Patriots’ Matthew Slater presented ball for 200th game, adds to family collection

“Over the 20 years I played, they would give them to the offensive line, or on occasion an individual ball.

The Rams, of course, presented him a game ball to commemorate that feat.

Between the two of them, they have played in 449 regular-season games.

30 to him, noting that 30 is also his brother’s jersey number and that he was dedicating the pick to Jason as he battles back from injury with the Miami Dolphins.

Opposing view on Mac: When Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan assesses what he’s seen from Patriots rookie quarterback Mac Jones, the main areas are that “he’s been really efficient and accurate with the football.” While the degree of difficulty on the majority of Jones’ throws wasn’t especially high on Thursday night, Ryan took note that there were “some great throws into some tough coverage.” As for the efficiency, after going 22-of-26 on Thursday, Jones has now completed 70% of his passes in seven of 11 games.

The jump from Division II Lenoir-Rhyne to the NFL was larger than most, so it was always going to take some time for Dugger to acclimate.

As a reminder, when the league’s initial schedule was released in the spring, there were five games isolated as possibilities to be moved to Saturday of that week, and two will ultimately be selected.

Karras over Onwenu: With the Patriots on a roll, and things having settled down along the offensive line, it seems like longer odds that Belichick would tinker with his starting offensive line combination of left tackle Isaiah Wynn, left guard Ted Karras, center David Andrews, right guard Shaq Mason and right tackle Trent Brown.

Talkin’ turnovers: Belichick has said that no statistic correlates more to wins and losses than turnover differential, and here’s something to reinforce it.

Weekend plan: Players were looking forward to having the weekend off after playing two games in a span of five days, and the current schedule calls for them to return to Gillette Stadium for their first practice of the week on Tuesday.

10a.

Did you know, Part II? The Patriots have allowed just 13 points over the past three games, the second-fewest allowed in a three-game span in Belichick’s head-coaching career.

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