Articles by Andrew Callahan

Technology

Patriots-Browns preview: How Drake Maye, Mike Vrabel can extend their winning streak

It’s time for some home cooking. After three straight road games, the Patriots will kick off in Gillette Stadium for the first time since their four-game win streak began with a blowout of the Panthers in late September. Since then, the Pats have established themselves as one of the better teams in the league and an AFC playoff contender. For that, they can thank Drake Maye, who leads the league in completion percentage and deep passing, and has announced himself as an early-season MVP candidate. But bigger tests loom, starting with a top-5 Browns defense this Sunday. Despite its 2-5 record, Cleveland can throw some punches through one of the fiercest defensive lines in football. Myles Garrett and Co. clowned Miami last weekend, 31-6, and should now force Maye to play smart, disciplined football or otherwise risk turnovers that might invite an upset. Opposite Maye, the Browns are starting third-round rookie Dillon Gabriel, whose completion percentage is a tick below 60% despite throwing the shortest completions in the league by air yards. While that sounds inviting, Gabriel hasn’t thrown an interception yet this year, and the Patriots’ short pass defense currently ranks third-worst in the league by DVOA. Can they fix that and score another blowout Sunday? Here’s what to watch for in Foxboro: When the Patriots run A repeat 175-yard rushing performance from last week? Unlikely. But all the Patriots must do is tread water against the NFL’s best run defense to give Maye enough time and reason to use play-action. Rhamondre Stevenson broke seven tackles last weekend in Tennessee, running more freely than he had been the previous two weeks. The Browns’ defense is the best tackling unit in the league, per Pro Football Focus, but if the coaching staff has more confidence in rookie TreVeyon Henderson, perhaps he can finally break free and simply pull away from would-be tacklers. Henderson’s elite speed has yet to be fully weaponized in this offense due to his own mistakes and lack of touches. He has just 56 rushing yards this month. Offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels hinted this week the second-round pick would be more involved, after playing just nine offensive snaps last weekend. “Runners get into a rhythm,” McDaniels said Thursday. “And sometimes that happens. I know TreVeyon has led us in carries in other games, and certainly Rhamondre did last week. So, there’s nothing specific. I think all those guys are continuing to work really hard. They play an active role in us improving ourselves in the running game.” When the Patriots pass If Drake Maye checks the ball down a little faster Sunday, this is why. The Browns’ most direct path to an upset involves a strip sack or two, and Maye, who got hit a few too many times in Tennessee, will be extra aware of the pass rush this week. Garrett has five sacks this season, despite facing more chips and double-teams than any other pass rusher in the league. Browns defensive tackle Maliek Collins is also among the league leaders in pressure rate at his position. Both Garrett and Collins should see plenty of 1-on-1 opportunities against rookie offensive linemen Will Campbell and Jared Wilson on Sunday, a major battleground Sunday. The Patriots can try to offset that pressure with screens, misdirection and quick passing. But ultimately it’s up to Maye to pull the right lever and get rid of the ball before trouble arrives. “Just be cognizant of the point of the play, (be) good in quick game, (be) good when we are trying to hold it a little longer. Just know the outlets,” Maye said. “We talk about outlets, scramble, throwaways and just being smart with the football. They do a good job of going after the football, especially Myles in his career. Just go two hands on it, knowing the outlets and knowing when the play may be over.” One fun battle on the outside: Stefon Diggs and Kayshon Boutte versus Pro Bowl cornerback Denzel Ward. If the Browns continue to play a high rate of man-to-man coverage, as they have most of the year, Diggs and Boutte will have opportunities to make plays 1-on-1 downfield. And you better believe Maye will give them a chance to go deep and catch one. When the Browns run Few running backs are breaking as many tackles right now as bruising Browns rookie Quinshon Judkins. Judkins is forcing three and a half misses per game, according to PFF, and will test the Patriots’ newly refortified tackling. The Pats have whiffed just five times the last two weeks combined, and know that slowing the 221-pound Judkins will be critical against one of the NFL’s least explosive offenses trying to methodically kill clock through small gains. “I know that they’ll have a good plan for how they want to run it. It’s a physical group of linemen and their tight ends are blocking well,” Vrabel said this week. “And Quinshon is running hard, physical. So, they’ve done a nice job.” On the season, Judkins has rushed for 467 yards and five touchdowns while averaging 4.3 yards per carry. No other Browns player has taken more than 25 carries this season or rushed for 75 yards. When the Browns pass It’s all about the middle of the field. The Browns’ top targets have been their tight ends, between rookie Harold Fannin (32 catches, 290 yards) and David Njoku (23 catches, 223 yards). While Njoku was limited this week in practice, the Browns should test the Patriots’ 30th-ranked short pass defense by DVOA through their tight ends and veteran receiver Jerry Jeudy. Gabriel also has the second-fastest snap-to-throw time in the NFL at an average 2.6 seconds, meaning the Pats must break quickly on short routes to make tackles. Look for their linebackers and safeties to tell the story of this game. That said, the Patriots’ overall defensive talent far outweighs Cleveland’s skill group, and the Browns’ pass offense ranks second-worst in the NFL. Barring a breakout Gabriel performance or a few trick plays that generate a touchdown or two, the Pats should control the air by playing simple, sound football. And that will especially hold true if Christian Gonzalez (one pass breakup this season) finally returns to form, as his position coach suggested Thursday. Patriots 20, Browns 16

