Corners best be quick studies
PATRIOTS NOTEBOOK
FOXBORO — Stephon Gilmore, Jason McCourty and the rest of the Patriots cornerbacks will be glad Bill Belichick makes the team run the back-breaking conditioning hill behind the practice field.
It’s for games like Sunday when they meet a team like Kansas City.
Between all the motion and pre-snap movement of the Chiefs receivers, as well as their blazing speed, it’s a challenge to the conditioning and endurance of any defensive backfield.
In recent games, Denver cornerback Chris Harris and Jacksonville’s Jalen Ramsey looked rather winded trying to keep up with the motion, and pursuit of plays and players.
“These guys are really fast,” Belichick said. “They run a lot of vertical routes, but there are a lot of space plays where they get the ball out there on RPOs (runpass options) and flip screens and things like that, so it forces not only the corners, but everybody to pursue laterally across the field and cover a lot of ground on consecutive plays or multiple plays on a short amount of time.”
Chiefs receiver/return man Tyreek Hill has a warp-speed gear, and wideouts Sammy Watkins and Chris Conley are pretty fast, too, so Gilmore and McCourty have to be up for the challenge, along with Jonathan Jones.
“Being in the league a long time, you see a lot of fast guys, but this guy is fast, fast when you turn the film on,” McCourty said of Hill. “He’s just jumping off the screen.”
McCourty, however, isn’t worried about getting worn down physically. He thinks it’ll be more of a mental challenge.
“I think more than conditioning, it’s eye discipline,” McCourty said. “It’s not only that they have so much movement, it’s the guys that are moving . . . when it’s Tyreek Hill, when it’s Sammy Watkins, when it’s the guys they have, that are moving all over the place, you have make sure you’re keeping your eyes where they’re supposed to be, whether it’s man, or zone (coverage).”
Brotherly love
Linebacker Dont’a Hightower has watched all the Chiefs games, and says on offense they look different, and yet they’re the same.
“(Coach) Andy Reid does a good job of literally taking one formation, and having 10 plays run out of it,” Hightower said. “That keeps the defense on its toes. It’s hard to know what they’re doing. But I know (Belichick) and (assistant Brian Flores) are going to have things ready to go and it’s going to be about us sucking it up and going out and executing.”
Hightower had high praise for Jason McCourty. First, he cracked he liked him better than twin brother Devin McCourty.
“He’s a real smart dude. You can definitely tell he’s a lot like his brother as far as the athletic ability and things like that,” Hightower said of Jason McCourty. “He just brings a lot of knowledge. It’s definitely a lot smoother, a lot more comfortable having more guys who are knowledgeable in the way we communicate and talk in depth about things . . . . I’m honestly just glad to have a guy like that . . . back there.”
What new rules?
There’s been plenty of grousing about the tweaks to the league’s roughing-the-passer rules. Belichick wonders why it’s such a big deal.
“I don’t really know what you’re talking about,” Belichick said Monday when asked about the emphasis on the rule. “There’s not any new rules that I’m aware of.”
True, there are no new rules, just a bunch of “points of emphasis” officials have been adhering to and the flags have been flying with 50 roughing-the-passer penalties through the first five weeks. That’s 29 more than last year at the same juncture.
While other NFL coaches have complained, saying the penalties have cost games, Belichick doesn’t know why there’s an issue. So maybe he’s tweaking those coaches.
“They’re not new rules,” Belichick said. “You’re not allowed to lead with your head, you’re not allowed to body slam the quarterback, you’re not allowed to hit him below the knees, you’re not allowed to hit him above the shoulders. If he’s out of the pocket, then some of those rules change. If he’s in the pocket, you’re allowed to horse-collar him. But the rules are the rules.
“I hope you’re not implying that we’ve been coaching something that’s illegal and now we’re changing the way we’re coaching it, because that’s simply not the case. So I’m not really sure what new rule it is you’re talking about here. We’ve coached the rules as they’ve been written and as we’ve received them. Whatever the emphasis is, that doesn’t change the fundamental of the rule. I’ve never taught anybody to hit a quarterback above the shoulders or hit him below the knees or body slam him or lead with our helmet and spear him. We’ve never taught that, so I’m not really sure what you’re referring to.”
The Pats have not received a roughing-the-passer penalty . . . .
The Patriots had perfect attendance at practice. They re-signed running back Ken Farrow to the practice squad. It appeared he was used early in practice to play the part of a mobile quarterback — i.e. Kansas City’s Patrick Mahomes — in a defensive line drill.