Patriots News, 9-28, Move Diggs To The Slot? NFL Picks
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Good morning. Here is your Patriots news, 9-28, and NFL notes this week. The Patriots remain at home this week to face the Carolina Panthers. Home cooking, especially, and home-field advantage have been particularly detrimental to the team over the past few years.
Remember when… regardless of the opponent, the Patriots, when playing at home, were always chalked up as a near-automatic win? Those days are long gone. After starting the year 0-2 at home, the team has a 3-16 record at home over the past few years. That…is beyond bad. And needs to change ASAP.
Today would be a nice day to reverse that trend.
The Panthers looked bad the first two weeks of the season, and then curbstomped Atlanta 30-0 last week. Was that game an anomaly or was it the game that the Panthers turned the corner? We are about to find out later today.
This is the final game of the first quarter of the season’s schedule, which many found favorable to the Patriots. They sit at 1-2, and could easily be 3-0 or 0-3. That’s life in the NFL. Unless you are a top team, the line between winning and losing is razor-thin.
The Patriots have been on the wrong side of that margin thus far. The Panthers are also in the same boat, and have been…one of the worst teams in the NFL. Last week, we said the Steelers game was an early measuring stick type of game to see if they’ve turned a corner after a rare win in Miami. They failed, because they couldn’t hold onto the football.
Today is therefore another type of measuring stick type of game. Carolina is 2-17 on the road, facing a Patriots’ team that is 3-16 at home in the past few seasons. Something has to give. And here we are
Terrell Williams: The Patriots’ defensive coordinator, who has missed time with various physical ailments earlier this spring, has missed the past few games, with what has now been characterized as prostate cancer, as reported by Mike Reiss.
Head coach Mike Vrabel said Williams is in the process of undergoing treatment and meeting with specialists “to figure out the best plan to be able to attack this and heal it and allow him to get back to better health. Our medical staff and the people in this town have been fantastic to help him and get him started with that process.”
In his absence, inside linebackers coach Zak Kuhr will call the defense for the third game in a row.
“T is always a big part of what we do,” Kuhr said, and has added that Williams has been a mentor for him. “I just want him to know we are always thinking about him. Us as a staff, as a defense, he has a big impact on that.
Vrabel said that former Boston College linebacker Vinny DePalma has been taking on more of a responsibility due to Kuhr’s taking on the coordinator position. DePalma is in his second year as a Patriot linebacker coach.
Christian Gonzalez: The Patriots’ star cornerback is rated as questionable for the game today. But apparently he saw his workload increase this week at practice. Whether or not that means he finally makes his season debut this week is anyone’s guess, but I would think it does.
The Patriots secondary could certainly use his presence back on the field. Jared Wilson has already been ruled out and Ben Brown will take his place.
Patriots No Huddle Podcast: Derek and Mike broke down the game against Pittsburgh but also this upcoming contest against Carolina. I was beset by internet issues and missed out. You can find our podcasts on YouTube, Apple, or Spotify. Please take a look and leave us a review.
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 is an absolute travesty. Francis and the Raiders’ Dave Casper changed how teams used the tight end position.
This will be displayed in 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 even in the team’s HOF.
The Patriots are looking to get back to .500 this week against Carolina. The Panthers smothered Atlanta last week by feasting on turnovers and special teams mistakes, which is exactly why the Patriots lost last week to Pittsburgh. Something has got to give this week.
From a Patriots perspective, what must be done to win the game this week?
The Panthers are allowing more than five yards per carry this season. The Patriots have to pound the ball against that front seven to take advantage of play action passing and keep Carolina’s ball-hawking secondary off balance.
Will it be TreVeyon Henderson or Antonio Gibson getting the lion’s share of the reps this week? It seems fairly certain that Rhamondre Stevenson won’t be getting benched over his fumbling transgressions, but probably will see his snap count decrease.
The past two weeks saw the Patriots gain more than 100 yards on the ground each week. There is no reason why they can’t do so again against a team that allows 5.2 yards per rush. This week, they’ll focus on holding onto the football.
