We’ve seen a great deal of Jacoby Brissett around the Patriots’ facility of late.
The rookie quarterback, who has been on injured reserve since undergoing thumb surgery early last month, has attended a number of recent practices and was on the sideline for each of New England’s last two games — a departure from the norm for injured players.
Patriots coach Bill Belichick explained that as a young quarterback, it’s more important for Brissett to remain in the loop than it would be for an injured player at another position.
“I’d say it’s more to do with the position he plays than the injury,” Belichick said on his Tuesday morning conference call. “I mean, he’s only been in four regular-season games, so I think the experience that he gets from being able to see the things that go on during the game are valuable for him. Might be valuable for some other players, too — I’m not saying that. But the quarterback position in particular, I’d say it’s a little bit different.”
The Patriots, like every NFL team, are allowed to activate one player off injured reserve per season, meaning there’s a chance Brissett could return to the active roster in the coming weeks if he is needed.
An assortment of off-day New England Patriots notes:
—Â One Division III football result over the weekend prompted a celebration at Gillette Stadium.
More than a half-dozen Patriots coaches and executives, including offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels and director of player personnel Nick Caserio, are graduates of John Carroll University, which defeated D-III juggernaut Mount Union on Saturday to snap the Purple Raiders’ 112-game winning streak.
“What a great day for John Carroll, and the program, and Coach (Tom) Arth and the university to be able to finally kind of get over the hump and beat such a great program like Mount Union and end that streak,” McDaniels said Tuesday in a conference call. “That’s a tremendous tribute to what those guys were able to accomplish this year. Hopefully, they can continue to keep that going into the playoffs.”
Before Saturday, Mount Union had lost just one regular-season game since 1994, going an incredible 222-1 over that span.
— Sunday’s game against the San Francisco 49ers will be Tom Brady’s first in his native Bay Area. The Patriots quarterback was injured the last time the Patriots traveled to San Francisco in 2008.
“It’s actually very cool,” Brady, who grew up in San Mateo, Calif., told Jim Gray during Westwood One’s “Monday Night Football” pregame show. “Growing up a 49ers fan, being at all those games at Candlestick (Park). I was going to play there in ’08, but that’s when I hurt my knee, so I missed that, and I never got a chance to play at Candlestick, where I watched all those games for all those years.
“So it will be fun to be at home and have a lot of friends and family at the game. It’s going to be a great experience for me, so hopefully we can go put on a great show, play some great football with great execution and get a win on the road.”
Thumbnail photo via Winslow Townson/USA TODAY Sports Images
