FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- Quick-hit thoughts and notes around the New England Patriots and NFL:
1. Rodney's take: Rodney Harrison is in his 16th season as an analyst for NBC's "Football Night In America" and he has noticed a shift over the past two years.
"I get reminded every week I go to stadiums. Coming from the fans' perspective, they laugh. 'Hey what about your Patriots?' It hurts," Harrison said in a phone interview. "You go from being looked at as so well-respected, and being such a dominating force, to all of a sudden people are joking about your team being at the bottom."
Harrison, who turns 52 on Dec. 15, has close ties to the Chargers (1994-2002) and Patriots (2003-2008) from his playing career. Because he was part of two Super Bowl championship teams in New England, as well as on the 2007 club that went 16-0 in the regular season, many remember him most as a Patriot.
Harrison was inducted into the Patriots Hall of Fame in 2019 and has spoken often about how much the organization means to him, including owner Robert Kraft, former coach Bill Belichick, quarterback Tom Brady and others. At the same time, just as he was a hard-hitting safety on the field, he hasn't shied from delivering a haymaker to the franchise as an analyst if he believes it's warranted.
Thus, Harrison's viewpoint on the current state of the Patriots was sought out during the bye week -- a natural time to take stock of the 3-10 team under first-year executive vice president of player personnel Eliot Wolf and first-year coach Jerod Mayo, whom Harrison overlapped with for one year as a player.
"The first thing is that I've seen some things from Drake Maye that have surprised me. He's better than I anticipated," Harrison said. "I like the kid's personality. I like his demeanor. He has this quiet competitiveness about him. He's a lot better athlete than I thought.
"The main thing I see is they don't have enough talent around him. They have to work on building that offensive line, and you have to get a No. 1 receiver. The tight end situation is solid. I would bring in another running back. And quite frankly, I would look at some of the contracts on the defensive side of the ball and say, 'Hey, do we need this guy making 'X' amount of dollars or do we need to reallocate those resources to the offensive line?'"
At the same time, Harrison acknowledged that he thought the defense, outside of promising second-year cornerback Christian Gonzalez, would have produced better results than a No. 20 ranking in average points allowed per game (23.6).
From a big-picture standpoint, he pointed to Mayo's postgame remarks Oct. 20 following a loss to the Jaguars in London as notable.
"When he said they were playing soft, I thought the players did a good job responding. They could have gone in the opposite direction and quit on him and said, 'Coach is not for us. He's trying to save his butt and point the finger at us.' But they continued to play hard," Harrison said.
"They're just not a supremely talented team. So I think Jerod has done a solid job in his first year and he has to continue to grow -- asking questions, seeking wise counsel from other coaches, and going back and looking at different situations they were in as a team and review those things. He has to put that work in, which he did as a player, so I do believe that he is going to get better. But they have to get talent and that's on Eliot."
With approximately $130 million in salary cap space in 2025, easily a league high, the Patriots are poised for an aggressive offseason.
"What you might have to do because the Patriots have a reputation, is overpay initially," Harrison said. "Guys aren't going to come to New England because Belichick is there or because they believe they're going to be on a good team. They're coming to New England because they're getting paid.
"So right now what you have to do is rebuild trust in your organization and you have to let players know outside of the building: 'Hey, we're not cheapskates. We're going to pay guys. We're going to get football players in here.' Your reputation and what you did in the past -- nobody is coming here because of that."
2. Bye practice: The Patriots return Monday after having one practice over their bye week, which was held Tuesday. They are one of six teams with the Week 14 bye, and of that group they were the only team to hold a practice over the bye week.
The Broncos played the Monday night game in Week 13, and coach Sean Payton gave players the rest of their bye week off. Meanwhile, the Colts, Commanders, Ravens and Texans all had film work Monday before players departed until the following Monday.
One difference between those teams and the Patriots: All are in the playoff hunt and preparing for what they hope is a deep run into early February, whereas New England is already eliminated from the postseason.
A screen inside the Patriots' locker room informs players of the weather, the location of practice, if it will be in full pads or shells, and what number practice it is since the start of training camp. For those keeping track, Tuesday's bye-week practice was No. 65.
3. Strange check-in: Offensive lineman Cole Strange has one more hurdle to hopefully clear -- practicing in full pads. The Patriots haven't been in full pads the past three weeks since Strange (knee) was designated to return from injured reserve, so he looks forward to that hopefully happening this week.
That would set him up best for game action, where the coaching staff will ideally figure out some type of rotation with Ben Brown at center beginning Dec. 15 in Arizona.
4. Final two games: The day and time of the Patriots' final two home games -- Week 17 against the Chargers and Week 18 against the Bills -- are still to be determined by the NFL. If the Bills are playing for the AFC's top seed, that could potentially impact the league's decision-making process.
Otherwise, the assumption is both games would stay Sunday at 1 p.m. ET. The NFL will announce the Week 17 schedule after Week 15 games, and the Week 18 games after Week 17 games.
5. New facility: The Patriots announced plans to begin construction on a new football training facility, which is scheduled to open in the spring of 2026. Player reaction was positive.
Patriots to begin construction on a new football training facility: https://t.co/mSSJw5GcPW pic.twitter.com/djixWQoRv0
— New England Patriots (@Patriots) December 4, 2024
"Being around for a long time, seeing the same thing, change is good to see. I'm excited to see the evolution of it," said cornerback Jonathan Jones, who is in his ninth year with the franchise.
"Ultimately we know ownership is investing in us as players and we need to make sure we make good on that investment," added 10-year veteran long-snapper and captain Joe Cardona, the team's longest-tenured player.
6. Wallace's return: Offensive tackle Caedan Wallace, the 2024 third-round pick from Penn State, has been sidelined since Week 4 with an ankle injury. Mayo said the hope has been for Wallace to return before the end of the season, so designating him to return would seemingly be on the radar when the team returns for practice Monday.
Just as 2024 fourth-round pick Layden Robinson was inserted into the starting lineup last week -- with Mayo saying it was his best performance of the season -- the Patriots would ideally like to see Wallace generate some positive momentum heading into the offseason. Can Wallace be the right tackle of the future? The final four games could provide some answers.
7. Young CBs: In what could be a sign of things to come over the final four games to get a better evaluation on young players, the Patriots employed a rotation at cornerback opposite of Gonzalez in last week's loss to the Colts. Jones played a season-low 21 snaps as 2023 seventh-round picks Isaiah Bolden (15) and Alex Austin (26) cut into his time.
It was Austin's first action since Week 3, as he had been on injured reserve because of his ankle, and he was one of the few players who weren't looking forward to this week's break.
"I'm ready to be back from the bye," he said before players departed the locker room last Tuesday.
8. Harrison and Hall: Harrison is once again among a group of 25 semifinalists for the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and the next step is to see if he makes the cut as one of 15 finalists later this month. Belichick has been one of his biggest boosters.
Saying he is at peace with however the vote turns out, Harrison added: "I'm in awe of the support I've received. I never thought of those individual Hall of Fame accolades; it was always team for me. I know that doesn't define me and I've done everything I could possibly do, so 'it is what it is.' Whatever happens, happens, brother."
9. They said it: "From the first time I was announced the starter, he came in and said, 'This is part of it, let's not make it awkward.' From that moment on, you knew what kind of teammate he was." -- Maye, on "Patriots All-Access," when asked about veteran QB Jacoby Brissett
10. Did you know: Guard/tackle Mike Onwenu has played 100% of the offensive snaps this season, the only Patriots player to do so. Gonzalez leads the defense at 98%.