When the Friday Bag gets started a little late and bleeds over into the early-morning hours of the weekend, it suddenly becomes a Saturday Bag. Them’s the breaks sometimes during a busy week. No matter, though. Different name. Same great content, thanks to your questions. Let’s get right to them.
Hey, Rich. There’s been some great reporting done on this by both Charles Robinson from Yahoo and Jeremy Fowler of ESPN. Robinson describes the Patriots as being caught “flat-footed” by the lawsuit. Fowler reported that the reason the Patriots might’ve been caught off-guard was because of a confidentiality agreement in place between Antonio Brown and Britney Taylor and therefore Drew Rosenhaus wouldn’t have been at liberty to discuss it with Brown’s latest employer. Those reports would indicate that conversations never rose to the level of discussing evidence that would potentially exonerate Brown in this situation while he’s facing allegations of rape. We have very little idea of what exists in terms of pertinent evidence here. Is it possible the Patriots knew more than the general public did when Brown was signed? Perhaps. But there’s nothing to suggest at this point that they knew he’d be facing these allegations in a civil suit two days after agreeing to terms with him.
Not anticipating Brown’s release any time soon, Ken, but it’s a good question about Meredith. He’s sort of the forgotten man in the receiver equation. Unfortunately, the reason he’s somewhat forgotten is that it’s been a while since he’s been a relevant NFL player. He had nine catches in six games last season. He missed all of 2017 due to knee issues. He’s sitting out this portion of the season with knee issues. I think it’d be asking too much to expect him to come anywhere near approaching his 2016 when he had 66 catches for 888 yards, but his frame (6-foot-3, about 200 pounds) and ceiling when on the field made him worth a flier this offseason. My guess is the Patriots are hoping they don’t have to activate him this season. Their receiver room is deep as it is. He’s missed a great deal of time, obviously. To me, it’d make much more sense to keep him on PUP, see if he can get healthy with a season off, then re-insert him into the mix in 2020 and see what he can do. If the Patriots stay healthy at that spot with Brown, Julian Edelman, Josh Gordon, Phillip Dorsett, Jakobi Meyers and Gunner Olszewski it’ll be tough to find a roster spot for one more.
https://twitter.com/tpalladino34/status/1172493438530588672?s=21
Hey, Pixie. You’re right. The run-blocking last week was surprisingly ineffective. Sony Michel averaged less than a yard per carry. Even on one of the best runs of the day, Rex Burkhead has to make a defender miss in the backfield with a ridiculous lateral cut to create positive yardage. I think that might’ve been a product of Pittsburgh’s strong front more than anything. Any time you can catch Shaq Mason and Marcus Cannon off-balance, you’re doing something right. I’d expect the run game to be an area of focus on Sunday but keep an eye on Cannon’s status. I’ve been told it’s not as bad as it looked, but if he can’t play then it’ll just mean more shuffling for an offensive line that’s had to deal with a lot of that through the early part of the season.
You’re all over it, Tom. We know Bill Belichick wants to be a game-plan team and it looks like he has the talent on both sides of the ball to do exactly that. In Miami, offensively, I’d expect them to try to run it. They won’t want to go through multiple games this season without putting positive run plays on tape. And that should work. The Dolphins allowed over nine yards per carry against 21-personnel packages last week. Anticipate the Patriots using James Develin and Sony Michel to see if Miami has that part of its defense figured out. Defensively they should be able to do what they want. The Dolphins offensive line was not good last week, allowing three sacks and 12 quarterback hits in their first game without Laremy Tunsil. The Patriots have enough talent up front to win one-on-one and without cooking up much in the way of complex rush plans. Could mean a lot of four-man rushes where they play coverage and force Ryan Fitzpatrick to make good decisions and accurate throws to beat them.
