New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye throws while backup quarterback Tommy DeVito and quarterbacks coach Ashton Grant look on during a recent practice. (Matt Stone/Boston Herald)
New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye throws while backup quarterback Tommy DeVito and quarterbacks coach Ashton Grant look on during a recent practice. (Matt Stone/Boston Herald)
Welcome to the Friday Five!
Every week during the NFL regular season, I will drop five Patriots-related thoughts on Friday to recap the week that was in Foxboro and look ahead to kickoff.
Ready, set, football.
1. Inside the QBs room
Back at the Patriots’ old headquarters at Gillette Stadium last year, the quarterbacks room was large enough they squeezed a regulation basketball hoop inside.
Drake Maye got shots up from time to time. So did Josh McDaniels, Tommy DeVito and then first-year quarterbacks coach Ashton Grant. But one of the few downsides of moving into a new, standalone facility is their room, which is smaller than before, can no longer fit the hoop.
Instead, the room is mostly business now. There’s Maye’s world-class orange juice machine, one of the best-kept secrets of last season, which must be fed fresh oranges. There’s a blender. There’s a portable, Bluetooth speaker that often plays Drake songs at a low volume on DeVito’s orders.
“For the vibes,” Grant said.
Grant also stocks the room with books he’s handpicked. Some delve deep into the mindsets of great competitors, like Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant. Others cover leadership. A few are daily readers, books that offer one quote or reflection each day of the year.
“I don’t try to bore (Maye) with too many things, but there’s like an excerpt from a day that I’ll try to give him,” Grant said.
So why did he pick those books?
“When you have a quarterback who you think should be one of the top players in this league, I think you continuously push him beyond his limits or what he may think his limits are now,” Grant said. “I don’t think (Maye) puts limits on himself, but I want him constantly thinking about the ultimate competitors in every single sport, not just football. I want him thinking about Kobe Bryant, I want him thinking about Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, Michael Phelps. The alpha males of all alpha males is who I want to continue to feed into him. And then just the leadership traits, because I think that’s an undervalued and underappreciated trait of the quarterback position.
“And some guys just have it innately, and some guys you have to develop it. So I just think we’re just trying to be super conscious with the information and the extra things we’re feeding him outside of just football.”
2. Gabe’s growth
New England Patriots linebacker Gabe Jacas reacts after coming up with the ball during the fourth quarter of a Week 2 game at Gillette Stadium. (Nancy Lane/Boston Herald)
New England Patriots linebacker Gabe Jacas reacts after coming up with the ball during the fourth quarter of a Week 2 game at Gillette Stadium. (Nancy Lane/Boston Herald)
Quiz time: can you name the only Patriot to generate multiple pressures every game this season, per the Herald’s game charting?
How about second-round rookie Gabe Jacas.
Jacas, who for most of his tenure has been known for being embroiled in a rare rookie contract dispute, is one of the most consistent playmakers for a rising Patriots defense. He tallied three hurries at Buffalo, a half-sack at Jacksonville, an interception and two pressures versus Pittsburgh and a sack in his NFL debut at Seattle.
According to Patriots defensive coordinator Zak Kuhr, Jacas’ development has hastened off the field, as well.
“He’s really getting into routines,” Kuhr said Thursday. “He’s understanding better each week, (thinking), ‘This is how I’m practicing, this is what I’m keying. Oh, this is what happened to me last week. I’m not gonna let that happen again.'”
Kuhr specifically cited the 22-year-old’s questions in meetings as an area where he’s shown growth.
One example: “‘Hey, if the tight end’s here, do you want me to do this? Hey, if the tight end motions to me, are we doing this?'” Kuhr said. “It’s very football-specific questions now, rather than just like major, big-picture playbook questions.”
Jacas, who’s yet to start a game working behind Dre’Mont Jones and Elijah Ponder, has 14 tackles, 1.5 sacks, an interception and four QB hits this season.
3. Finding a way
In 2001, Josh McDaniels was a low-level personnel assistant, a grunt on a Patriots staff full of future head coaches and general managers. McDaniels is one of a few remaining members of that championship team still with the organization, including head coach Mike Vrabel. On Sunday, up to 33 players from that team will be honored during a pre-game ceremony celebrating the 25th anniversary of their title win over the Rams as 14-point underdogs in Super Bowl XXXVI.
On Thursday, McDaniels shared a coaching lesson he carries to this day from that magical season, his first in the NFL.
“There’s a way to win, and everybody can’t do it the same way. And I think if you’re not too proud, and you can see what your strengths and weaknesses are, you can figure that out eventually: the way your team has to win,” he said.
McDaniels went so far as to say the Patriots “embodied all the right things.” He specifically mentioned how the offense, defense and special teams all had standout moments during the playoff run, and how striking it was to see the Rams play a starkly different style from the Patriots.
“Every team’s not built the same. Every team doesn’t have the same strengths and weaknesses. But eventually, if you figure out how to play and you’re not too proud to try to play that way,” he said, “you can be successful.”
4. Bring back the Bledsoe Blues
Hot take: the red, Pat Patriot throwback jerseys returning Sunday? Overrated.
It’s a clean look. And the pure nostalgia I get, as I am dragged toward middle age, fingernails in the dirt hopelessly trying to slow the pull of time. But the Patriots have worn them eight times in recent years with a 2-6 record. How about a change-up?
During the era that bridged Pat Patriot with the silver and navy uniforms of the Brady-Belichick chapter, the Pats wore glorious, royal blue jerseys with over-sized Flying Elvis logos coating their oversized shoulder pads and all other gorgeous hallmarks of ’90s fashion and football.
It was during this time, under head coach Bill Parcells and then a few lucky draft picks under Pete Carroll, that the roster and franchise began to lay a foundation for what it ultimately became.
So, let’s celebrate that era. Enough time has passed, and fans of my generation would flock — flock, I tell you — to scoop up Ty Law, Tedy Bruschi and Ben Coates jerseys, while their kids could don the Maye, A.J. Brown and Christian Gonzalez printed throwbacks.
Let Pat Patriot rest a while. Bring back the Bledsoe Blues.
5. Did you know?
Since the end of the Belichick era, the Patriots have a winning record (4-3) in games they were slated as underdogs by seven or more points.
In 2024, Jerod Mayo opened his one-year tenure with a road upset of the Bengals, who were favored by 7.5 points. Six weeks later, the Mayo Pats upset the Jets at home as touchdown underdogs. Last year, Mike Vrabel led a primetime upset at Buffalo in Week 5, when the Bills were heavy favorites, and last week he did it again when the Patriots were 7-point dogs.