Friday Patriots Notebook 1/23: Key Player Returns to Practice
Patriots Notebook: Mack Hollins Returns, Sean Payton's Super Bowl Talk, O-Line Challenges
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Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel didn’t sound too optimistic earlier this week when it came to wide receiver Mack Hollins as the team started preparing for the Denver Broncos.
Apparently, things appear to have taken a positive turn.
Hollins was back out at practice on Thursday, which opens the window toward a return from injured reserve. He’s been out of the line-up since he suffered an abdominal injury back in Week 16.
That saw Hollins miss practice the following week ahead of their game against the Jets, before he was eventually placed on injured reserve on December 27th.
On Thursday, the veteran receiver was limited during the session, but the fact that he was back out there was definitely encouraging. Hollins’ contributions go beyond just being a pass catcher. He’s been one of New England’s most reliable receivers in the ground game from a blocking standpoint, which is something he’s received praise from Vrabel about all season.
Getting him back would be a nice lift, although it remains to be seen if he’ll be available this weekend. The good news is that he at least appears a little closer to returning, which at this time of year is certainly invaluable.
Meanwhile, both linebackers Harold Landry (knee) and Marte Mapu (hip) sat out of Thursday’s session, as did center Garrett Bradbury (illness). Landry was in action last weekend but saw limited snaps, while Mapu also saw time on defense in addition to his normal role on special teams.
Denver head coach Sean Payton made a curious comment this week during his press conference, which came as he praised fans for the environment they’ve created both during the regular season and playoffs.
“You’re going to have plenty of rest after this one,” said Payton. “Two weeks.”
Those two weeks he’s referring to imply that they’ll have another opportunity to make noise in Santa Clara during the Super Bowl, which would be Denver’s next game should they advance this weekend. Obviously, they still need to get past New England, and it sounds like Payton is feeling pretty confident his team will do just that when the two teams meet on Sunday.
Those comments obviously made their way back to New England, and Vrabel was asked about Payton’s comments on Thursday and whether or not he believes in bulletin board material.
“I think we’re plenty motivated for the game,” said Vrabel. “I think that our players are continuing to build confidence through the week. So I’m really excited to go out there and play.”
Heading into Sunday’s game against the Broncos, New England’s offensive line will again be facing a tough defense.
The Broncos have names like linebackers Jonathan Cooper and Nik Bonitto, as well as defensive end Zach Allen and John Franklin-Meyers, all of whom are relentless and are a big reason why Denver joins New England sitting one game away from the Super Bowl.
Left tackle Will Campbell is someone who is in the spotlight this week, largely thanks to his struggles last week against Houston’s Will Anderson. The rookie had a difficult time throughout the game, which followed another week where he was in a dogfight against a tough Chargers defense.
He looked pretty frustrated with himself after the game, and former center David Andrews talked about it this week during a radio appearance with 98.5’s Zolak & Bertrand. Andrews feels that Campbell’s in his own head a little bit abd added that the rookie needs to realize that at this stage, the competition is simply the best he’ll see.
While he’ll need to play his best football, one thing Andrews learned over the course of his career was that if his team manages to come out on top, Campbell needs to just enjoy it and move on.
“He’s in his own head about it,” said Andrews. “And look, hey, it’s going to be okay. We’re going to fix this. Dante [Scarnecchia] was so great about that. ’16 Steelers, we played them in the divisional round. That was [Jadeveon] Clowney, [Whitney] Mercilus, all these guys. We struggled that game. It wasn’t a great offensive game. Deion Lewis had a kickoff return touchdown, and we ended up winning the game pretty well. But I was down and out. Bill walks in the locker room. All he said to us, ‘If we play like that next week, we’ll be sitting on the couch.’ That was it. Walked out of the room, and I’m like, ‘Oh, my gosh. I gave up two sacks that game,’ doubled my sack total.”
“And Dante came over to me, and I didn’t see this clip of Will walking off, but I was down. I was bad. I played really bad. And Dante was like, Look, enjoy that you won. Don’t worry about it. Never take for granted how hard it is to win in this league. And he goes, ‘We’ll fix it this week.’ And we ended up going against the Steelers.”
“Had a great game against the Steelers. We rolled the Steelers to go to the Super Bowl. To me, it’s like not all hopes’s lost. He could be fixed. And if he is healthy enough to play, it can be fixed.”
Vrabel was asked on Thursday about the altitude and how it might affect someone like Christian Barmore, considering his blood clot battle in recent years. When asked if there might be some limitations with his young defensive lineman, Vrabel said, “No, certainly something that we have to monitor. There are some players that we’ll have to monitor for one reason or another, but I don’t see any limitations for Christian.” … One thing to potentially watch for this weekend could be trick plays, which Payton has done a good job of implementing in the past. Vrabel was asked about that as well and said it’s not just the plays, it’s the timing of when they’ve been called that has been so impressive and his team will need to be ready for them. “I think you just have to play defense. You have to go and play with a certain speed and aggressiveness, and then obviously what your keys tell you to do and where your read would tell you to go and cover,” said Vrabel. “Certainly, the timing of when he’s called some of these things has been impressive. Then again, when you call those, then it’s up to the players to make it work. And they’ve done a good job of making those plays work. But the timing in which some of these things have been called have been good.” … It appears that rookie defensive tackle Joshua Farmer continues to make progress as he works to come back from injured reserve. He was a full participant for the second straight day on Thursday. … Joining Farmer is Terrell Jennings, who passed concussion protocol and was also out there for his second practice this week. … Offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels had high praise for Rhamondre Stevenson on Thursday, noting how valuable he’s been this year in so many areas. “He’s very dependable,” said McDaniels. “I think if you’re in the game as a pass catcher, you have to also be in there as a blitz protector. If all you can do is go in there and release into the patterns, it’s hard to hide that from the defense. So I think his ability to block blitzes and protect the quarterback has allowed him to play a role as a pass catcher, and I think he’s improved significantly in both of those areas over the course of his career. He’s got a broad route tree, really good hands, and a really good understanding of what to do to help the quarterback and be friendly to him. Just not a lot that I wouldn’t say complementary about ‘Mondre in the passing game.”
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