FOXBOROUGH — Despite the Tennessee Titans’ 1-5 record, there is one player whom the New England Patriots have been preparing for all week, as he’s shown that he can truly change the game.
And it’s someone Mike Vrabel has a history with.
Defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons has earned high praise from the New England Patriots’ coaching staff as well as the players ahead of the Week 7 matchup.
“He’s playing really well, playing at a high level,” Vrabel said earlier this week. “He plays hard. He’s got great play demeanor. Plays a lot of snaps, but he doesn’t – the ones that he’s in there for, which is a lot, it’s not like he picks and chooses when he’s going to play hard.
“It’ll be a huge challenge here this week for us to be able to block him, to neutralize him, and try to gain some yards.”
Josh McDaniels echoed those sentiments.
“This guy is one of the best players in the league. Period. Just in general. Take all the positions and throw them into the same bucket,” the Patriots’ offensive coordinator expressed. “The number one thing that stands out to me with Simmons is how hard he plays on a snap to snap basis.”
“It’s all the time, full tilt. He’s out there almost every play,” McDaniels added. “He’s out there every time. He lines up across the front. There’s a little bit of predictability at times based on the down or distance or what grouping they’re in, but everyone of our guys may have to block him at one point or another, which is a huge challenge.”
He’s not wrong. The entire offensive line has to be prepared to go up against Simmons at some point, and they’ve been working all week to prepare.
“So it’s just we got to have a little bit more awareness of where he’s lined up at and what players we’re running into it,” center Garrett Bradbury said. “But it’s everyone. It’s not just the guy that’s blocking them. It’s everyone involved.”
With his past coaching of Simmons, Vrabel has been able to provide some insight.
“Play style, I mean, Jeffery’s an excellent player and great play demeanor,” he said. “Plays physical, has multiple moves and techniques. So, I can’t do anything physically to recreate what he would do. Try to just show them as much tape and try to explain to them how he’s going to play, the style and do everything that we can to hopefully not allow him to affect the play.”
However, it truly comes down to the offensive line, so ahead of Vrabel’s return to Tennessee, Patriots Wire spoke exclusively with all five of the starting offensive linemen about what they are seeing on film from the star defensive tackle.
“He’s an elite D-tackle, and he’s done it for a long time since he’s been in the league,” right tackle Morgan Moses explained. “He’s very disruptive, understands schemes and football, and he’s been coached by some great coaches in the past, so obviously, the identity that he plays with shows.”
“A really good player. He’s playing at a really high level,” Bradbury added. “We’ve got to have a plan for him, for sure, in the run and in the pass. He’s making some disruptive plays. He jumps out on the tape. He’s the best player on defense, for sure, and we all know that going in, so we have to be on top of our stuff.”
“He’s a really good player, big guy. He’s the guy,” left guard Jared Wilson expressed. “There’s nothing else really to say. You know who Jeffery Simmons is, everyone knows who Jeffery Simmons is. You watch the tape.”
“He’s been a good player for a long time, so you got to make sure you take care of him or block him,” right guard Mike Onwenu stated. “Make sure you stay on your guy.”
“He’s a great player, very talented, one of the top players at his position in the entire league,” left tackle Will Campbell explained. “So we got to know where he is at all times, account for him, and just do what the coaches tell us to do.”
But as for how to stop him, Moses said it best.
“It’s for us to put together some good things to stop him,” he said. “Just playing as a whole. It’s going to take all of us collectively to get him stopped.”
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This article originally appeared on Patriots Wire: Patriots O-Line reveals what they’ve seen from Titans’ Jeffery Simmons
