FOXBOROUGH - The Patriots kicked off their second and final Dolphins week of the 2024 season with a positive injury update as the team welcomed back 2022 first-round selection Cole Strange to practice.
"One piece of good news, Cole Strange will return to practice today, which is exciting, not only just for him to get back out there, but just understanding the journey that he has taken to even get to this point," said Patriots head coach Jerod Mayo as he opened his weekly press conference. "Oftentimes, those things get looked over, but it is a journey. Any time you're coming back from injury, which I know the feeling, it's not a straight line to getting back to the way you used to play. It takes time going through rehab and all those things. It's been a long year for Cole, but again, we're excited to have him out there."
Strange suffered a major injury, reportedly a torn patellar tendon, in Week 15 of 2023 against the Chiefs. His recovery took nearly a full year but now his return is a welcome one he'll provide a boost to the depth of the offensive line, at not only his usual spot of guard, but also potentially at center. His elite athleticism was a big reason why the Patriots made him their first round pick and now, in Alex Van Pelt's system that covets that kind of high athleticism along the line, Strange might finally be in position to reach his potential no matter what position he's at.
Mayo said the team would take it slow with Strange, let him take things day by day until he's fully ready to handle the vigors of an NFL game.
"I think just going through the individual drills and seeing how he responds to that stuff is the most important thing," said Mayo. "He does have the flexibility to play center and play guard. He's been getting extra work at center. Dave Andrews has done a good job with him as well. Going back to a guy that – he's on IR for the year, but just his leadership remains in the building. One of those tasks has been to help Cole understand the center position while he wasn't able to be on the practice field."
Stopping Tua's Attack
The Dolphins recent dominance over the Patriots was a popular talking point as the week kicked off on Wednesday. Tua's 6-0 career record against the Pats, coupled with four-straight losses in Miami illustrate how hard it's been for the Pats to get wins over their divisional rival.
A big part of those losses has been Tua's uncanny accuracy and anticipation that can make the Miami offense seem indefensible at times. Veteran cornerback Jonathan Jones has seen plenty of touch matchups over the course of his career, but no experience makes dealing with an explosive attack like Miami's any easier.
"They do a good job of like, dressing it up. And so they're trying up to the last minute to get you to see it at the last minute, and then, at the end of the day, you got to match speed with speed and physicality," said Jones. "Just be physical. Try to reroute the receivers, get them off their spot in time to put some pressure on them."
The presnap window dressing was a recurring theme during defensive player interviews and Mike McDaniels uses plenty of tricks to disguise from his true intentions.
"A big thing is just reading your keys and playing your keys because a lot of times they'll dress things up just to get to what they're going to do anyway," said White. "A lot of times it's the same thing, but they just want to disguise you from what it's going to be in the end. So just not letting all that distract you from what the final picture is and what they're really trying to do is big.
Getting the requisite quick pressure on Tua will be up to players like White, who leads the Patriots with 41 pressures and is tied with Deatrich Wise for the team lead in sacks with five.
"From a D-line perspective, it's hard to get to the quarterback," said White. "So if you really make a route concept that's 30 yards down the field in two and a half seconds, that's a hard thing to do to get to a quarterback in two and a half seconds, especially when there are double teams, max protection, play action, things like that. So we just have to be better with our rush and better our discipline and everything like that, so it opens up some more opportunities."
White said it's easy to overthink things against an offense that throws so much at a defense, at the end of the day it's about winning matchups by beating the man lined up across from you.
"We gotta make sure we read our keys and be the be the aggressor this week," summed up Jahlani Tavai.
Quotes of Note
Jonathan Jones on how the Patriots defense can start getting more takeaways:
"It just starts complementary football, just backing up teams, making them feel like they have to go make plays. You know, when the team's comfortable on offense and they feel like they can just check the ball down and don't have to throw the ball in tight windows, it makes it easier for them, makes it hard to get interceptions. So, just applying pressure. Just continue to apply pressure to offenses, and they'll put themselves in positions where they feel like they have to force things."
Drake Maye on learning leadership from his father:
"I'll probably say my dad. Just watching him, not only a leader in the household, but a leader in sports in general. He's always coached us growing up, and I think the way that he approached forcing me at a young age to get in the huddle, and say something to the team, or break the team down. At a young age, I think my dad introduced me to some things because he played a short stint in the NFL for a little bit. He was with Tampa Bay for a year, but playing in college and playing at a high level, he introduced to his boys about how to lead and what it takes, what you need and what comes of it."
