MORSE: Cleaning Out the Patriots Notebook 10/1

It was great to write so positively after a Patriots game. However, keep in mind who they were playing against. This Sunday Night they are playing a real and legitimate contender to reach the Super Bowl.

How Good Has Drake Maye Been Through 4 Weeks?

ESPN QBR: 11^th69.4

Stat Muse: 5^th 109.4

EPA/play: 4^th

EPA 8^th

CPOE: 5th

Success rate: 7th

Yards: 6th

Yards/attempt: 6th

Completion %: 1^stStat Muse 74%

First TD: 8th

Passer rating: 5^th

Remember that Sunday’s game would have been equal to a full rookie season’s worth of games.

According to Rich Eisen of ESPN, “Drake Maye is 100% taken the biggest leap and playing the best out of anybody that was drafted in the first round of last year’s draft.”

Top 5 PFF Position Player Grades

G Mike Onwenu – 86.5
WR Stefon Diggs – 85.7
QB Drake Maye – 76.5
OT Will Campbell – 72.9
TE Hunter Henry – 72.4

Marcus Jones 92.3 Grade as a Punt Returner leads the league.

Week 4 PFF Grades for Offensive Line

	Season Rank	Overall	Pass Blk	Run Blk
Campbell	63.8 (35)	72.9	77.6	68.1
Brown *	68.3 (10)	68.3	68.1	56
Bradbury	60.3 (22)	70.3	57.2	71.5
Onwenu	66.7 (23)	86.5	78.3	83
Moses	57.1 (40)	65	82.3	53.9

* Listed as a Center

Rank is based on players that have played 3 games

Campbell Efficiency of 97.0% – Only Laremy Tunsil and Dion Dawkins were higher. I also just saw a pancake block that Campbell (LSU) made on fellow rookie DE Nic Scourton (Texas A&M) in the game on Sunday. Campbell owned him when they played against each other in the SEC. There is You Tube video available that shows every pass snap when the two players were matched up against each other.

NE patriots Offensive Lime is ranked 5^thi in Efficiency Pass Blocking metric

How good was the line

Campbell Clean Sheet

Brown 2 Hurries, 2 Pressure, 0 Sacks

Bradbury 2 Hurries, 1 Pressure, 0 Sacks – His worst game pass blocking and still No Sacks through 4 games.

Onwenu 1 Hurry, 1 Pressure, 0 Sacks

Moses Clean Sheet

Josh McDaniels kept passing even when Carolina focused on stopping the run in the second half. If the Patriots establish their ground game, defenses will need to switch to man coverage instead of zone, creating seam openings for tight ends and chances for downfield throws to Boutte and possibly Kyle Williams.

I’d like to see Marcus Jones get a few snaps as a WR, even just as a decoy to make defensive coordinators adjust their plans. A WR screen could let Jones use his speed in open space.

Milt Williams, Khyiris Tonga and Keon White are on the “Gray Team” Punt Return squad. It appears that the Patriots were anticipating some type of fake punts from their 45-yard line. Head Coach Vrabel touched on this at his post-game press conference stating that this group gets some pressure up the middle, delaying the defenders from getting downfield and opening up gaps in their punt coverage lanes. All three were on the field for the Jone Punt Return TD. I will also add that the gunner on Jones side of the field went flying past Jones as he fielded the punt at the 13-yard line. He anticipated that Jones was faking fielding the punt and went to down the punt inside the 5-yard line.

Coming and Going

The Patriots added Sebastian Guttierez (OT) and Andrew Rupcich (G) to the Practice Squad,

Gutierrez, aged 27, joined the National Football League as an undrafted free agent from Minot State in 2022. Standing at 6-foot-5 and weighing 308 pounds, he attended rookie training camp with the Denver Broncos before spending a week on the New England Patriots’ practice squad in October of that year. Gutierrez has subsequently been affiliated with the Las Vegas Raiders, Kansas City Chiefs, Cleveland Browns, San Francisco 49ers, and Indianapolis Colts. His professional career includes several returns to previous organizations and two appearances as a standard elevation.

Rupcich, 26, previously overlapped with head coach Mike Vrabel. The 6-foot-6, 325-pound product of Culver-Stockton, an NAIA school, joined the Tennessee Titans as an undrafted free agent in 2022. He remained in Nashville until being released from the practice squad on Monday. Rupcich appeared in 12 games, starting a pair, over the course of 2023 and 2024 and finished last campaign on injured reserve.

To make room, the Patriots released guard Jack Conley and defensive tackle Fabien Lovett from the Practice Squad.

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About Mark Morse

Merrimack Valley native and lifelong fan of the New England Patriots. My earliest memories of the Patriots were attending as a child with my dad, the off-season practice at Phillips Academy. I was at the Patriots game at Harvard Stadium in 1970 where Bob “Harpo” Gladieux was called out of the stands by the stadium announcer over the PA to play in the game. Analyzing the draft since ESPN first started to televise it in 1980 and former writer for the Lowell Sun Newspaper.

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