Patriots News 12-31, Players To Watch Against Buffalo
(PHOTO: Isaiah J. Downing-USA TODAY Sports) 🕑 Read Time: 8 minutes
Posted Under: Patriots Commentary
(PHOTO: Isaiah J. Downing-USA TODAY Sports) 🕑 Read Time: 8 minutes
New England Patriots > Patriots Blog
(PHOTO: Isaiah J. Downing-USA TODAY Sports) Good morning, Happy Gameday, and a very Happy New Year’s Eve. From all of us here at @Patsfans.com, we wish you all a very happy, safe holiday weekend.
Quick thanks to my friend Michael R. who always sends some good comments and/or questions through email. He had a bunch of great observations this week, and we’ll be talking about those ASAP.
Here are our Sunday 12-31 Patriots news and notes for this week. We’ll add some of our key players to watch in the game from a Patriots perspective below.
The Patriots have had a rough time with Josh Allen since he found his footing in the NFL and have struggled to contain him both on the ground and in the air. But the last time the two teams met, it was Allen who struggled all day before getting hot and giving the Bills a late-game lead. But it was Mac Jones who heated up and led the Patriots to a late victory.
We’ll list our players to watch and keys to the game below.
Quick Hitters For the Patriots and NFL News:
Rodney Harrison: The former Charger and Patriot great is a finalist for the NFL’s Hall of Fame. And it is about time. Harrison was always a standout player known for his leadership, toughness, and physicality.
When one mentions toughness, who can forget Harrison breaking his arm in the Super Bowl against Carolina and then making a tackle on the next play? He remained on the sideline, refusing to go to the locker room with an air cast on his arm.
He came to the Patriots in 2003 and set the tone from the very first play of training camp, lighting up Troy Brown on a pass play. He was named a captain on the 2003 team and won back-to-back Super Bowls in 2003 and 2004.
Harrison became the first member of the 30/30 club, players with 30 sacks and 30 INTs. The only other player with that is Ray Lewis.
But during his time with San Diego, he also carried the reputation of a player who sometimes crossed the line from being physical to being dirty. That bias has carried over to his candidacy for Canton. Bill Belichick made his case for Harrison’s candidacy with a glowing endorsement. All of his comments are below.
Bill Belichick: Speaking of Bill, he also named five players (including Harrison) of his own “all-time team” with players that he coached. They included Tom Brady, Rob Gronkowski, Lawrence Taylor, Harrison, and current Patriot Matthew Slater. Belichick began his career as a Special Teams coach so it is no surprise that he picked Slater.
“Well, I think Slater is eventually going to be a Hall-of-Fame candidate,” Belichick said. “He’s in a very unique category, one that I don’t think is represented in the hall of fame, but based on what he did here in his career, the length of time he did and the level he’s done it at, and again since there’s no criteria for the hall of fame, there’s no criteria.
“But I would say this guy’s been as productive as anybody has ever been at his position throughout his entire career, which is very lengthy. I think he’s the best that’s ever done what he’s done. Whether that’s hall of fame worthy or not, that’s a different subject that I’m not… I don’t have a say in. But I can’t imagine putting anybody in there ahead of him at that position.”
Slater has been named to the Pro Bowl 10 times, and there are no players with 10 or more Pro Bowls who are NOT in Canton. He and Steve Tasker are two players who come to mind as worthy ST players.
Mack Wilson: Wilson has been one of the players who have thrived with an increased role due to the rash of injuries the Patriots have suffered this season.
Wilson was brought to the Patriots via a trade with the Browns and was used mainly as an off-the-ball linebacker a year ago. Jerod Mayo and Steve Belichick realized that they didn’t utilize Wilson properly and vowed to fix that.
“I would say, coming into this season, we said, ‘Look, we have to get this guy on the field. He’s explosive, he’s fast, he can play various roles,” said Mayo.
Wilson has been playing the hybrid role, moving between inside and outside linebacker, and has gotten a sack in each of the past three games. Wilson will be a free agent in 2024 but would like to return to the Patriots. He’s only 25, and his speed, athleticism, and new-found versatility should make him a priority to bring back next year.
Russell Wilson: The Denver QB has been benched for the final two games of the season, which points to his being released or traded this spring. Wilson told the media this week that back in late October, the Broncos wanted to renegotiate his contract and remove the injury guarantee that is tied to his $37 million dollar offseason payment. The team threatened to bench him if he did not agree. Now, it has come to fruition.
Head coach Sean Payton said that the move to bench Wilson was done for football reasons. Former Patriot Jarrett Stidham will start for Denver today against the Chargers. Wilson has posted on social media that he’s looking forward to playing next season. But it won’t be in Denver, so if the Broncos can’t find a team willing to take over his salary or work out a new deal, he’ll be released.
Patriots 4th & 2 Podcast: If you haven’t listened to our PatsFans.com podcast, Patriots 4th & 2”, in a bit, please check it out. Patriots 4th & 2 has expanded.
Derek Havens and I did a quick recap of the Chiefs game last week but didn’t record this week, given the ongoing travel due to the holidays. We’ll be back at it this Wednesday.
Russ Francis/Chuck Fairbanks: The former Patriot tight end and head coach should be in the Patriots team Hall of Fame, and the fact that Francis isn’t in is an absolute travesty. Francis and the Raiders’ Dave Casper changed the game with how teams used the tight end position…this will be on our Sunday posts until it happens. Casper is in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Francis’ numbers stand up well against Casper’s, yet he isn’t in the team’s.
