Patriots announce 6 practice players of the week from their 27-13 win over the Jets

Coming off their bye week and a blowout loss in Tennessee before that, the New England Patriots played a solid game against the New York Jets in week 12. The team won with a final score of 27-13, which means that it finally can hand out practice player of the week honors again for the first time since week 9. As the Patriots announces earlier today, six players were named:

RB Rex Burkhead

WR Phillip Dorsett

QB Danny Etling

SS Obi Melifonwu

WR Damoun Patterson

DE Ufomba Kamalu

The group is a diverse one not just because it includes four offensive players and two from the defensive side of the ball: three of the men listed above were on the practice squad for Sunday’s game (Etling, Patterson, Kamalu), two on the 53-man roster (Dorsett, Melifonwu) and one on injured reserve but designated to return off it (Burkhead, who has since been reactivated to the active squad).

Those six emulated specific Jets players over the course of the practices leading up to the game in New York. Burkhead likely helped the Patriots defense prepare for Jets running backs Isaiah Crowell and Elijah McGuire. Meanwhile, Dorsett and Patterson probably played the roles of the shifty Jermaine Kearse and the taller Quincy Enunwa and Robby Anderson, respectively. Danny Etling was the practice stand-in for Josh McCown.

Defensively, Obi Melifonwu might have played hard-hitting safety Jamal Adams, while Kamalu might have played talented defensive tackle Leonard Williams. While we do not know the exact roles, we do know that all six of them apparently did a fine job.

Week 1: DL Trent Harris, OL James Ferentz, DB Keion Crossen, DL Geneo Grissom, DL Deatrich Wise Jr., DB J.C. Jackson

Week 7: RB Kenneth Farrow, WR Cordarrelle Patterson, OL James Ferentz, DB Nate Ebner, DL Frank Herron

Week 8: LB Calvin Munson, DL Derek Rivers, DB David Jones, WR Cordarrelle Patterson, OL Ted Karras

Week 9: DE Trent Harris, WR Phillip Dorsett, TE Stephen Anderson, QB Brian Hoyer, DT Frank Herron, LB Calvin Munson, SS David Jones, CB J.C. Jackson