Since last Thursday, the news cycle around the New England Patriots has been full of ups and downs. Quarterback Drake Maye continues to play at a steady level, able to hold a game together and compete like we saw last season, but offensive line injuries keep things on edge. A.J. Brown needs a strong performance, but both Hunter Henry and Eli Raridon keep drives alive.

All of this makes this edition of Stock Up, Stock Down interesting. Here's who's looking good for the matchup against the Dolphins on Sunday and who needs to exceed expectations.

Twice in primetime, Patritos rookie tight end Eli Raridon has scored a touchdown this season. Overall, he is 12 of 16 for 168 yards, suggesting this may be more than a developmental year for him and could make him a solid TE2 alongside Hunter Henry.

With a 75% catch rate, Raridon can become a factor in games where the wide receiving corps is struggling.

The rookie knows how to evade linebackers and the secondary; on average, he can separate himself from defenders by three yards. The Patriots may have found themselves back with a two-tight-end set, which has always made them a dangerous bunch in the past.

Raridon may be the young understudy, but Hunter Henry has been the dependable veteran for this offense. Henry is now Rob Gronkowski, and nobody is asking him to be, but his commitment to this team, even in the rough seasons over the last half-decade, doesn't go unnoticed.

Henry is 26 of 31 for 296 yards. For his quarterback, he has been a sort of "get back on track" kind of target. If the Patriots face second-and-long, Maye will go to Henry for a first down or, at the very least, seven or eight yards.

Lastly, Henry has reached elite level in Patriots tight end history. He is not third overall in receiving yards at the position in franchise history, behind Coates and Rob Gronkowski.

It's time to give Rhamondre Stevenson his flowers. Stevenson is struggling in the trenches on the run, like every other running back on the Patriots right now. However, in the passing game, he remains an ace target for Maye.

With nine seconds left in the first half on Thursday night, Maye found A.J. Brown for an 18-yard strike downfield. With a second left, Maye connected with Stevenson for a 48-yard touchdown pass. Rather than going into the locker room down 20-7, they went in 20-14.

Stevenson is only averaging 3.7 yards per carry this season. Still, his dependability in the clutch is never in question, and his workload has seemingly increased over the last few weeks, while TreyVeyon Henderson's workload has seemingly been cut in half, partially due to injury.

As bad as it was, you could forgive Brown's Week 6 performance against the New York Jets. He went 3-for-10 and dropped numerous passes he is contractually obligated to make. But the rust needed to get shaken off.

Last Thursday in the Windy City, he was 3-of-6 for 48 yards. That still isn't the bounce back from an injury that many were hoping for.

If Brown continues to be a limited factor in Sunday's matchup against the 1-5 Miami Dolphins, the criticism of his performance may grow even louder than it is now.

The Patriots missed 17 tackles against the Bears on Thursday Night Football. Head coach Ben Johnson gets credit for drawing up a game plan that forced smaller defensive backs like Charles Woods to make many open-field tackles against bigger-bodied receivers.

Woods spent much of the night lined up against Bears rookie Luther Burden III. Burden went off with 4 catches, 130 yards, and a touchdown.

The Patriots' secondary struggled all night to stop the Bears with yards after catch. When they needed to get Caleb Williams and company off the field, they couldn't stop them.

Marcus Jones may have been exhausted late in the game and couldn't go full throttle as the Bears tried to put the game out of reach. Jones was on the field for 97% of the Patriots' defensive snaps against the Bears.

Jones had nine tackles (five solo, four assisted), recorded one sack, and had six missed tackles, his career worst. Ben Johnson tested him all night with playcalling that pushed running back D'Andre Swift in Jones' direction on the outside. At no point did Jones seem to handle what the Bears' offensive-minded head coach threw at him.

A 12-yard touchdown pass from Williams to Bears tight end Colston Loveland was also on Jones, who was the primary defender in the area. Loveland outmuscled Jones on the play, helping the Bears separate themselves on the scoreboard for a bit in the third quarter.

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