{"id":37866,"date":"2021-09-19T05:00:47","date_gmt":"2021-09-19T09:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patsfans.com\/patriots\/blog\/?p=37866"},"modified":"2021-09-18T10:57:46","modified_gmt":"2021-09-18T14:57:46","slug":"patriots-news-september-19-players-to-watch-afc-east-notes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patsfans.com\/patriots\/blog\/2021\/09\/19\/patriots-news-september-19-players-to-watch-afc-east-notes\/","title":{"rendered":"Patriots News September 19, Players to Watch, AFC East Notes"},"content":{"rendered":"

Good morning, here is your <\/span>Sunday Patriots news 9-19<\/b>, and AFC East Notes.<\/span><\/p>\n

Welcome to Gameday, as we put out in our key matchups<\/a> on Thursday, this will be the first time in 125 meetings between the Patriots and the Jets that each team is starting a rookie quarterback. This brings a new dimension to the rivalry as each team is involved in a rebuilding process, although it seems Gang Green has done that quite a bit in recent years.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But in hiring Robert Saleh, it seems the Jets have made the right hire. And with Zach Wilson, going against the Patriots and Mac Jones, it could set the table for a long renewed rivalry that has been one-sided on the side of New England since Bill Belichick took over the reins. Both are 1st round draft picks and bring a lot of optimism on the part of the fan bases with them.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Have you checked out our PatsFans sortable stats for the Patriots? It is a great resource for all of the players on the roster.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Quick Hitters For the Pats, and the NFL:<\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

Stephon Gilmore:<\/strong> While many in the fanbase and media are openly wondering why Belichick hasn’t paid Gilmore yet, is it at least a possibility that the quad injury that Gilmore suffered is a much bigger factor than is being portrayed? I spoke with Karen Guregian earlier last week and we discussed this. Who would know better than the coaching staff how Gilmore looks when running. He’s now on the wrong side of 30 and this is about the same age where Darelle Revis lost a step. So we’ll have to wait until he actually (or doesn’t) appear in a game situation.<\/p>\n

Quinn Nordin: <\/b>The Patriots rookie kicker is expected to be placed on IR with an abdominal injury that will likely sideline him until November according to a report from NFL.com insider Ian Rapoport.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe hope is that, by November, he\u2019s back and able to kick,\u201d Rapoport said. Nordin was the only UDFA signed by the Patriots this spring and made the 53-man roster out of training camp. He was inactive for the Patriots game last week against Miami as the team called up veteran Nick Folk from the practice squad.<\/span><\/p>\n

Adrian Phillips: <\/b>The Patriot\u2019s safety was a key free-agent signing last season and his versatility certainly paid dividends, even in a 7-9 season where the defense overall took a step backward. However, Phillips had a very solid season, playing sub-package linebacker and notching 107 tackles, including seven for a loss. He also recorded a sack, two interceptions, and four passes defensed.<\/span><\/p>\n

But Phillips believes coming to New England, with Bill Belichick (take note dolts calling for BB\u2019s firing) has made him a much better player.<\/span><\/p>\n

I thought I had a pretty good handle on the league and how I attacked stuff, how I broke down film and things like that,\u201d Phillips said. \u201cThen I came here with Coach and being in this system and seeing how it\u2019s just, like, something totally different. Like, dang, there was a lot that I didn\u2019t know. It\u2019s been fun to learn it, and it\u2019s been a challenge to learn it, and I\u2019ve accepted that challenge and used it to help me grow a whole lot more.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSo I would say that I\u2019m a way better player than I was two years ago just from being in this system and learning something new.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Kyle Van Noy: <\/b>The Patriots\u2019 linebacker has been ruled out for the Jets game with a throat injury that kept him out of practice all week. The Patriots\u2019 injury list is getting longer this week. Kicker Quinn Nordin is expected to go on IR, TE Jonnu Smith was limited Thursday and Friday with a hip injury. Edge player Ronnie Perkins and tackle Yodny Cajuste were limited due to injuries.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Trent Brown who left Sunday\u2019s game early with a calf injury missed Wednesday and Thursday\u2019s practice but did return on Friday. He\u2019s questionable to play today.<\/span><\/p>\n

4th & 2 Podcast:<\/b> If you haven\u2019t checked out our <\/span>PatsFans.com podcast, <\/span><\/a>\u201cPatriots 4th & 2\u201d in a bit, please check it out. Derek, Russ, and I spoke with Clare Cooper about the upcoming season.<\/span><\/p>\n

Russ Francis\/Chuck Fairbanks:<\/b> The former Patriot tight end and head coach both should be in the Patriots team Hall of Fame…this will be on our Sunday posts until it happens.<\/span><\/p>\n

