…”

4. Keion Crossen couldn’t stop smiling. The rookie cornerback was one of the only guys in the locker room the day after final cuts came down, and he made it. He was on the 53-man roster. He talked to his parents — how did that go? “They’re happy parents,” Crossen said, smiling the whole time. “My Mom cried. My Dad is a little tough, so I don’t think he cried. He played a little hardball. But they’re happy. They’re definitely happy.” Crossen, a seventh-round pick who overcame all sorts of odds (he was the first in his family to graduate from a four-year college), would go on to contribute primarily as a special teamer and on the scout team. But that was one of those terrific moments that come around at the end of every summer.

5. “Foliage.”
“What?”
“Foliage. That’s Jan and Michael’s safe word.”

So we a lot of the conversations this year between myself and backup offensive lineman Ted Karras, one of the nicer guys you’ll ever come across … and one of the preeminent experts when it comes to trivia regarding “The Office.” Karras, who is going to make a great coach one day, always had a good word for me and others in the media. Just a good all-around guy, and he showed it again this season. (And like all right-thinking TV fans, he agrees with me the all-time best episode was "Dinner Party.")