FOXBOROUGH — On Wednesday afternoon, Ben Brown was practicing in Las Vegas with the Raiders. Four days later, he was New England’s starting center for Drake Maye’s debut in Foxborough.
“It’s been crazy, for sure,” Brown said after Sunday’s 41-21 loss to the Texans. “Little bit of a whirlwind of a week.”
That’s an understatement.
Brown found out the Patriots were signing him off the Raiders practice squad on Wednesday afternoon, so he hopped on a red eye from Las Vegas to Boston at 10:30 p.m. PT that night. The center’s flight landed at 6:30 a.m. ET, and he went straight to Gillette Stadium, where he went through a medical evaluation and was on the field with his new team Thursday.
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After just two practices in New England, Brown found out he’d be starting on Sunday morning. The 6-foot-5, 313-pounder held up quite well, especially given the circumstances.
“I felt confident out there with the guys,” Brown said. “Obviously it’s tough not being able to get the win, but I felt good with my responsibilities.”
So how does a player learn a new playbook that quickly?
“You’re studying 24/7,” Brown said. “I think the biggest thing for me was, I’ve been on several different teams, so some of these concepts schematically weren’t completely foreign to me. Just the verbiage and technique might be a little bit different. But I felt calm out there.”
An undrafted free agent out of Ole Miss in 2022, Brown spent time with the Bengals, Seahawks, Cardinals, and Raiders before landing in New England.
The Patriots have been strapped for depth behind David Andrews since the summer, and with the captain done for the year after tearing a rotator cuff, it’s being tested. A hobbled Nick Leverett struggled against the Dolphins last week, and on Sunday, Jerod Mayo decided it was Brown’s time to step in despite the quick turnaround. While Brown acknowledged it was “pretty cool” to get his first career start, he said the scoreboard is all he cares about at the end of the day.
“I care more about winning than being able to start,” Brown said. “I just want to help this team win. Whatever that takes. However that looks.”
As for the other member of the Patriots offense making his first career start — to quite a bit more fanfare — Brown thought Maye played quite well in the losing effort.
“I thought he did great,” Brown said. “I thought he was confident out there. I felt like he settled in great. I felt very confident having him as my quarterback back there today.”