Patriots Players To Watch Against Buffalo —
The Patriots and Bills meet in Orchard Park today, and the weather is expected to be very un-Buffalo-like, with kickoff temps around 36 degrees, very little wind, and no precipitation. So, the weather shouldn’t be a factor for either team.
The Patriots put together a great game plan to slow down/stop Josh Allen during the Week 7 matchup, and it worked until the 4th quarter. But they won due to Mac Jones having a terrific game and being able to hit the short/intermediate passes with consistency against a very good Buffalo defense, even with several players missing from that game.
Bailey Zappe: Now Jones is on the bench and Bailey Zappe is the starter until the end of the season unless he gets hurt. Zappe has brought much more explosive plays to the table by using his ability to move around the pocket.
But Buffalo’s already formidable pass rush should be getting back Da’Quan Jones this week. He’s expected to be activated on Saturday for this matchup. Zappe will face the improved pass rush, plus he’s struggled with the short/intermediate throws.
So Zappe and Bill O’Brien will have to find a way to get him in a rhythm without subjecting him to the Bills’ pass rush. Expect O’Brien to use motion once again to get some early down success and keep in front of the chains.
Antonio Mafi: The starting left guard has a very tough row to hoe when he faces off against Ed Oliver. For the New England offense to have any kind of success today, Mafi is going to have to hold his own against Oliver.
Oliver is explosive off the snap, and Mafi will need help in holding him off Zappe on passing downs.
Demario Douglas: Another offensive player to watch. The Patriots drafted a guy with speed, athleticism, and the ability to catch the ball. Look for him to get in motion for a freer release against the Bills’ Taron Johnson in the slot.
Douglas will have to be the safety valve, the blitz beater if the offense is going to move the ball and score points this week.
Christian Barmore: The young defensive tackle has really come on down the stretch and had three sacks against Russell Wilson last week. Look for him to tee off all game long, trying to disrupt Josh Allen’s timing and stop him from scrambling around. It was a game plan they used in Week 7.
The key here is to stop the resurgent Bills’ running game and to make the Bills one-dimensional, having to rely on Allen’s heroics, where they were middling this year before they went on a streak winning four of their last five.
Jonathan Jones: Jones has been the Patriots’ best cornerback this season despite playing hurt while suffering from a myriad of injuries. It will be interesting to see how they plan on using Jones, as Buffalo has been using all of their weapons during their recent hot streak.
Gabe Davis, who has torched the Patriots in the past, Stefon Diggs, Khalil Shakir, Deonte Harty, and TEs Dawson Knox and Dalton Kincaid give Allen a plethora of good targets in the passing game. Jones will play a big role in the secondary’s game plan.
I think the Bills’ defense will be too much for the Patriots to handle again. Zappe hasn’t shown the consistency in the short passing game to redo the recipe they used so well about 10 weeks ago.
Defensively, I think the Patriots will once again play hard and limit the Buffalo explosive offense… to a degree. But Allen will find a way to challenge the beat-up corners and win comfortably in the end. Buffalo 23-10.
Thursday Night Football:
Cleveland over NYJ 1-0
Saturday Games:
Dallas over Detroit
Sunday Day Games:
Buffalo over New England
Chicago over Atlanta
Indianapolis over Las Vegas
LA Rams over NYG
Green Bay over Carolina
Philadelphia over Arizona
Tampa Bay over New Orleans
San Francisco over Washington
Baltimore over Miami
Jacksonville over Carolina
Seattle over Pittsburgh
Denver over LA Chargers
Kansas City over Cincinnati
Sunday Night Football:
Green Bay over Minnesota
Last Week 11—5
2023 Season 153—87
2022 Season: 178—92—2
2021 Season: 183—88—1
2020 Season: 169—86—1
2019 Season: 162—93—1
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“Best safety I’ve coached. There are a couple of other ones I’ve coached that are in the Hall of Fame. Fantastic player, person, and great competitor. Could do it all.
“One of the most versatile players I’ve ever coached. He could cover. He really could play corner. He was a great blitzer. A great tackler. He was really hard to block in the running game, as a blitzer, and on kickoff coverage. Very explosive. 220 pounds, whatever he was. He was a thumper. He was a contact player. Ran well. Very instinctive. He did a great job of disguising coverages. Worked well with his teammates, you know, with Eugene [Wilson II] and some of the different safeties we had back there through his career.
“He’s just a heck of a football player. He’s one of the best I’ve ever coached. I mean, he’d certainly be on my all-time team without question. Behind [Lawrence] Taylor, but he’d certainly be right up there.
“A tremendous player. Great practice player, too. Made everybody else on the team better. If you practiced against him, you got better, or you got embarrassed, one of the two. He brought a level of competitiveness, intensity, and focus. Brought a higher level of practice to the team, which helped everybody. There are a lot of things that don’t show up in the stats or anything like that.
“Tremendous respect for what he did as a player. What he brought to our team. How much he meant to our team. What we lost when we lost him. We lost a great, great player. Monday through Monday. It wasn’t just on Sunday. What he brought to the team every day of the week. Every day, he walked into the building. Every time he stepped on the field. Was all positive and impressive. Certainly, I hope he gets recognized. I think he definitely deserves it. This guy’s a great football player. Great teammate.”
Bill Belichick, on being asked about Rodney Harrison, who was named a finalist for the NFL’s Hall of Fame.
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“Talent sets the floor; Character sets the ceiling.” Bill Belichick
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