FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- Some picked-up pieces from around the New England Patriots:
Media scene: Players drawing large media crowds Wednesday included tight end Rob Gronkowski, safeties Devin McCourty and Steve Gregory, cornerback Kyle Arrington and receivers Aaron Dobson and Julian Edelman. Quarterback Tom Brady held his weekly news conference in the new media workroom, while Buccaneers coach Greg Schiano and running back Doug Martin held conference calls with reporters ahead of Tampa Bay's visit Sunday.
Dobson attempts to keep even keel: After a debut in which he scored a touchdown on his first offensive snap but later struggled to catch the ball, rookie Dobson talked Wednesday about keeping an even keel. "You can't ride the highs too much or the lows too much," he said. "What happened last week happened, and I'm just trying to move on, improve, and have a better game this week."
Mankins wants to see more consistent running game: The Patriots offense struggled in last Thursday's 13-10 victory over the Jets, with guard Logan Mankins saying the unit had one good drive the entire contest. A more consistent running game could help. "We had one good week of running it, and last week we didn't run it that well," he said. "I know we played a good run defense last week, but you still have to be able to produce yards in the run game. We didn't. This week, we have another very good run defense, so it will be a tough challenge. They have quick guys that play very hard, and their scheme makes it hard to run against because they're never sitting still. They're always running somewhere and they do a good job of staying in their lanes."
McCourty on Martin's elusiveness: McCourty explained what makes Tampa back Martin a challenge to tackle, starting with finding him. At 5-foot-9, he can be elusive. "Especially from a secondary standpoint, he's not a big guy. He kind of can stay behind blocks and then he shoots out of there. The biggest thing is getting a lot of guys around him and bringing him down."