EAGAN, Minn. – After two days of joint practices with the Minnesota Vikings, it’s clear the Patriots have some issues.
The offensive line – Will Campbell in particular – was taken to school by Vikings edge rusher Jonathan Greenard while the line as a whole continues to struggle.
The defense?
It sure didn’t look as good as advertised with J.J. McCarthy torching them all over the lot Thursday, but particularly in the red zone and two-minute drill.
Then, there’s Stefon Diggs, the receiver who is supposed to bail out the Patriots offense.
He hasn’t impacted many practices of late, including those with the Vikings.
Of course, there were some eyebrows raised over Diggs suggesting he might not be ready for the season opener on Dianna Russini’s Scoop City podcast this week.
Mike Vrabel, meanwhile, did his best to squash that when asked about Diggs comments during his media session Thursday.
He answered with another question: “Do you really believe that?”
As in, don’t you know the receiver was pulling everyone’s leg?
Even if that’s the case, it’s hard to separate fact from fiction with Diggs, who’s made a miraculous return from October ACL surgery just to participate at this stage.
Based on his ineffectiveness in recent outings, has he suffered some type of a setback? Is he unhappy about his touches?
It’s hard to know for certain.
But there’s little disputing the fact that the star receiver, who was the team’s best wideout early in camp, has disappeared from the offense in recent days.
While he’s consistently been impressive in 1-on-1s, and 7-on-7s, he’s been an afterthought during full team drills.
On Thursday, he didn’t have a catch during the 11-on-11 periods.
That meant he didn’t register a catch during 4-of-the-last-5 instances he was involved in team drills. On Wednesday, he had three catches to partially break that streak.
Last week, Diggs mysteriously showed up late to the joint practices against Washington, and was held out of the game with the Commanders.
Vrabel called it a “coach’s decision.”
What does that mean? Is the knee acting up because the 4-time Pro Bowl wideout pushed too hard to come back?
Vrabel wants everyone to believe there’s nothing to see here, even if he added fuel to the fire with his “coach’s decision” remark.
On Thursday, he lauded Diggs’ efforts.
“He’s been out here almost every day. I’m excited of where he’s at and we’ll see when Week 1 comes, but he’s going to practice today,” Vrabel said ahead of the second workout with the Vikings. “Hopefully he helps us in the red zone, but we can’t predict the future about Week 1. I just know he’s going to be out there today, and he works hard and he cares, which are two important things.”
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He was out there, and had several receptions during individual-oriented drills that would make one believe he was fine. During a 2-on-2 situation Thursday, he flew past his defender to reel in a Drake Maye pass in the left corner of the endzone, making a difficult catch look easy.
He caught another during 5-on-5s, spinning the ball in the endzone to celebrate another tough TD catch.
And yet, when 11-on-11s came, Diggs was hardly targeted, if at all.
What to make of it?
In this instance, Maye had little to no time to hit many of his receivers. Most of his completions were short passes to running backs, although his best heave went to Kayshon Boutte for a touchdown in the two-minute offense.
So Maye not having time was the likely explanation Thursday, but what about previous days?
Wide receivers coach Todd Downing last week cautioned people not to confuse results with the process, meaning, if there were days Diggs didn’t have a lot of production, that didn’t necessary mean the receiver wasn’t getting open.
Vrabel agreed.
“There’s days where the ball doesn’t find you. There’s one football. There’s five eligible receivers. The quarterback decides where he wants to go with the ball,” Vrabel said Thursday. “No different than Kyle Williams. Kyle Williams is working extremely hard. Ball hasn’t really found him. He’s been open. There’s been separation.”
Vrabel believes Diggs has played a factor in others being open. He believes there are other ways for receivers to contribute.
Currently, DeMario “Pop” Douglas is Drake Maye’s top receiver, and favorite go-to-guy. Maye is also making use of Boutte, Mack Hollins, and his tight ends Hunter Henry and Austin Hooper as well as his backs, TreVeyon Henderson and Antonio Gibson.
“There’s other ways to be successful and do your job and help us win,” Vrabel said. “That’s the most important thing.”
When it comes to Diggs, however, the Patriots – perhaps unfairly – need him to be more.
They need him to be a reliable target for Maye. They need him to be good enough to draw added attention from opposing teams to help others get open.
On Thursday, most of the Patriots receivers were having trouble creating separation and finding open space.
Topping that list was Diggs. So just add that to the pile of problems currently plaguing the team ahead of the regular season opener next month.
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