Stefon Diggs had his best game yet as a Patriot on Sunday, catching six passes for 101 yards in New England’s 42-13 win over the Carolina Panthers.
After the game, though, Diggs said his comfort level in the Patriots’ offensive system was still only a “five out of 10,” going on to explain that he never wants to feel too comfortable.
“Five out of 10. Take it with a grain of salt,” Diggs said. “Obviously, having success, it's week to week. It's been a slow ramp-up or build-up that I didn't even notice through these past four weeks. So, coming out through a quarter of the season, 2-2 is not bad. Could it be better? Yes. So, for me, I just take it with a grain of salt. Being comfortable is, I guess it's a state of mind, because I still got to study, I still got to flip the pages, I still got to grind. So, being comfortable in the offense is like, you’re making your coach comfortable, you’re making plays, you’re getting open, you’re showing that you know what to do on a consistent basis, and you're making plays for your quarterback. I think it helps everybody out. So, for me, I just say five out of 10 because you never want to get too comfortable.”
Asked about that comment on The Greg Hill Show Monday morning, Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel responded – seemingly in a joking manner – that perhaps Diggs needs to study more if he’s not comfortable yet.
“Then he should study more,” Vrabel said in his characteristic deadpan delivery.
“Five out of 10? We need to get going,” Vrabel added. “I’ll have to talk to Stef today. … Five out of 10? I went to Ohio State. To me, that’s failing.”
When Courtney Cox tried to ask a serious follow-up about whether Diggs was referring to ramping up in terms of his return from an ACL injury or ramping up in terms learning a new offense, Vrabel continued to answer with some of his trademark sarcasm.
“We'll have to clarify what part of it is 50 percent,” Vrabel said. “We'll have to have a winning effort physically, mentally and whatever the third one was. We’ll have to bump it up a little bit here to see what's going.”
“I think the third one is emotionally,” Jermaine Wiggins chimed in.
“Emotionally,” Vrabel said. “We need to be better in all three phases then.”
This is one of those situations where if you take Vrabel’s comments at face value, you might think he has a legitimate issue with what Diggs said. But if you listen to Vrabel’s tone, and have listened to him enough over these past couple months, you know that you sometimes need a sarcasm filter. Listen to the full interview above and judge for yourself.
Diggs’ full answer also provides more context, in that he clearly wasn’t saying that he doesn’t understand the offense, but rather that his mindset in general is to never get too comfortable.
Diggs played 63.3% of the offensive snaps on Sunday, a season high, and that number would have been even higher if Vrabel didn’t rest some starters in the fourth quarter with the win wrapped up early. He has also taken more control over the slot receiver role in this offense, with DeMario Douglas now relegated to a reserve role.
Next up for the Patriots is a Sunday night showdown in Buffalo against the undefeated Bills, Diggs’ former team.