Stefon Diggs is getting acclimated to the New England Patriots.
The veteran wideout made his Patriots debut in Sunday’s 20-13 loss to the Las Vegas Raiders. It was an accomplishment in and of itself for Diggs to even be ready for Week 1, with an ACL tear in Week 8 cutting his 2024 season short.
Diggs reeled in six passes for 57 yards, one of 10 players — including quarterback Drake Maye — to record a catch in the game.
There are a lot of new pieces on the Patriots, Diggs among them, so Sunday marked his first time experiencing the second-year quarterback in game action.
“It was cool. It was my first time in the huddle with him. It is not too different than practice,” Diggs said, via a team-provided transcript. “He is a guy that is super hard on himself. We are pulling for him, we just got to continue that positive reinforcement and that positive encouragement. Quarterback is a very hard job so letting him know that you got his back and going to be available for him is going to be key in our success.”
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It also marked the first time Diggs got to play for Vrabel, who was making his own debut as Patriots head coach.
“That is a guy you want to run through a wall for,” Diggs said of Vrabel. “He obviously was a player and I got a lot of respect for him, we all do. When you come up short it is like when you disappoint your parents or disappoint your dad. A guy that played this game, he puts a lot of time in as far as pushing us and trying to make sure we’re prepared for the game. So, when you fall short in certain areas you feel a little bit of disappointment, but 24-hour rule, we’ll flush it, get back to work, and show that we can be the team we want to be.”