Bill Belichick Waxes at Length On Long Snappers:<\/b><\/h3>\n

Bill Belichick\u2019s Friday press conferences are usually ones to attend. With the work of the week normally complete, he tends to be relaxed and gives history lessons of the NFL.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

He was asked a question about carrying a long-snapper and went into a long soliloquy about the evolution of special teams in the NFL.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an interesting conversation. One that\u2019s really, I would say, honestly during the course of my coaching career, has kind of traveled that long and winding road from when I came into the league.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cFirst of all, there were no long snappers, but the specialists, the kickers, and the punters were frequently position players, and that\u2019s where they came from in college as well, so a lot of the good college punters and placekickers also played a position, and then as time evolved, starting with like [Pete] Gogolak and guys like that, you know, they specialized in kicking, and then you had some of the punters that specialized in punting, so players like Danny White and Tom Tupa and guys like that who were very good position players, you know, Gino Cappelletti, that evolved into specialists because of, I would say, the importance of the kicking game the number of plays that the kicking game and opportunities that it provided. Same thing with returners. There were very few just pure returners.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI think long snapping, to me, changed in the mid-\u201980s, and really the key guy in that was [Steve] DeOssie, in my opinion, because Steve was the first center that really, truly allowed a spread punt formation against the all-out rush. Prior to that, teams would generally pull. First of all, there weren\u2019t that many gunners, but when teams started using gunners, they would pull one in and kick away from the free guy on the backside, and that was kind of the idea that protection was not to let the snapper block against a nine-man rush with a split player.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe return team would have one guy on the gun or the split, and one guy returns, so you got nine guys rushing against essentially the punter who wasn\u2019t a blocker or the split guy who wasn\u2019t a blocker and the snapper who really wasn\u2019t a blocker, so it was nine on eight, and the idea was to block the most dangerous eight and let the ninth guy go and punt away from him. And then when the Cowboys went to spread punt and then the Cardinals followed that pretty quickly, and they kept two gunners split, and the snapper blocked a guy, then that created an eight on eight situations but put a lot of pressure on the snapper to deliver the ball 15 yards deep on the money and still block a good rusher offsetting and the A-gap.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, we\u2019ve all seen offensive linemen have trouble making that block on a pass play, and so now you\u2019re talking about a deep snap and a block, but as players got better at that, that skill became more, I would say, players became more efficient at that. Then teams decided to carry a long snapper rather than worry about getting a punt block. Plus, there was also a level of consistency and durability with those players, so if you lose a position player who is also a long snapper, you\u2019re looking at some real problems, and that evolved into the punters, for the most part, becoming holders because of the amount of time that they could spend with the kickers versus having a wide receiver or quarterback be the holder, which again, you don\u2019t see very much of that anymore. Assuming a punter is, you know, capable and good enough and has good enough hands to be the holder, and so then that kind of the whole unit has really evolved into, you know, specified snapper or a specified kicker, a specific punter, and generally the punter as the holder, so the three of those guys could work together all practice because they\u2019re all available.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI know, again, going back to when I first came into the league, you worked on field goals, and, I mean, it was maybe five minutes because that was only time the starting center and the starting receiver or backup quarterback or whatever were available to practice that, so, like, is it that hard? It\u2019s a pretty hard job. Yeah. It\u2019s a pretty hard job.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not as hard as it used to be because you\u2019re not allowed to hit the center, especially on field goals, and run them over. There are some limitations on the punt rush based on what the formation is and so forth, but generally speaking, it\u2019s a hard block, and I think you see most punt rushes attack the snapper. They loop guys back so the center thinks he\u2019s going right, but then he has to come back to the left, or maybe they fake like they\u2019re coming back, but they don\u2019t come back, so he not only has to snap, and so then that gets into whether you\u2019re a blind snapper and you look at the rush and just snap the ball, or whether you\u2019re a look back snapper and snap it, and then after the snap, you have to look up and recognize what\u2019s happened and make a proper block, but again, it\u2019s man-to-man blocking. Like that guy\u2019s got to block somebody or you\u2019re a guy short, so it is a hard job, and the accuracy of the placekickers through the years, which has gone up dramatically. Part of that\u2019s the surface. Part of that\u2019s the not kicking outdoors and so forth. Part of it is the operation between the snapper, the holder, and the kicker, which I would say, generally speaking, is at a pretty high level, which it should be in the National Football League.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI think if you go back and look at kicks from back when that wasn\u2019t the case, you see balls rolling back and the holder coming out of a stance that catches the ball and the kind of things you see at times in a high school game and that kind of thing. There\u2019s just a much higher level of skill, which there should be, but yeah. I think it\u2019s a pretty tough position, and nobody knows or cares who the snapper is if there was a bad snap, and all of a sudden, that\u2019s a front-page story. There\u2019s a decent amount of pressure on that player as well, and not just the snap, but also, as I said, to the block and punt protection. The roster sizes have increased. It\u2019s been a lot easier to carry that player just like it\u2019s a lot easier to carry a true returner, and so in terms of depth and availability, you know, you really don\u2019t want to be looking for one of those players in the middle of any time, in the middle of the game or middle of the season. But when you have him as a starting receiver, Lou Groza, a starting tackle, or whoever. Those guys and they\u2019re playing and something happens and not only do you lose a player, but you lose a key specialist as well, so yeah.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, it\u2019s a great question. There would be so much value in a player that could do a couple of things and save a roster spot, but I would say there are so few of those players available, even at the point where, you know, [Matt] Amendola did a great job last week. It\u2019s so rare that you even see a combination punter and placekicker. Usually, it\u2019s one or the other, and I think part of that is at one level it\u2019s, I\u2019ll say, relatively easy to put your foot on the ball, but at this level, you know, the difference in kicking mechanics and punting mechanics are so different that it\u2019s really hard to be good at both. But you know, if a guy\u2019s got a good leg and he\u2019s a good athlete and he can make good contact with a ball, there\u2019s a point where, high school, college, that maybe it\u2019s good enough. Maybe he\u2019s the best guy on the team to do that, but I\u2019d say at this level, that will be asking a lot.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"

