LONDON — Welcome to the Friday Five, England edition!
Each 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. Killer first quarters
The Patriots opened practice this week with an unusual period.
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The starting offense faced the starting defense down in the red zone. Full speed, full contact, full go.
The idea, Jerod Mayo explained Wednesday morning, was to jump-start one of the slowest starting teams in the NFL and address another area where the Pats have struggled. Offensively, they are scoring touchdowns on a league-lowest 35.7% of their trips inside opponents’ 20-yard line. Defensively, life isn’t much better, tied for the 10th-worst touchdown percentage allowed in the red zone.
As for their slow starts, the Patriots trailed 14-0 after the first quarter last weekend to Houston, and dug double-digit halftime holes versus the Jets and 49ers. Overall, they’re allowing almost as many points in the first half (11.3 points per game) as they’re scoring per game (13.8).
It’s hard to win like that generally in the NFL, but especially as a run-first offense with pass protection issues.
2. Maye-king time
Foxboro, MA – New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye is tackled by Houston Texans linebacker Neville Hewitt during the 4th quarter of the game at Gillette Stadium. (Nancy Lane/Boston Herald)
Drake Maye’s off-schedule plays were some of the most impressive he made last weekend in his starting debut. Maye gained 30 yards on an unplanned pitch-and-catch with tight end Hunter Henry and scrambled for 11 yards on another extended play. On dropbacks where he held the ball for longer than 2.5 seconds, Maye gained a first down 42% of the time compared to 28% when he got rid of it within 2.5 seconds.
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Most of all, Maye’s ability to escape and keep plays alive figures to help a receiving corps that struggles to separate.
Because, as Patriots defensive back Jonathan Jones put it to me this week: “You know, if you can give (receivers) six seconds, at some point even grandma’s going to get open. They don’t need much space, the way these quarterbacks can throw the ball. The quarterbacks get outside the pocket, and as a defensive back, I know the whole world’s mad, but I’m like, you can’t even cover grandma forever.”
3. Play-action attack
Under offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt, the Patriots’ offense is designed to generate explosive plays off deep play-action shots.
So far, thanks to problems at quarterback, receiver and in pass protections, the Pats haven’t completed a single deep pass off play-action. While Maye’s arm has given the offense new life, play-action dropbacks are still relatively new for the former college quarterback who worked exclusively out of the shotgun. Maye said this week he feels more comfortable making those drops — his footwork has shown marked improvement the last few months — but the ability to read a defense a second time after turning his back on a play fake is a different challenge.
Callahan: The Patriots are making more changes after Drake Maye, so who’s up next?
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“Our defense does a good job of flipping up the coverages and changing the picture post-snap, and that’s something that I’ve really started to kind of understand and learn,” Maye said this week. “The picture I’m seeing when I first get the snap versus when I turn my back and look at it may be different. So, just trying to find my checkdowns or find an outlet, that’ll be something that I’ll kind of build towards. Then, other than that, try to exploit them with matchups.”
Last year with Van Pelt, the Browns passed for the fourth-most yards in the league off play-action. This season, the Patriots have the fewest completions and second-fewest passing yards off play-action. Expect to see more bombs on Sunday, due to Maye’s comfort and Jacksonville allowing more completions and yards than versus play-action than any defense in the NFL, per Sports Info. Solutions.
4. Underdog history
The Jaguars are slated as 5.5-point favorites for Sunday’s game, the first time they’ve been favored to beat the Pats since 2006.
Back then, the Patriots held on for a 24-21 win at Jacksonville on Christmas Eve and clinched the AFC East title. Tom Brady’s leading receiver was rookie tight end David Thomas, who had 83 yards and a touchdown. Meanwhile, Mayo was a young college linebacker at Tennessee and Maye was barely four years old.
Before that regular-season win, the Jags were last favored over the Patriots in a 1999 Wild Card playoff game. At kickoff, more than half of the Patriots’ current players hadn’t been born.
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5. English extra points
The Patriots will practice Friday at the Harrow School, an all-boys boarding school in greater London that Winston Churchill attended. Mayo and Maye are scheduled to hold press conferences before practice at 9 a.m. ET, while other players will meet the media after practice around 11 a.m. ET. … This weekend will mark Maye’s second trip to London, after he said he visited family and attended the Summer Olympics in 2012. … The Patriots will kick off in Wembley Stadium for the first time since 2012, when they trashed the Rams 45-7. Mayo finished second in tackles that game with seven, while Rob Gronkowski caught two touchdowns from Tom Brady and finished with a game-high 146 receiving yards. … The Patriots could return to Europe next season for a third international game in as many years, should they play a “home game” in Germany again or are selected to kick off in Madrid against the Dolphins, who are expected to play in Spain next year.
Alex Cora missed Monday’s series opener with the New York Mets, see his only daughter, Camila, graduate from Boston College, and he doesn’t care if people disagree with his decision.
The Red Sox manager was in a good mood before Tuesday evening’s game at Fenway, and seemed genuinely unfazed by the criticism. He described Monday as “tremendous” and a “great day.”
“Excellent. Just the day that we will always remember,” Cora said of the big family event.