With the Panthers QB, one of the things their coaches like to do is to scramble Bryce Young outside quickly to get rid of the ball in under 2.5 seconds, targeting the middle of the field.
Young is only about 5’10, so keeping him inside around all those big bodies is paramount. And if they can take away his first read, he’ll be more prone to the interior pass rush and disruption of Milton Williams and Christian Barmore who will be facing a backup center and right guard this week.
Edge rushers Harold Landry, K’Lavon Chaisson, and Keion White’s job this week to pressure and contain Young. The defense will have their hands full with Tet McMillan this week.
The fact that Diggs has played in the first three games of the season is a positive. Many believed he’d be placed on PUP to start the season after tearing an ACL last October.
The Patriots haven’t gotten enough production from the WR position yet this season. And Diggs, who has played about 50 percent of the snaps may perhaps be ready for a bigger workload, now that he’s gotten his feet wet in the offense.
One way to do that would be moving him into the slot more. It is a position Diggs has played in the past, and in Josh McDaniels’ offense, the slot has traditionally been a big factor. DeMario Douglas was believed to be on tap for a big year in this offense, but through three games his stat line is a surprising five catches for 13 yards. That’s not getting it done.
Moving Diggs into the slot seems like a situation that would open up things underneath, allowing guys like Kayshon Boutte and Kyle Williams to have more room to operate in the intermediate zones.
“Throughout my career, I’ve lined up in the slot a lot. My first year playing, I played the X, and the second year, I played the Z and the F in a different offense. I’ve played in the slot a lot. I’m not uncomfortable anywhere,” Diggs said on Wednesday. “Wherever they need me, at this point, I have no issues if that’s outside or inside.”
With a new coaching staff, a new offensive philosophy and a slew of new players, we knew the offense was going to take time to gel. There have been bumps in the road, and turnovers aside, things are beginning to look better.
But for them to take the next step is for the passing game to improve. The majority of the production thus far has been through the backs and tight ends, now it is time for the WRs, and Diggs could be the guy to get that jump-started.
It was hard to root against Seattle on a short week, even on the road, against Arizona, as they had beaten them seven times in a row (now eight with a last-minute field goal).
Now we’ll see how the rest of the schedule goes.
Thursday Night Football:
Seattle over Arizona 1-0
Sunday Day Games:
Minnesota over Pittsburgh (Ireland 9:30 am start)
Washington over Atlanta
Buffalo over New Orleans
Detroit over Cleveland
New England over Carolina
LA Chargers over NY Giants
Philadelphia over Tampa Bay
Houston over Tennessee
LA Rams over Indianapolis
San Francisco over Jacksonville
Baltimore over Kansas City
Chicago over Las Vegas
Sunday Night Football:
Green Bay over Dallas
Monday Night Football:
Miami over NY Jets
Denver over Cincinnati
Last Week 10—6
2025 Season 34—14
2024 Season 204—68
2023 Season 178—94
2022 Season: 178—92—2
2021 Season: 183—88—1
2020 Season: 169—86—1
2019 Season: 162—93—1
“This is a hard business. This is tough. There’s a lot of dynamics that go to this. I mean, you guys have been spoiled. You guys had Tom Brady and Bill Belichick for 20 years.
“Let me just tell you, that’s fantasy land. We can call it what it is. And when you do this, you’ve got to have people that you trust implicitly, that are loyal, and he’s been that.
“When you get into a s*** storm, like you do during the season, and things, teams and rosters – he has an ability again to reach everybody. He always kept me in perspective. Very few people – was always willing to share his thoughts with me if I needed a guardrail.
“So, again, going through this thing for the first time and having guys like him with me, I’m very conscious of their ability to help me do my job and to help the team.”
Mike Vrabel was asked to about his defensive coordinator and friend Terrell Williams who was diagnosed with prostate cancer.
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“Somebody asked me what success looks like, and I said, ‘Yeah, you can judge it by wins and losses during the season, but success for me in the offseason is going to be that the players believe in what we’re doing, and they believe in the message, they believe in the teaching, and they believe in the connections that we’re making.’” — Mike Vrabel
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