Sunday Patriots Notes: Pickups playing a part in establishing new culture

The New England Patriots return to Gillette Stadium this week where they'll welcome the Los Angeles Rams to town.

For anything not covered on Pats Pulpit throughout the week, let's take a look in this week's Sunday Patriots Notes.

When Jerod Mayo served as a linebackers coach on Bill Belichick's staff, the coach would recognize certain player's performance in his room by awarding a hard hat.

According to Mayo, it all stems from trying to build and develop a culture — something he is now trying to establish as the team's head coach. Part of that process including hiring offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt, who takes pride in helping in that area.

To do so, Van Pelt has been tracking his own stat throughout the year: 'Pickups.'

When a ball carrier gets tackled, Van Pelt is frustrated if he gets up on his own. The coordinator instead wants his players to run to their teammates and pick them up them off the ground. That has led to him tracking 'pickups' as part of his film review where he then announces the winner every Wednesday.

"There's nothing that frustrates me more than watching guys not pick each other up off the ground," Van Pelt said. "We ask these guys to be great teammates — run to the football. When you run to the football, good things happen and while you're there let's get our guys off the ground.

"We ask the ball carries, if you're on the ground, stay down, somebody's coming to get you. That's the mentality that we have. We play for each other. We call it, 'For our brothers,' in the room."

This week's winner was right tackle Trey Jacobs, who led the team with 11 pickups in a win over the Bears. Jacobs, however, is just one of many Patriots players who have helped a teammate off the ground this season.

"I think we had 85 guys that ran to the football to get their guys off the ground. We had 58 different players that got picked up off the ground," Van Pelt said. "I don't know if you've seen that across the league. That's something we take great pride in here in building this culture."

As Mayo hopes to get the Patriots back to their winning ways, building that culture has been a priority in his first year as head coach. Through 10 games, players are seemignly bought in and playing hard for their coach despite the 3-7 record.

Mayo, however, knows he has plenty of work to do.

"It's a work in progress. Anytime you're trying to develop a culture, it takes a long time," he said Friday. "I would also say culture is what you reward. You saw a guy like Jeremiah Pharms, who at one point in his career played offensive line, but at the same time he's a defensive lineman, and he goes out there and practices every day, hard. He's going to get more and more snaps on the field. That's what you reward, and that soon becomes your culture.

For now, pickups will continue to reward those doing things the right way.

"The pickups, you never want to see your teammate on the ground having to get up on his own. But those small things like that, to me, are important as we continue to try to build this thing out," Mayo said.

Newly claimed Yannick Ngakoue got off to an impressive start during his first week with the team. As the Patriots mark his seventh team in nine years, the pass rusher has some connections already in the building. That includes linebacker Ja'Whaun Bentley, who grew up nearby in Maryland, and Joe Giles-Harris. Ngakoue also briefly played under linebackers coach Drew Wilkins with the Ravens back in 2020.

"Had him in Baltimore. Great player. Been a good pass rusher for a long time in this league. Great addition," Wilkins said. "A guy that you're able to claim off waivers — it's a tribute to our scouting staff... Always a consideration for them to upgrade our roster. So a guy like this becomes available, what a find this time of year to be able to get a boost in our pass rush and incorporate him in our defense.

Sports Illustrated's annual coaching list — which features current head coaching candidates as well as up-and-comers that are mentioned by agents, coaches, and NFL executives — was released earlier this week. The lone current Patriot coach that earned recognition was Wilkins as a "Rising defensive coach."

"Like anything like that, it's about your players who put you in those positions and the coaches you're with. I've been really fortunate over the years to be with great mentors as coaches and then really great players," Wilkins said.

"We're just a product of the guys who put in the hard work. Try to lead them in the right direction but ultimately these guys are the ones that are out there doing it. You just try to support those guys, encourage those guys, motivate those guys the best you can so it's really, feel a lot of gratitude when you hear something like that for the people that have put you in those positions."

Jerod Mayo made sure to make note of Jeremiah Pharms Jr.'s performance against the Bears numerous times this week. Pharms, who tallied a sack and a team-high three run stops, has been putting in extra work with defensive line coach Jerry Montgomery to be ready to make those plays when his number is called.

"He's just hungry," Montgomery said Thursday. "Kid was in the building this morning at five o'clock watching film with me. Like that's just him every Thursday morning, he's at my desk at 5 am watching film. No one else is around. No one knows. He didn't say anything to anybody else. He wants to be here in the worst way, and he works every day like he's getting cut tomorrow."

In the post game locker room last weekend, Drake Maye was seen in a team released mic'd up video thanking his offensive lineman. Once he went up to each of the starting five, the bones for dinner plans for the following night were quickly put together.

That's what happened, as Maye and the offensive line went to a Boston steakhouse Monday night for dinner — where the rookie picked up the bill. The meal might now be a more usual occurrence throughout the rest of the season.

A large part of the Patriots current roster deficiencies stems from poor drafting in recent years. Saturday's release of 2022 second-round pick Tyquan Thornton is a prime example of such.

Among the 10 selections in the 2022 NFL Draft, just three players reside in Foxboro. Only third-round pick Marcus Jones has suited up for New England this season, as first-rounder Cole Strange (PUP) and sixth-rounder Kevin Harris (practice squad) have not seen action.

The rest of that class included: Jack Jones (released), Pierre Strong (traded), Bailey Zappe (released), Sam Roberts (released), Chasen Hines (released), Andrew Stueber (released).

"That'll be one I'm sure will haunt him for the rest of the year," offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt said of Drake Maye's interception vs. the Bears. "We always say if nobody is open, there's always one guy that's open and that's the tuba player in Row 4. I'd like to see him put that ball right in the tuba."

Following a win in Chicago, Jerod Mayo stressed a sense of urgency to his players as they learn to win two straight games. The Patriots have not won back-to-back games in nearly two years, as their last winning streak came in the 2022 season. That featured three straight wins from Weeks 8-11 during late October and early November.

The Patriots will look for that second straight win against the Los Angeles Rams , an opponent they have found success against at Gillette Stadium. New England is 2-0 against Los Angeles in their home stadium since it opened in 2002, one of the eight teams they are undefeated against.

A Victory Monday will be TBD, but the Patriots will be back to work as they get ready to be back on the road to face the Miami Dolphins .

Leading up to the Week 12 matchup, New England will go through its usual routine with practice plus injury reports Wednesday through Friday, followed by a pre-game walkthrough and travel on Saturday.