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Socci’s Notebook: Patriots players confident how it will go with Elliott

To no one’s surprise, Bill Belichick was reserved Wednesday morning on the subject of ex-Dallas Cowboy Ezekiel Elliott.

“Good to have Zeke. We had a good visit with him and I look forward to working with him,” Belichick said minutes after Elliott’s signing was announced by the team on the first day of joint practices in Green Bay. “I’ve never coached Zeke before, but (I’m) glad we have him. I spent time with him last night on the trip (discussing) terminology and plays and protections, things like that. We’ll work him in there when he’s ready and see how that goes.”

Rhamondre Stevenson is confident how it will turn out. And, unlike his head coach, willing to share how strongly he feels..

“Tremendously,” he said a couple of hours later, following Elliott’s first practice with the team. “Tremendously.”

Quarterback Mac Jones concurred.

“Seems like a great fit,” he said of Elliott. “Really just want to take him under our wing. He’s a guy who’s played a lot of football in the NFL, so I’m just trying to learn from him too.”

Jones, noting that Elliott “just got here” and joking that “he’s like in his pajamas,” thinks his new teammate will need less help grasping their offense than getting outfitted in team apparel.

“Really just trying to get him some Patriots gear and make sure he’s good to go,” Jones said. “He knows football; it’s just the terminology’s a little different. I’m not worried about him.”

Nor should Jones be concerned with Elliott’s get-up.

When he emerged from the Don Hutson Center and walked onto Clark Hinkle Field (the Packers immortalize all-time greats at every turn at and around adjacent Lambeau Field) Elliott was layered in navy blue. He donned a hoodie under his pads and jersey (as signaled on social media, Elliott was No. 15, which he wore at Ohio State) along with sweat pants over his leg pads.

Elliott jogged through some routes and high-stepped through early practice drills, but mostly stuck close to running backs coach Vinnie Sunseri before the Pats joined the Packers on Ray Nitschke Field for an intense succession of 11-on-11 series.

Prior to 2022, when he gained a career-low 876 yards in 15 games, Elliott eclipsed the 1,000-yard rushing mark three times and caught 47 or more passes four times in his first six NFL seasons. The recently-turned 28-year old also rushed for at least 10 touchdowns four times, including a dozen last season, and is highly regarded as a pass blocker.

Adding him on a one-year deal lends a layer of depth to a position group featuring unproven second-year running backs Kevin Harris and Pierre Strong, who was absent on Wednesday. Stevenson had 210 carries, netting 1,040 yards, and caught 69 passes in 2022 to become the first Patriot to lead the team in rushing and receptions since Tony Collins in 1987. But his production decreased significantly (27 rushes and nine receptions overall), while hampered by an ankle injury in Weeks 16-18.

Stevenson shared that he “might have had a little clue” ahead of Elliott’s signing, revealing that the two have met in the past thanks to a connection arranged by their agents. Expressing admiration for Elliott’s substance-filled style as a runner — “his determination, the relentlessness” — Stevenson says “our games are going to complement each other very well.”

 

Ezekiel Elliott runs a pass pattern during Wednesday’s practice. (Photo by Bob Socci)

• WHO POPPED FOR THE PATS?

  Receiver Demario “Pop” Douglas continues to uncover and consistently make catches. During an early practice period, while the Pats’ offense experienced mixed results, Douglas crossed to the near sideline and in an instant flashed his hands up to snare a hard throw from Jones. Soon thereafter, he made a nice adjustment to snag a Bailey Zappe pass thrown slightly behind him.

  Overall and especially in the latter half of practice, the Packers exerted steady pressure on Jones, who worked behind a line that continues to employ Riley Reiff at right guard and Sidy Sow at right tackle. By Period 11, a near half-hour segment comprised of alternating, ‘late-game’ possessions, the Pats sputtered. 

  A string of four straight plays entailed: a run by Jones, leaving the pocket, a screen attempt being thwarted, a false start and an incompletion behind Hunter Henry. Then, after Jones hit Kendrick Bourne, the Pats were called for an offensive pass interference.

  Later, during a two-minute drill, after Jones scrambled up the middle and clocked it on the next snap, he was forced to turf a throw immediately before Nick Folk came out to hit a 44-yard field goal.

• KICKING AGAINST THE WIND

  On a gusty afternoon, with the wind blowing between 14-18 m.p.h., veteran Nick Folk and rookie Chad Ryland kicked against the elements as much as each other.

  During a sequence of eight straight field goal tries, featuring alternating attempts from 33, 38 and 43 yards, Folk made 3-of-4 and Ryland went 2-for-4. All three misses veered wide right. Later, capping two-minute offensive plays, Folk drilled a 44-yarder and Ryland, hurrying off the sideline with the kicking unit, converted from 40 yards out. 

  Folk’s last attempt appeared on line, but the officials ruled it no-good when the ball dipped toward the netting, which was blown in front of the uprights. The screen looked like a sail attached to a yellow mast shaped like a goal post. 

  The 16-year pro Folk, as he tends to do in every set of kicking circumstances, processed the results as productive.

  “It’s just a good work day,” he said afterward, inside the Don Hutson Center. “That’s all it really is. You just have to deal with the conditions that are given to you, just like you would on a game day. 

  “I know we kicked in a probably stronger wind than that in Buffalo a couple of years ago. You just got to deal with what you’re given, go out there and perform. It’s a good learning day, anytime you get a day like that, where you can kind of work on what you need to work on and, hopefully, kick well through it.”

  On the snowy December night Folk referenced from 2021, when the Pats beat the Bills, 14-10, he hit two field goals despite 40 m.p.h. gusts. His Buffalo counterpart Tyler Bass missed his only try when it got airborne and, as if striking an invisible wall, took a sharp right turn.

  In Wednesday’s practice, Packers rookie Anders Carlson, had a kick do the same, only with a hard left turn. Carlson also missed an earlier attempt. His struggles in the wake of two missed PAT tries in Green Bay’s preseason opener underscore the contrasting approach the two teams are taking at the position.

  The Pats drafted Ryland in the fourth round, but he is in competition with the reliable incumbent Folk. The Packers signed Carlson as their lone place kicker, after letting go of veteran Mason Crosby. 

  Bob Socci is in his 11th season calling play-by-play for the Patriots Radio Network on 98.5 The Sports Hub.