Callahan: The Drake Maye-Stefon Diggs dynamic, a Patriots what-if and more Week 4 thoughts

Welcome to the Friday Five Each week during the NFL regular season I will drop five Patriots-related thoughts on Friday to recap the week that was in Foxboro and look ahead to kickoff Ready set football What if Back in March Milton Williams was thiiiis close to becoming a Panther instead of a Patriot Williams hit free agency as a top target for both teams fresh off a dominant Super Bowl run with the Eagles Once free agency opened initial reports suggested Williams was headed to Carolina Instead after whiffing on Ravens left tackle Ronnie Stanley and Buccaneers wide receiver Chris Godwin the Pats pushed all their chips in to land him Sure enough a four-year million offer convinced one of the last remaining blue-chip talents to New England I presumably blacked out for a little bit once that happened revealed Patriots defensive line coach Clint McMillan It was exciting to get a performer of that caliber Can you imagine if Williams hadn t signed Of class who knows how the dominos would have fallen from mid-March to late September But Williams sealed the Pats only win of the season thus far sacking Tua Tagovailoa on the Dolphins final offensive snap with less than two minutes left in Week He s also provided a steady veteran presence and pass rush the Patriots desperately need On the season Williams has two sacks two quarterback hits three hurries and a run stuff The Patriots will need more from him if they want to produce their first winning season since and that starts Sunday against the organization that nearly stole one of their best defensive players now and for years to come Digging deeper Every receiver wants the ball Their livelihoods depend on it So when Drake Maye mentioned Wednesday he has to throw more to Stefon Diggs that s normal But when Maye helpers two weeks in a row that Diggs requirements the ball particularly after Diggs insisted he won t call for more targets well which is it Quarterback Drake Maye right talks with Stefon Diggs during Patriots practice Aug in Foxboro Nancy Lane Boston Herald I ve got full trust in Diggs Maye commented He just keeps showing it every week I need to try to give him the ball more I informed him that in the modern day That quote is not proof of a disgruntled Diggs whose history of becoming upset when he doesn t see the ball enough is as well-documented as his on-field excellence Maye s quotes aren t fire They might not even be smoke But they re not nothing Especially not after Josh Allen dropped this Thursday in Buffalo when solicited how he s changed his meeting to cut down on his turnovers That whole everybody eats mentality that offensive coordinator Joe Brady allowed us to take over has allowed me to be free I don t worry so much about where the ball is going Now Diggs has declared he s not calling for the ball He s been a good soldier publicly and more importantly productive on the field There s a good scenario for him to play more as the Patriots majority of reliable receiver I m not going to bite off more than I can chew I m not gonna ask for anything It s whatever they need he declared Wednesday I m gonna just handle what s in front of me I got like a rule of thumb just eat the food that s in front of you So where does Josh McDaniels stand in all of this A week ago McDaniels claimed he s never heard Diggs call for the ball On Thursday McDaniels commented of his receivers I think the goal for all of us is that we hope that the quarterback is throwing it to the person that s supposed to get it So the short and long of it is if you start trying to force it to one person or another it gets a little bit different And now you start making mistakes Hmm Something to monitor Why sell now The next time Robert Kraft approaches to a microphone it should sound like his last In virtually every press conference Kraft mentions how he used to sit on the bleachers at the old Foxboro stadium how optimistic he is about the Patriots future how fundamental the draft is to long-term success in the NFL and how after his family nothing is more central to him than the Patriots New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft speaks at Gillette Stadium on Jan Nancy Lane Boston Herald So why would Kraft reportedly sell minority stakes in the franchise A theory last year Irving Grousbeck made his son Wyc the Celtics governor sell the gang right now after their last NBA title The Grousbecks cited estate planning before sealing a billion sale to new controlling owner Bill Chisholm Translation Irving craved his affairs in order Kraft is The succession plan is clear Jonathan Kraft is next in line In the meantime Kraft can leave more money behind for his extended family approximately million without relinquishing control of the association Perhaps it s a simple cash grab who wouldn t take an easy million but the gut guess here is Kraft is looking ahead with the family future in mind Getting dirty on kickoffs On Tuesday night Mike Vrabel revealed he spent two hours studying the Panthers kickoff gang He had good reason to Through three weeks the Panthers and Rams rank far and away as the best kick coverage teams in the NFL Their opponents regularly start drives deep in their own territory thanks to a dirty kick technique Dirty kicks are essentially high-arching knuckleballs that can land in the middle of the field and take an unpredictable bounce or fly at an angle depending on how the kicker makes contact The idea is to force non-returners to scoop the ball up and screw with opponents blocking schemes So might the Patriots copy Carolina and adopt the same approach Related Articles How Patriots are preparing to start faster after early struggles Patriots-Panthers injury summary K Lavon Chaisson Tetairoa McMillan upgraded Thursday Patriots keying in on Panthers jitterbug quarterback Bryce Young How Josh McDaniels plans to prevent Patriots turnovers after disastrous Week Patriots missing performer at practice Thursday before Panthers competition Pats special teams coordinator Jeremy Springer substantiated Thursday that rookie kicker Andy Borregales has tried though one of his dirty attempts at Miami resulted in a penalty that handed the Dolphins excellent field position in the fourth quarter Under the NFL s new kickoff rules if a kick doesn t excursion far enough opponents start at their own -yard line and if the ball travels too far opponents open at their own Springer highlighted the threat and reward of this approach while explaining why the Patriots haven t fully committed to it so far Can you do it consistently And you feel confident doing it consistently Springer required rhetorically Sometimes like I commented weather can dictate it Or just the kicker hits one bad ball and now you ve got a penalty at the -yard line Do you want to do it again and get another penalty What to do about Stevenson It s time to sit Rhamondre Stevenson The Patriots ought to make their top back a healthy scratch for Sunday to send a message to him and the unit they will not tolerate fumbling twice like Stevenson did last weekend Stevenson also fumbled seven times last year There must be consequences for a participant whose mistakes are so costly If Vrabel wants to establish a winning beliefs that means reinforcing certain habits and attitudes and disallowing others Turnovers are a top priority for the Patriots in theory with ball protection and ball disruption listed as the second item on a sign in their gang meeting room that outlines the identity Vrabel wants from his squad But are turnovers a priority in practice We ll see on Sunday