1 days ago

Technology

How a Patriots coach’s battle with cancer is inspiring their defense

Every week, Terrell Williams sits in the back of a room he used to command. Players file into the Patriots’ defensive meetings and slide into the rows of seats before him. Snippets of their conversations echo off the windowless walls. His replacement stands at the front of the room and quiets the audience before kicking off another presentation. Williams listens. Zak Kuhr has led the Patriots’ defense for weeks now, a former offensive assistant turned interim defensive coordinator. Kuhr’s resume, which shows he’s only coached defense for five years, suggests he’s not ready for the job. But over six weeks, the unit has improved. This makes Williams happy. Seeing Williams does the same for everyone around him. “It’s inspiring to see somebody who’s going through a battle right now, fighting things, but still wants to be here, be present and give his best for us,” Pats rookie safety Craig Woodson said. “That’s somebody who we want to dedicate our game to.” Williams has prostate cancer. For almost two months, cancer has kept him from his job, but it has yet to separate Williams from what he treasures most about his football life: the bonds he builds along the way. Williams is not one of those coaches who needs a reminder that the things that matter are the things that last, and in football, even more than championships, legacy and relationships are forever. Life is short, too short, to be consumed by game-planning, film study and wins and losses. He knows this. During his first season as an NFL coach in 2012, Williams lost a son seven days after doctors discovered the illness that ultimately took him. Tyson Williams was four years old. One of Williams’ players then, ex-Raiders defensive lineman and Patriots great Richard Seymour, was a pallbearer at Tyson’s funeral. It took time, but Williams later decided he would open up about his son’s death. For years, his players and colleagues, even strangers, have known about Tyson. “I share that story with my defensive line anywhere I go, and any coach when I am doing clinics,” Williams told reporters in 2018. “I think everyone needs to know that life is precious.” Sitting with Williams now in meetings, conversing with him over text and stopping him for advice sometimes in the hallways, players are learning from his humanity. As cancer rages inside of him, they see him smile. They hear him laugh. They watch Williams choose to live life outside of himself and through its joys instead of caving to the killer within. “I’m a perfectionist, so I try to be perfect in a lot of different things. But with him being around, I just think to myself that I’m extremely blessed,” Pats captain Harold Landry said. “And I don’t know, it’s just like the attitude, everything that he is as a person, it just makes me go about my day in a much more positive light.” Patriots coach Mike Vrabel announced Williams’ diagnosis in a press conference on Sept. 26, weeks after players were informed privately. To a man, they kept his news from the public. Until this week, players also kept what it means to witness Williams fight and fight with joy. Like the times he does command the room again after Kuhr calls him down to continue a new Patriots tradition. “All right, Coach T …” How Williams stands and labors from the back, one step at a time, back to the front and back to normalcy. How players turn and look. How they beam. The greatest gift As far as remote-control toy boats go, the one sitting in the back of Christian Elliss’ car sounds like a Maserati built for the water. It’s jet black, a few feet long and reaches speeds up to 35 MPH. The veteran inside linebacker hasn’t taken it out of the box yet. Elliss’ three young boys, the boat’s indirect recipients, don’t even know about it. But they will soon, and when they do, they will have one man to thank: Williams. The boat was a gift after Elliss forced a fumble in the fourth quarter of the Patriots’ tighter-than-expected win at New Orleans in Week 5. After every Patriots game, Williams presents a gift to any player who forced a takeaway, usually during defensive meetings on Wednesday. For intercepting Josh Allen in Buffalo and Cam Ward last week in Tennessee, cornerback Marcus Jones now owns a new wallet and expensive bottle of cologne. “The cologne is real good,” Jones said. “It’s smooth.” Elliss knows he owes Williams more than a boat. He owes belief and confidence. After he missed eight tackles over the Patriots’ first three games and began to lose playing time, Elliss heard from his former coordinator. Since then, he’s whiffed just twice, while adding 18 tackles, the forced fumble, a pass breakup and two pressures. “When I was struggling, he would always lift me up. He would always be like, ‘You’re good. It’s gonna come. You’re talented.’ He would just list off all the things that he thinks I do well, and he would really get my mind locked back in,” Ellis said. “With him, with my other coaches, they all believe in me, and for him, especially, he’d always shoot me a text and just be like, ‘This is what I think about you, and this is how you’re going to continue to play, and this is how we want you to play.'” Williams has done this before, even with players he wasn’t directly coaching at the time. In 2018, his first season working under Vrabel as the Titans’ defensive line coach, Williams reached out to an undrafted rookie linebacker during training camp. The kid was tough and driven, but in need of a little support. That linebacker not only made the team, but has stuck in the league ever since. He’s Patriots defensive captain Robert Spillane, who signed a three-year, $33 million contract this offseason to play for Vrabel and Williams once more. “(Williams) saw something in me,” Spillane said. “He relayed that to me, and knew that I had a place in this league if I continued to work and got my chance. To get reunited with him here, I just want to make him proud. Just to have him in the building, his presence means so much to us as players.” Of all of Williams’ gifts, players and assistants contend his presence inside the building is the greatest of all. Williams’ energy remains high, and his positivity leaves them no choice but to carry on as they should, playing and coaching a game for a living. “It’s inspiring knowing what he’s dealing with and what he’s carrying that he’s still here joking, laughing, caring,” Pats cornerbacks coach Justin Hamilton said. “It reminds me to not feel sorry for myself because here’s a guy that’s coming in and not only is he enjoying himself, he’s bringing life and spirit when he’s in here. “And I know that he doesn’t feel like doing that.” Fighting on Last summer, Craig Woodson lost his grandmother to cancer. He has another family member battling now. He thinks of them and Williams often. The disease has become an inescapable part of modern life even for 24-year-olds like Woodson who through loss has come to learn there is only one way through. “It’s definitely a big thing, and it’s tough,” Woodson said. “But everybody going through it just has to keep fighting.” Williams is fighting. His treatment will intensify in the coming days, and perhaps limit or prevent his visits to the Patriots’ facility. But if Williams can make it, players are certain he will. “He’s showing, ‘I’m still here.’ That matters,” said Pats safety Jaylinn Hawkins. “I think it’s a big deal.” “It means a lot because what he’s going through, that’s some real, serious, serious things. Everybody’s got different things, but that’s something that’s up there, and for him to still prioritize coming in here. It means a lot. Because when he’s around, it does nothing but lift the spirit of everybody in here.” The Patriots plan to continue promoting the slogan “T Strong,” a tribute to Williams that Vrabel wore on a pin during their last game at Tennessee, and players carry on T-shirts they wear inside the facility. For now, as Williams readies to play the toughest defense of his life, he’s inspired the Patriots to play theirs; one step, one gift and one smile at a time. Quote of the Week “Great competitive spirit as a player. I mean, he was a Tasmanian Devil. (I) enjoyed the time with Bubba immensely. And then being able to be with him in Cleveland last year, it was fun to just see his relationship and connections with the players. The way that he coaches, his energy, his evaluation of players. So, he’s done a great job in his role, and I’m sure that if presented with those opportunities, he would do an amazing job with any head coaching opportunities that would come his way.” — Vrabel on ex-Patriots teammate and current Browns special teams coordinator Ray “Bubba” Ventrone

1 days ago

Patriots-Browns injury report: Kyle Dugger only Patriot listed, key Browns questionable

The Patriots' latest injury report is out.

1 days ago

Patriots-Titans injury report: Stefon Diggs limited again, pass rusher sits out

Stefon Diggs was limited again at Patriots practice. Find the Pats' latest injury report here.

Oct 16, 2025