Corey Kiner carried the ball eight straight times to finish off the New York Jets on Sunday, and he did not notice. “I didn’t realize that I got the ball back to back like that until after the game when Trey mentioned it to me,” the New England Patriots running back said Monday. “And then I spoke to my dad this morning. He was like, ‘Yeah, man, you got like eight carries in a row,’ and I didn’t know that. I just was kind of just locked in on hearing a play call and just doing my job.”
The Patriots led 23-16 when Kiner returned a kickoff 37 yards to the New England 40 with 7:20 left. On the same drive, he ran on eight consecutive plays, for 12, 4, 5, 3, 8, 3, 2 and 5 yards. That moved the ball from the Jets’ 48 to their 6, and the Jets used all three of their timeouts along the way. Andy Borregales kicked a 27-yard field goal with 1:12 left for a 26-16 lead, and New England held on to win 26-19. Kiner led the Patriots with 57 rushing yards on 11 carries and added three kickoff returns for 88 yards.
“Run through the smoke”
Kiner said the game was a chance to “show what I can do and help the team,” and that “the team rallied behind me and I was able to rally behind them and seal the game for us.” Asked about running “through the smoke,” a coaching phrase, he said: “It’s not always going to be the perfect hole or it’s not always going to be nobody there. So you just got to run through arm tackles and run through the smoke.” He described himself simply: “More of a downhill guy. Not too many moves.”
The Patriots got Kiner from Arizona on Aug. 29 for a 2028 seventh-round pick. He came into the league in 2025 as an undrafted free agent with the 49ers out of Cincinnati, then spent time on Minnesota’s practice squad before finishing last season with four games in Arizona. Kiner said he has heard from Patriots great Kevin Faulk, whom he calls “Coach Faulk.” He said he called Faulk the day he learned he was being traded to New England. “I still have a good relationship with Coach Faulk,” he said. “One of the great people that I met throughout this game of football.”
He said the late drive showed the depth of the roster. “We got guys here who aren’t the highest on the depth chart, including me, who just continue to work as if we are the starter,” Kiner said. “I get to play football for a living, and that’s been my dream since I was able to walk and talk.”
Schooler: “Good for my soul”
Special teams ace Brenden Schooler has played only two games this season. A back injury suffered away from the team in the offseason kept him on the non-football injury list through training camp and the first four games, and he was activated on Oct. 10. “I’m definitely pretty sore today after yesterday and, you know, after last week’s game, so just, you know, trying to callus that body up again,” he said. He said he stayed at the facility the whole time he was hurt, so he never fell out of the routine. Being back on the field, he said, “it’s been good for my soul.”
Schooler said Kiner and Kyle Williams give the return game two different threats. “Kyle can hurt you with his wheels, and Corey’s going to run through arm tackles,” he said. “You’re either gonna get Kyle running away from you or Corey trying to run through you. So we don’t really care where they kick the ball.” He described Kiner as a positive influence: “You get one, two, three guys that are like that, then all of a sudden it spreads like wildfire.”
Schooler also said he is now “looked at as like the old head” on a mostly new core of special teams players. He credited Matthew Slater, his mentor when he arrived as an undrafted rookie in 2022. “If I have the opportunity to help a young guy out in that same situation, then, you know, I’d be a fool to not want to help him,” he said. “If one of these guys does well, then like we’re all doing well.” For the short week, he said, recovery started right after the game: “I got my IVs right after the game, got in the cold tubs.”
Woodson on Caleb Williams
Second-year safety Craig Woodson, a 2025 fourth-round pick out of California, has a history with the quarterback the Patriots face on Thursday. He said he remembers Caleb Williams coming to Cal when Williams was at USC. “He was a big-name guy at that time, and he made some great throws against us at Cal,” Woodson said. “He also was scrambling a little bit on his feet. So he’s doing the same thing in the league.” Woodson said Williams “can make plays with his arm, on the ground. He can throw the ball anywhere.”
Woodson said the team’s depth comes from Mike Vrabel telling everyone, down to the practice squad, the same thing. “He always says prepare like a starter, and I think that really kind of is sticking in guys’ minds,” he said. The 4-2 Patriots play the 4-2 Bears in Chicago on Thursday night. “It’s always tough on Thursday games when you just played and it was a gritty game like that,” Woodson said. “Everybody got to get their bodies right, get their mental right.”
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