In this week’s edition of the NFL Notebook, we look at the possibility of the Texans poaching talent from the Patriots’ front office, get New England player rep Matthew Slater’s thoughts on what’s next when it comes to the looming labor talks, and I talk to the guy who is currently wearing No. 17 for the Patriots to get his thoughts on whether or not he has what it takes to reverse the curse. But first, we ask one former New England back whether or not New England is going to be a run-first team heading into 2019.
1. A lot has been made about how with Rob Gronkowski retired, the Patriots’ offense is going to lean on their backs more than ever in 2019. But one former New England rusher believes that while the running game will remain as important as ever to the success of the Patriots, the overall philosophy of the New England offense is not going to change.
“I think you’re going to see what we’ve always seen from the Patriots is that they will sit back and try and scheme against a teams’ weaknesses,” said fullback Heath Evans, who was with New England from 2005 until the end of the 2008 season. “Bill (Belichick) will spend all week trying to find a weakness and strap it to them as long as he can. You will see teams out there in nickel and dime against the Patriots, even when there’s a fullback like James (Develin) in the field.
“This game is always about matchups. What are the two or three weak links on that defense? Bill’s goal is to keep them on the field as long as possible and beat them to death with their weakness. And when you have a fullback like James out there who is so trusted in pass protection, Bill and Tom (Brady) can constantly adjust.”
The Patriots leaned on their running game down the stretch and into the postseason, as James White, Sony Michel and Rex Burkhead led the charge. That trio figures to be joined this year by rookie Damien Harris and part-timer Brandon Bolden, back after a year in exile in Miami. Evans says expect them to power the ground game in 2019, but still utilized as part of a larger whole.
“With Bill and Dante (Scarnecchia) and Josh (McDaniels), it’s like when it comes to offense, they’re a three-headed monster,” said Evans. “I think they’re never locked into one scheme. They always look at a player and say ‘How can he help us,’ and they try and match that with the overall integrity of the offense for that week. And they’ll do that with these backs.”
2. Evans is an unabashed fan of Develin for a few reasons, particularly his work as a blocker.
“If we were comparing blocking ability, James is an A and I’m a D-minus,” he said with a laugh. “James sets the standard as far as hand placement, foot placement, understanding leverage on defenders, and knowing how not to get in the way of a play. But he also has tremendous vision, and he’s also very, very patient … which is impossible to teach.
“James is just so much more of a gifted blocker than I ever was, but he has such a good feel for the space around him. There are guys out there who get praise, but James just has it all from that standpoint,” he added. “It’s tough job — a fullback might only get 15 snaps in a game, and two of them are on the most crucial play of the game. He had so many of those plays last year, late in the year … man, you can strap that Lombardi on his back.”
3. With the Friday news the Texans fired GM Brian Gaine, it’s worth mentioning Houston put in a request to interview Patriots director of pro personnel Nick Caserio for the job, but were denied before speaking with and deciding on Gaine. I don’t think Caserio would be inclined to leave, but it’s worth speculating as to whether or not Houston would take another run at him this time around. And this story out of Houston by the estimable John McClain suggests the Texans could be interested in Director of College Scouting Monti Ossenfort, and adds that former Patriots’ character coach Jack Easterby has had a growing role in the organization since he was hired by Houston this past offseason. If Ossenfort did leave — and we’re not saying he would even be granted the possibility to interview, just setting up a hypothetical here — it would mark the second major loss to New England’s scouting department of the offseason. The Patriots saw national scout DuJuan Daniels leave to become a senior executive in Oakland. … As for the Jets’ GM opening that was filled Friday night by Joe Douglas, it might be the first time in NFL history that one agent (Jimmy Sexton) represents the GM, coach and franchise quarterback for one team.
4. In March, the NFL’s competition committee said a fourth-quarter pass to Brandin Cooks that was broken up by Stephon Gilmore in this past Super Bowl would have been ruled pass interference on Gilmore had it been reviewed. The play in question came one snap prior to Gilmore’s game-clinching pick, and involved contact between the defensive back and the wide receiver — on the play, it appeared Gilmore used his right hand to grab Cooks’ wrist just as the receiver began to draw his hands to his chest to try to haul in a catch. Asked about the play this week, as well as the news the league will make PI an increased point of emphasis this year with an increased challenge system, Gilmore remains undaunted.
“Just try and play with good technique,” he said when asked how to avoid getting flagged. “You can’t control what they’re going to do. Just play with good technique. Coach is always on us about having good technique and not committing penalties, and I try and do that to the best of my ability, so the other stuff happens, you just can’t think about it.”
