Coach Mike Vrabel quickly got his players to buy in during his first season.
Coach Mike Vrabel quickly got his players to buy in during his first season.Danielle Parhizkaran/Globe Staff
Cleaning out the Patriots notebook coming out of their mini bye . . .
1. Earlier this month, a shipment consisting of three large cardboard boxes arrived at DeMario Douglas’s locker. Inside were hoodies for his teammates with the locker room’s new slogan, “We All We Got/We All We Need!”
Its origin dates to Week 5, when the Patriots beat the Bills. As part of his fiery speech on the field before kickoff, wide receiver Stefon Diggs told the team, “Lean on your brother. Play for your brother. We all we got. We all we [expletive] need. Play hard. Play smart.”
Then, after the Patriots pulled off the upset and coach Mike Vrabel had addressed the team inside the visitors’ locker room at Highmark Stadium, Diggs broke down the huddle by saying, “We all we got!” To which his teammates said, “We all we need!”
The players have embraced the mantra over the past six-plus weeks, even more so after the front office didn’t acquire any talent at the trade deadline.
Now, as the Patriots navigate key injuries to running back Rhamondre Stevenson (toe), wide receiver Kayshon Boutte (hamstring), and defensive tackle Milton Williams (ankle), the slogan continues to fuel them.
“We work with what we got,” Diggs said. “We all we got. That’s definitely all we need. We go out there, put it on display, and have that identity.”
2. According to CBS, the Patriots-Buccaneers game was the network’s “most-watched Week 10 singleheader” since 2011 with 18.2 million viewers. New England’s stunning turnaround seems to be garnering more attention not only locally but nationally.
Last season, thanks to their lack of star power, the Patriots had just one prime-time game on their schedule. This year’s number increased to three. With the team in contention for the No. 1 seed in the AFC and quarterback Drake Maye in the MVP conversation, could they still get one more?
Of the Patriots’ six remaining regular-season games, the Week 15 matchup against the Bills and the Week 16 matchup against the Ravens are the most likely candidates.
The “Sunday Night Football” games currently scheduled are Vikings-Cowboys in Week 15 and Bengals-Dolphins in Week 16. The “Monday Night Football” games currently scheduled are Dolphins-Steelers in Week 15 and 49ers-Colts in Week 16.
For “Sunday Night Football” in Weeks 14-17, the NFL will have to announce its decision no later than six days before the game. For “Monday Night Football” in Weeks 12-17, the decision must be announced no later than 12 days before the game.
3. Although the offensive line skipped its weekly position group dinner last Thursday because of the game against the Jets, the tradition has been going strong this season.
In Week 6, the players went to center Garrett Bradbury’s house to enjoy a meal prepared by Diggs’s personal chef. The menu included the group’s favorite, steak, as well as burgers and wings. In Week 7, they went to Maye’s house for a hibachi dinner, followed by oatmeal apple cinnamon crisp prepared by Maye’s wife.
In Week 8, guard Jared Wilson treated the group to a crowd-pleaser at Capital Grille. In Week 9, guard Mike Onwenu chose an American Caribbean restaurant called Estella. The unit couldn’t get enough of the crispy chicken wings and calamari. And in Week 10, Morgan Moses picked Karma, a sushi restaurant that partners with the Patriots.
4. As the temperature starts to drop, and postseason football potentially returns to Gillette Stadium, the Patriots are hoping to harden themselves to the chilly conditions and precipitation. Headed into their game against the Jets, players declined Vrabel’s offer to go inside the fieldhouse and instead opted to practice outdoors.
“We’re in New England, so we’re going to have to play in lots of inclement weather games,” linebacker Robert Spillane said. “We want to use that as a winning edge for us — something that we can hang our hats on. We’re not going to slow down when the weather is cold. Hopefully, the other team does.”
Added Maye, “It’s good to get used to playing in that weather. It’s part of playing up here. It was important for us to get out there and embrace being in this weather. It’s good to be able to practice in it. I think it’s an advantage.”
At 9-2, the Patriots are in second place in the AFC playoff picture, which means they would host a game during wild-card weekend (Jan. 10-12). Even if the Patriots don’t end up hosting, they could experience similar conditions in several of the conference’s other possible playoff sites (e.g. Denver, Pittsburgh, Buffalo).
5. There’s plenty going well for the Patriots. Maye’s leap under offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels has been nothing short of spectacular. The run defense is among the best in the league. The level of buy-in under Vrabel is impressive.
But there are two issues that could be cause for concern in the future:
⋅ The defense in the red zone. The Patriots are allowing the fewest trips inside the red zone, with an average of just 2.3 per game. The problem is once their opponents get inside the 20-yard line, they’re most likely scoring. The Patriots have surrendered a touchdown on 72 percent of their opponents’ trips inside the red zone. That ranks 31st in the league, better than only the Giants (73.7 percent). For reference, the Broncos rank first at 35.7 percent. League average is 58.9 percent.
⋅ The defense on opponents’ opening possessions. The Patriots have allowed six touchdowns on their opponents’ first possessions, which is tied for most in the league. Vrabel has joked that he would rather “give up a touchdown on the first drive of the game and then no other points.” One would think that those scores are eventually going to come back to bite them.
Nicole Yang can be reached at nicole.yang@globe.com.Follow her @nicolecyang.