While most Red Sox fans on social media seemed to support Cora’s decision, there were a few loud critics, including 98.5 The Sports Hub’s Mike Felger, who said Monday it was “preposterous” for the manager to miss the 6:45 p.m. game when the graduation took place in the morning. Unlike players, whom Felger reasoned are part of a players’ union, he said Cora had no excuse to take the night off.
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“They were, I believe, done by noon, which means you can have a nice big party in the middle of the day,” the radio personality said. “Just cab down the street and manage the game.”
“It’s just the tone you set, the example you set for the team,” Felger continued. “It’s just the leadership and optics of the whole thing. It’s a very easy chance for him to say, ‘Nothing’s more important than tonight’s game.’”
Without directing his response to Felger or anyone else, Cora said that he took the entire day off at the behest of his daughter. He also pointed out that he would’ve needed to miss more time if the graduation was out of state, saying, “There’s coaches that, they take three days for that.”
“She wanted me to be with her, and it was her day so this is secondary,” Cora said. “You know, we’re in this world for a purpose, right, and for me, it’s to raise her, try to do the best we can. Obviously it wasn’t perfect, but right now, it’s perfect.”
Asked if he was bothered by the criticism, Cora laughed.
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“People have their own opinions,” the Sox skipper then said. “I bet those people, they have families too, and at one point they had to make decisions, too. And I bet they made decisions for the best of the family. I made the best decision for my daughter, and for those who don’t understand, I’m not gonna try to convince them. It is what it is. I made the best decision for my girl.”
In his May 17 dance review, “Boston Ballet looks back and forward in ‘Spring Experience,’ ” (Living/Arts, Page B6), Jeffrey Gantz writes, “Designer Robert Perdziola’s color palette is austere … gold, silver, and white all edging into gray, and the costumes lack texture and dimension.” What I saw was a most beautiful integration and balance of color, texture, pattern, and lighting, which together created exquisite staging. The gentle, almost cloudlike backdrop worked perfectly with the equally gentle but lightly patterned costumes and beautifully complemented the choreography. Neither detracted from or dominated the others. This was perhaps the best example of Boston Ballet’s almost always superb staging, and I say that as a season subscriber going back to the 1970s.
On the latter two performances, Jiří Kylián’s “ 27’52” ” and his “Petite Mort,” Gantz’s review was mostly just an outline of the action on the stage. Both these pieces are highly complex and energetic and leave a lot to unpack and interpret. My wife and I had a long conversation about these works well into the night. Those who enjoy Boston Ballet’s contemporary performances have a lot more to look forward to than the review suggested.
We knew Jaylen Brown was battling a knee injury during the Celtics’ playoff run. Now we know the severity of the ailment that has hampered the Boston star since March.
Brown played the last part of the season with a partially torn meniscus in his right knee, according to ESPN’s Ramon Shelburne. Brown will be evaluated this week to determine if he’ll need to undergo surgery during the offseason.
Brown started receiving injections in his knee back in March to help with the injury, and missed six games over a 13-game stretch late in the season to rest up before the playoffs. He was able to play through the injury and suited up for all 11 of Boston’s postseason games, and though Brown lacked his usual explosiveness, he was still able to average 22.1 points, 7.1 rebounds, and 3.9 assists per contest for the Celtics.
“I don’t make excuses,” Brown told reporters after Boston’s season-ending loss to the New York Knicks on Friday night. “Obviously, it’s tough the way we went out like tonight, but the way we finished the year, personally, the way I finished the year, persevering through some physical stuff that I was battling through, I’m proud of our group.”
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News of Brown’s injury further complicates an already iffy offseason for the Celtics. The team is already facing the likelihood of playing all of next season without superstar forward Jayson Tatum, who underwent surgery for a rupture Achilles last week in New York. With Brown’s status now in question, there’s a chance the Celtics will be without their two best players to start the 2025-26 NBA season.
After taking home MVP honors in the Eastern Conference Finals and NBA Finals last summer, Brown averaged 22.2 points, 5.8 rebounds, and a career-best 4.5 assists over 63 regular-season games for Boston in 2024-25.
Jaylen Brown staying optimistic after Celtics postseason loss
The Celtics’ title defense ended Friday night with a blowout loss to the Knicks in New York in Game 6 of their Eastern Conference semifinal playoff series. Boston became the sixth straight defending champ to lose in the second round.
Brown was obviously disappointed with the result, and the Celtics are likely heading into an offseason of change given the team’s massive payroll and the uncertainty with Tatum and Brown’s injuries. But Brown remains optimistic the Celtics will be back in the contender’s seat in the near future.
“Losing to the Knicks feels like death. But, I was always taught that there’s life after death. So, we’ll get ready for whatever’s next, whatever’s next in the journey I’ll be ready for,” Brown said Friday.
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“You just take this with your chin up. I know Boston, it looks gloomy right now, obviously, with JT being out and the end of the year. But there’s a lot to look forward to, and I want the city to feel excited about that,” added Brown. “This is not the end. I’m looking forward to what’s next.”
Matt Geagan
Matthew Geagan is a sports producer for CBS Boston. He has been part of the WBZ sports team for nearly 20 years. He moved over to the web in 2012 and has covered all the highs (and a few lows) in Boston sports.