Jake Bailey gets ready to punt in a preseason game against the Giants. USA Today photo<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cNow like Jake [Bailey] can punt. Jake can kick-off. Jake can kick field goals. To be at the kind of level you want it to be at, to have the person split their time between the two of those, again, I think is a lot to ask. I\u2019m not saying it\u2019s impossible or unheard of, but it\u2019s a lot to ask, and that\u2019s why you don\u2019t see it very much.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s a good question. It\u2019s really interesting, and I\u2019d say if you look at the evolution of those positions since I\u2019ve been in the league, but even a little bit before then, because that\u2019s really where it started to go was in the late sixties. I think [Pete] Gogolak was the first, or one of the first, where that trend really started to, OK, we\u2019re just going to keep a guy, and all he does is kick. [Garo] Yepremian and guys like that. That\u2019s all they did. That was a little bit unusual, but you know, gradually that has become the new normal.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

That was nearly 10 minutes and 1500 words…given his general demeanor at Friday\u2019s press conference…I like the chances of the Patriots even more so today.<\/span><\/p>\n

Patriots Players to Watch Today:<\/b><\/h3>\n

The game within a game today will no doubt be comparing the two rookie QBs and how they each fare in this week\u2019s matchup. However, here are our players to watch from a Patriots perspective today.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Mac Jones –<\/b> Jones was impressive in Week 1 but will be looking to improve on that performance, especially in the red zone. Jones did and said all of the right things after the loss to Miami which is an encouraging sign for the young QB as he leads the offense into this Week 2 matchup.<\/span><\/p>\n

He even showed a coolness on the field which was captured by video when former Patriot linebacker Elandon Roberts called out the play that the Patriots were going to attempt. Jones looked across the line, smiled, and winked at Roberts. \u201cI was like, \u2018Ah, nice catch,\u201d Jones explained.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Hunter Henry –<\/b> The Patriots signed two tight ends during free agency, Henry and Jonnu Smith, however, Smith has been limited with a hip injury and is questionable to play today, which should force the onus onto Henry this week in the passing game.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Henry had a quiet game against Miami with just three catches for 31 yards. But he should be gaining rapport with Mac Jones every week after he missed a chunk of training camp with a shoulder injury. Look for Henry to be targeted in the red zone.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Damien Harris –<\/b> Harris seemed poised to be leading the Patriots into a go-ahead touchdown late in the game against the Dolphins when disaster struck. His fumble around Miami\u2019s 9-10-yard line was the difference as the Dolphins recovered and then subsequently ran out the clock.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

All eyes will be on Harris, the Patriots lead back this week to see how he reacts on the field to the adversity. One person who isn\u2019t worried is running back\u2019s coach Ivan Fears.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll tell you, he\u2019s the kind of guy that will come out alright,\u201d said Fears.\u201d He was trying to make a play. And something along the line, you have to realize the situation we were in.\u201d Look for Harris to bounce back nicely this week.<\/span><\/p>\n

Josh Uche –<\/b> Uche didn\u2019t play a ton of snaps last week but did make a huge splash play, trucking rookie tackle Liam Eichenberg and then sacking QB Tua Tagovailoa. With Kyle Van Noy out with a throat injury, Uche should be primed for a much bigger role today.<\/span><\/p>\n

Uche had a very strong summer, many times appearing almost unblockable in his pursuit of the QB. Facing a mobile QB in Zach Wilson this week, the Patriots will need Uche\u2019s athleticism to keep him in check and putting pressure on him.<\/span><\/p>\n