5. The Patriots still haven’t officially announced Mick Lombardi’s role with the team, but if this past week’s minicamp is any indication, the son of Mike Lombardi (a certified friend of Bill) is the new Jerry Schuplinski — that is to say, the backup quarterback coach. Lombardi was a constant companion to rookie signal-caller Jarrett Stidham in much the same way Schuplinski shepherded the likes of Jimmy Garoppolo and Jacoby Brissett when they were in the infancy of their careers in New England. We’ll see if Lombardi can produce the same sort of results.
6. Asked Devin McCourty last week about the NFLPA’s state of mind with the end of the current CBA looming. This week, I wanted to go a little deeper, so I caught up with the Patriots’ main player rep, Matthew Slater, to get his take on the De Maurice Smith e-mail to agents encouraging players to save in case of a work stoppage, and what it means.
“I think it would be foolish of us not to advise our players to be prudent with their money and how they spend and save, whether we were facing the end of a CBA or not,” Slater said. “I think historically, we’ve seen our players have financial troubles, post retirement. Financial literacy is something we have been pushing, we keep pushing, and will continue to push. To me when I hear De say that, it’s just another piece of financial literacy. Certainly, it’s so soon right to talk about what will happen over the next two years with this CBA coming up. Right now, we’ll take this day-by-day, and see where we’ll end up with that.”
7. Damoun Patterson is a nice guy, so when I asked him about the Patriots and the Curse of No. 17 this week, he responded with a smile. The receiver, who was part of New England’s practice squad as a rookie in 2018, wore No. 4 at Youngstown State, and had No. 83 in his (relatively) brief stint last year with the Steelers and No. 15 in his stopover in Tampa Bay. He said he’s never had a special number in the past, so when he got to the Patriots and was handed No. 17, he didn’t think anything of it. When I told him the history this week, he smiled, and said he’s going to be the one who will flip the script.
“I never really cared about numbers in the past, so I just took whatever number they gave me when I got here. I’ll stay with it. I’ll change that tradition. I’ll do it,” he said with a big smile.
Patterson, who has an amazing backstory (homeless as a child, he ended up at three different colleges), is competing for a spot at the back end of the receivers’ chart, as well as a special teamer. His head was swimming at points last year after being signed by the Patriots in November, but says that with a full offseason in the New England system, he feels “more adjusted” to things in Foxborough.
“I understand the plays and the playbook now,” he said. “When I came in last year in the middle of the season, everything was moving so fast, it was kind of hard catching on, and it also being my rookie season, it was crazy. But now I feel better.”
8. Three numbers that stood out for me this week:
18: The number of regular-season games the league could go with, sooner rather than later. Phil Simms said this week that players would love the idea of more games — and more game checks — but many players are already pushing back on the idea. Roger Goodell is advocating for a shorter preseason, and some believe a reduced preseason could set the stage for a longer regular season. We shall see.
128: The number of consecutive regular-season games played for Stephen Gostkowski, good for fourth among all placekickers. It’s currently the longest streak among the Patriots.
529: The number of college touches (carries and receptions) for Damien Harris while at Alabama. That’s way below the workload White (716), Burkhead (695), Michel (654) and Bolden (562) all had as collegians. Two schools of thought here — even at this stage of his career, he has less wear and tear on his body than backs in a similar situation. And he’s comfortable being part of a running back rotation because he did much of it in college.
9. A closer look at some XFL rosters this week revealed that Pepper Johnson isn’t the only ex-Patriot who has joined up with the new league. Sugar Bear Hamilton, who played in New England from 1973 to 1981 and later served as a defensive line coach with the Patriots will be coaching the Washington team in the same capacity. Hamilton has coached in Tampa Bay, Atlanta, Jacksonville, Cleveland, and the New York Jets.
10. I’d expect a heavy last-week-before-summer-vacation vibe around Gillette Stadium the next several days, as there are two more OTAs scheduled (Monday and Tuesday) before the players are cut loose for time off before the start of training camp at the end of July. (We will have access to players on Tuesday.) But if recent history holds, Belichick could cut them loose for the summer before that. In 2018, Belichick called off the last two OTA sessions. One day, he and the team had a field day at Fenway. The second day had a turn back the clock day where he provided a football history lesson, complete with black-and-white recordings of old football plays, leather helmets on the practice field, and an old-school training table that featured hamburgers and hot dogs. In 2016 and 2015, Belichick called off the last round of OTAs. We’ll see what happens this time around.