FOXBOROUGH, Mass — The New England Patriots have quite the week as they prepare to face off against the Green Bay Packers, while also having the return of Tom Brady and the induction of tight end Rob Gronkowski into the Patriots Hall of Fame.

And a lot of that was talked about on Thursday at Gillette Stadium:

Here's what I'm hearing:

Drake Maye named AFC Offensive Player of the Month

On Thursday, Drake Maye was rewarded for his incredible efforts during October, being named the AFC Offensive Player of the Month. It's his first career Player of the Month award and the first honor for the Patriots organization since Tom Brady in the 2017 season.

"That's something to be proud of for Drake," offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels said. "And I think I always look at those things as team achievements. I mean, certainly nobody's going to win an individual award in football without all the guys that do their jobs around him. So I think you celebrate that as a group and certainly deserving of it.

"And a lot of credit to him for just improving as September finished and got into the next month of the season. A lot of little things he did better, and hopefully we can continue to do that."

Practice attendance

Once again, wide receiver A.J. Brown was not spotted at practice, having now missed four straight days after showing up on the injury report with a knee injury. Along with him, the Patriots were missing Hunter Henry (foot), running back TreVeyon Henderson (illness), and cornerback Marcus Jones.

Defensive tackle Christian Barmore, who was missing on Wednesday with an illness, was back at practice.

What it was like to coach Rob Gronkowski

On Saturday, Rob Gronkowski will be inducted into the Patriots Hall of Fame, getting an opportunity to reunite with many of his former teammates and coaches, including Josh McDaniels.

"There's a lot of words you could use; Blessing would be one of them," McDaniels said of his time coaching the tight end. "He just was a difference maker in every way, in every sense of the word. And he was a great teammate."

"He took coaching very well. He was very smart. He was prepared," he continued. "And Rob always seemed to play his best in the biggest games. So, there's not too many people like him... Just a joy and a passion for life and football that was easy to be around. And all of us, I would say, would probably say the same thing. We were fortunate to have a chance to coach him."

Andy Borregales' struggles

Consistency has been the biggest issue for kicker Andy Borregales this season, with his field goal percentage being 76.9 percent this year. And last Sunday, he missed a 40-yard field goal.

"I'm never wavering on his confidence at all," special teams coordinator Jeremy Springer said. "He’s very level-headed, never too high, never too low. But we all, like I said, we’re all held to a standard. We all got to go do our job when our job’s called. And in the NFL, man, you’re held to a very fine line of failure because it’s just a very competitive league. So you just got to be on it when your name’s called. And that’s what I’m going to challenge him. And to all of us, right, we’ve always got to up our standards, especially as we get later in the season. And these kicks are going to matter more and more each game. So, we got to make sure we make them.”

Borreagles has made 10 of 13 of his field goal attempts this season.

"When you get in those moments, when you're judged on one kick, you've got to be able to make it," Springer explained. "Protection is fine, the hold's fine, and just being concentrated, locked in, and knowing that every kick matters. It really does. I don't care if it's a 14-point lead or we're down three points or whatever it may be in this league. We've got to make those. We've got to do them more consistent."

So, is there a point when the coach would be worried?

"I think with anything, you just got to look at consistency over time," he added. "If there's not inconsistency over time, then you get worried."

And would they even consider bringing in another kicker?

"That's something that's always can be utilized for any position," Springer said. "I think all positions like competition... It's always good to have competition. It's just the fact that an NFL roster, you can't have, 18 kickers on the roster. So when those decisions are made, those are made. But I always do think a level of competition always helps."

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