Maroney stays home

MIAMI -- Rookie running back Laurence Maroney, whom the Patriots listed as questionable with a back injury, didn't make the trip with the team for today's game against the Dolphins.

Maroney was one of five players who didn't travel for today's game, along with rookie receiver Chad Jackson, rookie offensive tackle Ryan O'Callaghan, linebacker Eric Alexander, and safety Rashad Baker.

Maroney was injured in the first quarter of last Sunday's victory over the Lions, when he leaned into a 3-yard, third-down carry and was jarred back by safety Terrence Holt. He left the game and didn't return.

Maroney leads the Patriots in yards from scrimmage with a team-high 624 rushing yards to go along with 188 receiving yards. He's totaled five touchdowns and is the NFL's second-leading kickoff returner, averaging 28.7 yards per runback.

The Patriots have Corey Dillon, Kevin Faulk, Patrick Pass, and Heath Evans at running back, and it's likely the team will split carries between some combination of that group, with Dillon assuming the lead role. Maroney's kickoff return duties likely will be handled by Faulk and Pass.

Jackson and O'Callaghan, both backups, also missed last week's game. Alexander and Baker contribute mostly on special teams.

The Patriots made four roster moves, placing linebacker and special teams standout Don Davis on injured reserve, activating receiver Kelvin Kight and cornerback Antwain Spann off the practice squad, and releasing offensive lineman Gene Mruczkowski.

Davis, who turns 34 next Sunday, has been limited by a knee injury in recent weeks. He led the squad with 25 special teams tackles in 2005, and had eight this season. The 6-foot-1-inch, 235-pound Davis also added depth at inside linebacker, an area thinned by the recent season-ending injury to Junior Seau.

Davis, whose contract expires after the season, becomes the 11th player to be placed on injured reserve since the start of training camp.

Meanwhile, the addition of Spann should help the Patriots' coverage units. This marks the third time Spann has been added to the active roster this season, as he has appeared in five games.

Kight, a first-year receiver out of Florida, adds depth to a receiving corps that dressed four players last week with rookie Jackson sidelined by a groin injury. The 6-foot, 209-pound Kight signed with the team July 31 during training camp, was cut Sept. 2, then signed to the practice squad Sept. 3.

As for Mruczkowski, this marks the third time he's been released this season. He has yet to appear in a game.

Tight end Benjamin Watson has set a career high with a team-leading 48 receptions this season, but he's been especially hard on himself in recent weeks.

The primary concern has been fumbles, with Watson having the ball pried away from him in each of the last two games.

"It does kind of get to you, especially when it happens twice," he said. "One time, everyone is going to have a mistake. But when it happens twice, it definitely affects you a little bit.

"We've worked on ball security this week, so hopefully that's out of the repertoire."

When Watson watched video of the fumbles, he didn't see anything that stood out from a fundamental standpoint.

Against the Bears, linebacker Lance Briggs raked the ball away as Watson was running after the catch, which Watson said was "a good play by the defense." Last week against the Lions, Watson was hit by safety Jon McGraw after making a catch, and the ball came free despite Watson having two hands on it.

Although he might have been down by contact, Watson was also charged with a fumble Nov. 19 against the Packers that he recovered, meaning he's fumbled in three straight games.

"It's one of those things you have to play through," he said.

The Patriots are in the top 10 in many categories in the NFL, including most money under the projected 2007 salary cap of $109 million, according to a list compiled by the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. The league average, according to the list, will be $21.3 million under the projected cap, with the Patriots ranking ninth at $30.4 million.

New England's hated rivals in New York, the Jets, will be in a strong position to bid against New England for players they will very likely both be seeking since each runs the same kind of offense and the same type of defense. With Wayne Chrebet, Ty Law, and Kevin Mawae, who accounted for nearly $8 million in dead money on the 2006 salary cap, all off the books next year, the projection is that the Jets will be more than $26 million under the cap.

That may not bode well for the Patriots' negotiations with cornerback Asante Samuel, who is eligible for free agency in March. The numbers say there will be a lot of money floating around, and guys such as Samuel and tight end Daniel Graham figure to get a piece of it.

Samuel is tied with Jacksonville's Rashean Mathis for the league lead with seven interceptions. Having a lot of picks doesn't always mean you are an elite corner, because often the ball is thrown more toward players who are judged to have weaknesses and are worth attacking.

Samuel is neither an elite corner nor a weak sister, although some league personnel men believe his most productive position might be nickel back working on slot receivers. That didn't cost Ricky Manning Jr. last year when he jumped from the Panthers to the Bears to become a higher-paid nickel back than their top corner, Nathan Vasher. So Samuel will get paid well by someone.

Dolphins coach Nick Saban has taken notice of Samuel's emergence.

"I think he is having a phenomenal season," said Saban. "He's covering well. He's playing fast. He's playing smart and making plays on the ball. He's very instinctive. I think he's having a great year and probably a Pro Bowl-caliber year."

Of his seven interceptions, which is Samuel's favorite?

"Probably the winner against the Bears was the sweetest," he said, "because it was a deep post and it ended the game."

The Patriots have only 12 full-time positional coaches -- not including strength coaches Mike Woicik and Harold Nash -- making theirs one of the smallest staffs in the NFL. Bill Belichick explained why he prefers a smaller staff. "It dates back to my situation in New York with Bill [Parcells] and the Giants, we always had a smaller staff," he said. "We only had three coaches on defense. When I came with him here in 1996 to New England, we had four coaches on defense and he felt like that was a lot. I think as your staff grows, then, as a head coach or coordinator, you've got more people to manage." . . . The Patriots are 29-8 in AFC East games since 2001, the best divisional record of any NFL team over that span . . . Opposing quarterbacks have a 52.5 passer rating inside the 30-yard line against the Patriots, the lowest mark in the NFL.

Mike Reiss can be reached at mreiss@globe.com.