On Bolden, he’s dealing with a hamstring injury and is questionable. It wouldn’t shock me if they held him out. Don’t want a soft-tissue injury like that to linger long-term. The Patriots nutrition staff handles everything on the road when it comes to feeding players. They may hit a local spot for meals that fit with their pre and postgame plans, but they make those calls depending on what it is they feel like the team needs to a) perform on game day and b) recover as quickly as possible after. Hydration will be key, and it has been a focus all week, as it’s expected to be close to 90 degrees and humid.
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Hey, Chris. I think there is a chance. Gunner Olszewski was very good in that role last week, but the Patriots may want to manufacture a few extra touches for Brown to get him involved, and the punt return game is a pretty good way to get that accomplished. Brown hasn’t returned a punt since 2017, but he’s handled 186 in his career. Of course, the Patriots won’t want to put Brown in harm’s way, and he’d have to be willing to do it. But they only have three players dealing with injury and will have to make seven inactive. If they want to get Brown a little extra work and make Olszewski a healthy scratch, I don’t think that’s out of the realm of possibility. I haven’t heard that that’s what will happen. But I could see it.
Funny you should ask. I wrote about Brown’s best routes earlier this week, suggesting that the easiest way to get him incorporated would be to run him on slants and go-routes. He averaged over nine yards per target on slants last season and over 14 yards per target on go-routes. The Patriots could start with simple patterns like that and build from there as he gets more integrated into the offense. They certainly won’t ask him to know the full playbook. Remember: Josh Gordon played just 18 snaps in his first two games played with New England. He ran a good deal of slants and back-shoulder fades. Could see something similar with Brown only he’s fast enough where he can succeed with go-routes and shouldn’t have to mess around with tough-to-execute back-shoulder completions.
OK with both moves, RT. The receiver depth was getting unwieldy. Even with a few players who aren’t exactly the definition of the rod dependable. Someone had to go. And with Thomas dealing with multiple hurdles to contribute this year — Achilles recovery as a 31-year-old, new offense, new quarterback — he made the most sense to deal away. I was comfortable with the Patriots parting with Hoyer as soon as we saw what Stidham can do. He’s a viable backup and the Patriots don’t keep two of those when they can get away with just one. Roster spots elsewhere are too valuable.
Hey, Snir. Appreciate you checking in, my friend. I think Roberts’ usage was the product of a couple of things. No. 1 is that he’s simply behind Ju’Whaun Bentley on the depth chart. Both are strictly off-the-ball linebackers, which also happens to be Dont’a Hightower’s primary spot in the defense as well as an area where Jamie Collins can contribute as well. Lotta bodies there. No. 2 was game flow. The Steelers are a team that wants to throw, throw and throw some more as it is. When they fall behind early, as they did, they’re only going to get even more pass-happy. Roberts is not a passing-game player, leading to the reduced snap count. He’ll get in there in base situations and short-yardage spots. But unless there are injuries, and there will be as there always are at that position, there’s a chance he sees more time on “teams” than in the defense.
Good question, Wally. We know Marcus Cannon’s injury isn’t serious enough to take him off the active roster and land him on injured reserve. So why the need for multiple backup tackles? This could be a situation where the Patriots know there are going to be weeks moving forward where Cannon’s status is touch-and-go. If he’s a game-time decision at some point in the near future — including this weekend, as he’s officially “questionable” — and it’s determined he can’t play, then the Patriots would likely need both backups in uniform: Korey Cunningham and Marshall Newhouse. One would start and one would be the swingman. That’s my view of it, at least. Then, whenever they’re out of the woods on Cannon’s injury, you might see the Patriots part with one of those two in order to open up the possibility for depth elsewhere. The Patriots could cope without Cannon by having Joe Thuney as the backup tackle, which he was last week, but he’s not a right tackle. Never played it before as a pro and the footwork for someone in that situation is difficult. That’s why keeping two tackles makes sense. If Cannon can’t play, Newhouse might have a shot to start even though he only recently joined the team. Cunningham has played only left tackle as a pro (349 snaps as a rookie last year), while Newhouse has seen 2,653 snaps on that side of the line since 2011.
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