FOXBORO, Mass. — Some notes and nuggets from Tuesday’s New England Patriots’ media availability:
— Lawrence Guy hasn’t garnered many headlines this season — not particularly surprising for a defensive lineman — but he’s quietly putting together a solid debut campaign for the Patriots.
Guy, who came over from the Baltimore Ravens in free agency this past offseason, has played in all 11 games for New England and leads all Patriots interior D-linemen with 36 tackles. He had four tackles in Sunday’s 35-17 win over the Miami Dolphins and earned considerable praise from Bill Belichick in the coach’s Monday morning conference call.
“I thought that Lawrence Guy did a real good job for us (Sunday), gave us some very good interior play there,” Belichick said. “So did Alan (Branch), but I thought Guy, in particular, (it) was certainly a good performance for him, and we needed that.”
Defensive coordinator Matt Patricia echoed Belichick’s comments in his conference call Tuesday.
“Lawrence is a guy that has really improved through the course of the year, really tried to learn our techniques and has really developed from a run standpoint,” Patricia said. “(He’s) someone that we’ve gotten some real consistent play from up front.”
Before signing with the Patriots, Guy spent three seasons with the Ravens, two with the San Diego Chargers and two with the Indianapolis Colts. He needs just 10 tackles over the final five games to match his career high of 46.
“He’s got great energy about him,” Patricia said. “He’s smart, he learns, he studies the game. He’s got a lot of insight, too, from a player that’s been able to do this for a couple years. He’ll come in and he’ll see something and says, ‘Hey, what do you think about this? Is this something we could take a look at? What if we do this?’ I really enjoy those conversations when you start to get guys that look at it from a whole point of view of how to better defend an offense.”
— Belichick on Tuesday reacted to the loss of special teams ace Nate Ebner, who suffered a season-ending knee injury against the Dolphins and was placed on injured reserve.
“Of course, we’ll miss Nate,” Belichick said. “But that’s an unfortunate part of the game. We have other players that have worked hard that will get an opportunity, and I’m sure that they’ll go out there and do their best to make the most of their opportunity and provide a high quality of play for us. That’s what a full team is about — how everybody depends on each other and how we need everybody. Hopefully, that’ll be the case.”
Fullback James Develin, who, like Ebner, plays a prominent role in the kicking game, also preached a “next man up” philosophy.
“Nate’s been an absolute stalwart for us on special teams for us for a long time,” Develin said. “But we’ll have guys to fill in. We’re all going to have to pick up our game collectively and make up for that. It’s a shame to see him go down, but that’s the game of football.”
— In a positive development, wide receiver Chris Hogan was spotted in the Patriots’ locker room without his arm in a sling.
Hogan has missed the last three games with a shoulder injury and has yet to return to practice. He was highly productive in the eight games he has played in, catching 33 passes for 438 yards and five touchdowns.
