After watching a replay of the game, a couple of things come to mind. One, Jackson is really good at diagnosing pressure to begin with, so that part wasn’t a big surprise. Two, the Patriots had a handful of guys who are second-teamers on the field at various points throughout the game. (They also had guys like Anfernee Jennings playing different positions, trying to bolster depth at important spots.) As a result, it’s possible that a lack of reps may have caused one or two situations where a defender was overly eager, and tipped their hand as a result.

Get Starting Point

A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday.

Marte Mapu would appear to be the perfect coverage linebacker with his experience as a safety, as well as his height and weight combination. What are his issues in not succeeding?

— Bill Dee, Reading

Excellent question. Mapu has done really well in a special teams role this year, and I know Mike Vrabel likes him as a teammate and versatile presence. However, it feels like he’s slightly in over his head when it comes to getting regular reps in this defensive scheme. Maybe something clicks moving forward, or with a full year in the system? We’ll see. Ultimately, this is a position the Patriots need to revisit over the offseason. Good tight ends continue to be an issue for this defense.

Mike Vrabel is obviously a great coach, motivator, and team builder. The strategy still befuddles me at times. They already set up a fake punt earlier in the game, so Baltimore knew it was possible. And then they ran it for real, and no one was surprised. Even if Josh called the play, Vrabel has to sign off on it.

— Bob Granese, Chino Hills, Calif.

You can argue execution — it looked like Mapu was trying to target fullback Jack Westover, who appeared to be well-covered — but from my standpoint, that was one of the worst play calls of the year. The Patriots were only trailing by 4 points in that moment (with just over two minutes left in the third), the ball was near midfield, and Jackson was already out of the game. I can appreciate wanting to be aggressive, but New England would have been better off playing for field position in that instance and having Bryce Baringer try and pin Baltimore near the goal line.

How likely is the unbelievably egregious no-call on the DPI with the Ravens to cause a ref to lose their job or some other major change? Not only was it ridiculous, but a key player (Boutte) was injured because of it.

— Brad Deltan, via Bluesky

Does the NFL assign their worst-rated referees to [Patriots] games, like the TV networks assign their worst-rated commentators? The missed/blown/bad calls against the Pats have been ridiculous. And the commentary has been pretty lame too?

— John Enfield, New Hampshire

There have been some interesting calls over the last few weeks — to Brad’s point, I’m still not sure why there wasn’t a flag on the long ball for Kayshon Boutte late Sunday night — but as far as I know, the assigning process for referees remains the same. The best way to improve the TV commentators? Be a better and more compelling team. The thinking here is that given the dramatic surge this season, the Patriots are going to be in line for more prime-time games in 2026, which means the announcing crews will almost certainly improve as well.

Austin Hooper and Kyle Williams only seem to make big catches. Do we expect they get more playing time and opportunities?

— Nick, Washington, D.C.

Agreed. Both came up huge against the Ravens. (Hooper in particular remains absolutely dependable, and terrific when it comes to contested catches.) That being said, from this viewpoint, they’re excellent complementary pieces of the offensive puzzle right now. If someone gets injured — either Hunter Henry or Boutte — then things could change. But at this point, I’d be surprised if they moved into primary roles in the passing game.

It’s quite obvious the Pats could use more pressure off the edge on defense. Are there any edge rushers expected to hit free agency this offseason that the team might take a run at?

—David Faria, via email

You want to make a splash? Go after Trey Hendrickson. He’ll likely cost you, but if he can stay healthy, he’d make an instant impact. Jaelan Phillips is also expected to hit the market. Khalil Mack and Jadaveon Clowney aren’t dominant every-down players anymore, but both have shown flashes this year as quality rotational players utilized on passing downs. It’s also worth noting that this is setting up to be a very good draft for edge rushers, with players like Miami’s Rueben Bain Jr., Texas Tech’s David Bailey, Texas A&M’s Cashius Howell, Auburn’s Keldric Faulk, and Ohio State’s Arvell Reese.

Christopher Price can be reached at christopher.price@globe.com. Follow him on Bluesky at christopherprice.bsky.social.