1. This week brought the first real bitter cold of the season and also the first snowflakes in the New England region. Wednesday in the Patriots locker room, snow brushes were spotted in all of the rookies' lockers. Upon checking in with a few players, this is part of the process of acclimating rookies to not only life in the NFL, but also living in New England. It's worth noting some players have never seen snow before, yet alone drive in it. Part of this includes a "class" on how to drive in the snow. One rookie was told the story of Randy Moss, Adalius Thomas, Derrick Burgess, and Gary Guyton being late one day due the snow and then sent home, and he remarked he would never let something like that happen to him. This falls in line with the entire Patriots organization where there's not a stone left unturned and it does everything possible for the players to succeed.
2. Appearing on Patriots All-Access this week, Bill Belichick hinted the Patriots offense over the next seven games could look a lot different than from the first nine games. "Kind of some new faces here a little bit," he said. "We'll see where we are in terms of getting (Matt) LaCosse back, (Mohamed) Sanu has only played a couple of games, (Benjamin) Watson has played a few games, (Jakobi) Meyers is starting to get a little bit more playing time. So, we'll see where we go here with (N'Keal) Harry, (Isaiah) Wynn — guys like that coming off injured reserve in the coming weeks. I think there are some things that are maybe being added offensively on our side, whereas defensively that's not really the case on our roster — it's maybe a little more of what we're seeing from our opponents in the coming weeks." New England currently ranks second in points per game, but 15th in yards. A lot of this has to do with the number of defensive and special teams touchdowns.
3. Speaking of Wynn, he will likely be activated to the roster prior to next week's game and that means a corresponding move will need to be made. A few names stick out like quarterback Cody Kessler and offensive lineman Korey Cunningham, but also keep an eye on Damien Harris maybe going to injured reserve. He was added to the injury report on Friday with a hamstring injury and did not make the trip to Philly. The rookie has only played in two games this season and all of the other four running backs seem healthy at this point.
4. A lot has been made over the last two-plus weeks of N'Keal Harry, especially reading into the comments made by people, especially Tom Brady, about the first-round pick. Brady hadn't really had much praise for the rookie, but appearing on Ordway, Merloni & Fauria this week, Brady had a good explanation as for why. If the quarterback had hyped Harry up, that could put unfair expectations on him. This is how the Patriots always operate. Same thing with injuries and not giving timetables for a return. It would be unfair for Brady to really speak on Harry in-depth until he steps on the field and plays in a game.
5. One of the biggest moves of the offseason for the Patriots was signing safety Terrence Brooks, formerly of the Jets. He was known as primarily a special teams player in New York, but he's found a spot in the secondary, especially with Patrick Chung being banged up for a good amount of the year. While it certainly wasn't a particularly exciting signing at the time, it's worth wondering what the backend of the Patriots defense would look like without him.
6. The Patriots have done a decent job of not starting slow coming out of their bye week in recent years. Over the last five seasons, the Patriots have scored first four times in the game following the bye and have outscored opponents 38-25 in the opening quarter. This will be incredibly important this week against the Eagles as they cannot fall behind like last week on the road in Baltimore. The team isn't build to come from behind like some previous ones.
7. The Patriots' difficult stretch of their schedule continues this coming week with the Cowboys coming to Gillette Stadium. Like for the Eagles this week, it will be an important game for them to stay in the mix in the NFC East. One of the bigger storylines of the game will be Michael Bennett facing the team that traded him just before the deadline. Of course, Bennett was upset with his role and lack of playing time in New England. That has changed in Dallas, as he's played over 50 percent of the snaps in his two games so far.
