Patriots players had one final opportunity to prove they deserved to stick around Thursday in New England’s fourth and final preseason game. One of the biggest standouts was a player who was just acquired this week.
Here are this week’s takeaways and advanced metrics, with stats via Pro Football Focus.
PASS RUSH
DL Ufomba Kamalu: QB hit, five hurries
LB Scooby Wright: two sacks, three hurries
DL Byron Cowart: three QB hits, two hurries
DL Nick Thurman: QB hit, three hurries
DL Deatrich Wise: sack, hurry
DL David Parry: two hurries
LB Terez Hall: two hurries
LB Christian Sam: hurry
LB Calvin Munson: hurry
— Jakob Johnson, a fullback by trade, filled in at outside linebacker. He didn’t record a pressure in 11 pass-rush snaps.
— Cowart was a really nice find in the fifth round of the 2019 NFL Draft. Credit to Monti Ossenfort’s scouting department on that one for finding and drafting a player clearly no one else wanted.
— Kamalu was productive on 83 (!) snaps. That’s a lot of playing time for a 6-foot-6, 295-pound player.
— Wright might have found a spot on the practice squad with an impressively productive performance. He only signed Sunday.
PASS COVERAGE
CB Keion Crossen: seven catches on 16 targets, 127 yards, TD, INT, four PBUs
CB Ken Webster: 5-10, 74 yards, PBU
LB Calvin Munson: 6-8, 44 yards
LB Terez Hall: 5-5, 38 yards
S Malik Gant: 1-2, 27 yards, TD, PBU
CB Duke Dawson: 2-4, 23 yards, INT, PBU
WR Gunner Olszewski: 1-1, 14 yards, TD
CB Joejuan Williams: 1-3, 3 yards, PBU
LB Christian Sam: 2-3, -3 yards, PBU
LB Scooby Wright: 0-1
— Crossen let up 72 yards and the touchdown in the first quarter then settled down. He was a ballhawk after his slow start.
— Williams only allowed three catches on 11 targets for 21 yards with two pass breakups all preseason. The second-round pick looked like a stud in games. He played safety in Thursday night’s game.
— Gant and Webster left the game with injuries.
RUN DEFENSE
DL Ufomba Kamalu: five stops
DL Nick Thurman: four stops, three missed tackles
LB Scooby Wright: two stops
DL David Parry: stop
LB Terez Hall: stop, missed tackle
S Malik Gant: stop, two missed tackles
CB Joejuan Williams: stop
CB Keion Crossen: stop, missed tackle
DL Deatrich Wise: stop
LB Calvin Munson: missed tackle
CB Ken Webster: missed tackle
— The Patriots let up 22 carries for 93 yards for 4.2 yards per carry with a touchdown.
PASS PROTECTION
OL James Ferentz: four hurries
OL Tyrie St. Louis: two sacks, hurry
OL Tyler Gauthier: QB hit, hurry
RB Nick Brossette: sack
OT Cedrick Lang: hurry
G Hjalte Froholdt: hurry
T Martez Ivey: hurry
— Offensive tackle Dan Skipper, tight end Stephen Anderson and fullback Jakob Johnson had pass-blocking snaps but didn’t allow any pressure.
— The seven Patriots offensive linemen expected to make the Patriots’ roster — Isaiah Wynn, Joe Thuney, Ted Karras, Shaq Mason, Marcus Cannon, Jermaine Eluemunor and Korey Cunningham — all were healthy scratches Thursday night.
— Froholdt left the game and didn’t return with an injury.
PASSING ACCURACY
Rookie Jarrett Stidham went 18-of-28 for 225 yards with two touchdowns and one interception. His interception came when he was hit while throwing. His receivers suffered two drops, and he threw one pass away. He took, on average, 2.73 seconds to get rid of the ball. He was 2-of-4 for 55 yards with a touchdown on deep passes.
RECEIVING
WR Josh Gordon: drop
WR Jakobi Meyers: drop
— Demaryius Thomas caught 7-of-8 targets for 87 yards with two touchdowns. He caught 2-of-3 deep passes for 55 yards with a touchdown.
— Thomas ran five routes out of the slot. One of his touchdowns came from the slot. Gordon ran four routes out of the slot.
— Thomas was surprisingly impressive in his return from a ruptured Achilles.
RUSHING ATTACK
Nick Brossette: two missed tackles forced, 2.35 yards after contact per attempt
Brossette finished up the preseason with 65 carries for 200 yards with three touchdowns. He didn’t average over 3.8 yards per carry in a single game. His longest carry was 12 yards.
For more grades, advanced statistics and more at Pro Football Focus, go to ProFootballFocus.com.
