Saturday Patriots Notebook 2/21: Patriots Appear All-In On Revis, ASU Emulating Patriots, More

Ian Logue

Feb 21, 2015 at 10:08am ET

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Keeping Darrelle Revis appears to be a priortiy. (USA TODAY Images)

At the end of the day Bill Belichick learned a lot about his football team in 2015, with the biggest lesson being one that seems to be a priority heading into this offseason.

Having a defense that can make a play in clutch situations is big, and it seems like making sure Darrelle Revis is with them in September is the focus as the team starts turning their attention toward getting deals done to keep their free agents.

According to Jeff Howe of the Boston Herald, a variety of sources have told him that the team has "been deliberate with their other objectives" this offseason, with the Patriots actions indicating  "they're all in" on the veteran cornerback.

If that's the case, the reasoning should be pretty obvious.  There are few guys in the NFL who make the difference that Revis makes out on the field defensively and New England experienced that first hand last season.  He lead the team with a staggering 14 passes defensed, which is an unbelievable number and nearly double that of Patrick Chung, who had 7.  However, his presence clearly had an effect on opposing quarterbacks and that was a big benefit to the guys around him.  When you have a player who can instill doubt in the guy running the offense of the opposition, that's game changing and one would have to believe they're not going to let him get away if they can help it.

Revis signed a two-year, $32 million contract last March, and being part of a team that could potentially repeat in 2015 may be a motivating factor for him to sign an extension.  As Howe points out, Revis actually turned down a couple of teams that would have paid him $16 million before agreeing with New England last season.  That's good news if he's willing do potentially do that again.  He played just as advertised for them in his first year as a Patriot and likely still has several good years left playing at this level.   He's also surrounded by guys he's already admitted he loves playing with.

If the Patriots can keep Revis in-house for the long-term and get McCourty signed, the Patriots would return next season with two players in the secondary they can continue building around for the foreseeable future.  Both are incredibly talented and provide them stability in that unit, which is going to be key in putting New England in position to potentially play in San Francisco next February.

Revis is sitting on a $20 million salary for 2015, which Jonathan Kraft recently called a "placeholder".  So in theory they've already got him, but in reality getting a long-term deal done gives them some security and likely a more flexible cap situation.

But guys like him don't come around very often and the Patriots seem to realize how much better he really did make them last season, and winning it all certainly reinforces that.  Now it's just a matter of figuring out a deal that keeps him around and allows them to put together a team that can help put them in position to make a run at another championship.

ASU TAKING A PAGE FROM PATRIOTS OFFENSE:

When you win a championship other people tend to take a look at what made you so successful, and apparently Arizona State head coach Todd Graham has been impressed by what he's seen from the Patriots.

ASU running back D.J. Foster is a player they believe is their Julian Edelman, and their quarterback, Mike Bercovici, is their version of Patriots quarterback Tom Brady.  According to Graham now their plan is to try and take a page from New England's offense and work on getting the ball out faster and developing more rhythm from the pocket.

Getting the ball out quickly has made Brady more dangerous, and ASU appears to be looking to do the same. (USA TODAY Images)

By getting the ball out faster, Bercovici is someone they believe that with his big arm should be able to make plays off the field if the approach keeps defenses off of him.  They're confident in his accuracy on these throws, and now the hopes is to give him more of an opportunity to get the ball down the field.

"Bercovici can throw a (quick slant) with 100-percent accuracy," Graham said. "One, two, ball's out on three. (Defenses) can't get pressure. Play-action, is when we're really throwing it down the field. So much of our intermediate passing game last year was limited to running naked, running (bootlegs)."

Needless to say if you're a fan of college football, it may be something you want to keep an eye on.

ADDITIONAL NOTES:  Pete Carroll has spent this offseason getting abused in the media after his decision on Seattle's final play of Super Bowl that lead to Malcolm Butler's interception.  However, after the Super Bowl Belichick defended him, with a pretty powerful quote that resonated well with Carroll.  Said Belichick via ESPN Boston, "There has been a lot of criticism that I don't think is anywhere close to being deserved or founded. That football team is very good, very well-coached, and Pete does a great job. Malcolm [Butler] and Brandon [Browner], on that particular play, just made a great play. I think the criticism they've gotten for the game is totally out of line and by a lot of people who I don't think are anywhere near even qualified to be commenting on it."  Carroll responded on Friday at the Combine, saying, "He gets it, so I have always respected the work that Bill has done and the accomplishments and the achievements. For him to take the moment to do that is very gracious of him [and] we care a lot about coaches, we care a lot about the game. I think he [said that] just to let people know ... what he feels about it and I appreciate it." ...  The Hall at Patriots Place added some interesting additions to its inventory, with the cleats that Butler was wearing when he made his historic interception, along with his gloves and the football now on display.  There's also another list here of additional pieces that were added, including the jersey Tom Brady was wearing when he eclipsed 50,000 career passing yards, and plenty of others...  In case you missed it, there was some nice news recently about Bianca Wilfork, the wife of Patriots defensive lineman Vince Wilfork.  CareWell Urgent Care announced earlier this week that Bianca will be their new spokesperson and plans on trying to help educate people about the center's offerings, which is a service that she's been using for her family for many years... Patriots owner Robert Kraft recently appeared on an episode of Forbes SportsMoney and offered up some interesting insight in the piece.  The Yes Network has some quotes, including his thoughts on what he was thinking when he made the decision to buy the team.   Said Kraft, "I just said if I had a shot of running this thing, what would I try and do? So then I tried to figure out how I could get an edge in buying the team. There were three parts: the team, the stadium which was a different ownership, and 300 acres of land around the stadium that you needed to be free on the day of events for parking." ... The NFL reportedly suspended the use of Helmet Sensors, with the pilot program designed with sensors within the helmets to relay information about the number and velocity of hits to them.  According to the New York Times Brian McCarthy, a spokesperson for the NFL, said that the league’s head, neck and spine committee would “continue to review and analyze the research.”  The newspaper also reported the committee who conducted the study collected data on about 11,000 impacts during the 2013 season but had difficulty determining the location and severity of the impacts. The committee apparently wants more time to determine if there is a better system available and the NFL Players association is also reportedly concerned about the use of the data and whether or not it will be used against a player.  It's a complicated issue, and apparently this method of potentially dealing with it has been put on hold.