Quick-hit thoughts and notes around the New England Patriots and NFL:

1. Taking in the L.A. trip: Matthew Slater is the Patriots' longest-tenured player, a spiritual leader in the locker room, and also a realist. That's why he plans to savor the next five days, with back-to-back must-win games in Los Angeles -- first against the Chargers (4:25 p.m. ET, CBS) and then the Rams on Thursday (8:20 p.m. ET, Fox).

"I don't know how many more chances I'm going to have to play football in California, where my dreams started as a kid. It certainly means a lot," said Slater, 35, now in his 13th NFL season. "For our team, it's another game, and they'll be the two biggest games of the season. It certainly carries a little extra significance for me, especially the second one, needless to say."

Slater's father, Jackie, played his entire 20-year NFL career as an offensive tackle with the Rams -- 19 seasons in Los Angeles (1976-94) and one in St. Louis (1995). He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2001.

In an interview with ESPN.com this week, Jackie Slater said he didn't bring Matthew around the Rams' facility too much during his playing days. But in the offseasons as he neared the end of his career, the two bonded by working out together with then-Rams strength coach Garrett Giemont (now with the Steelers).

"Garrett would send me off on a distance -- maybe 300 yards, 200 yards -- whatever we were running and then he'd send Matthew off like he was one of the guys," Jackie Slater recalled. "It would just be the three of us out there, and he would be more focused than I think I was. He just enjoyed it, at a young age, the stuff I had to do."

Sunday marks Matthew Slater's first game in Los Angeles since his final season at UCLA in 2007, after which the Patriots surprised many by selecting him in the fifth round of the NFL draft. The Patriots will be staying at UCLA between games, adding another homecoming-type twist for Slater.

A perennial Pro Bowler, Slater is signed through the 2021 season, with the Patriots scheduled for road games against the Falcons, Panthers, Texans, Colts, Bills, Dolphins, Jets and the AFC West opponent that finishes in the same spot in the 2020 standings.

So a return to Los Angeles isn't entirely out of the question, but the odds are higher that this will be it.

2. Staying out West: The Patriots are staying at UCLA after Sunday's game against the Chargers, which will best position them for a quick-turnaround for Thursday night. It's a nice gift from the NFL's scheduling department to give them their Los Angeles games back to back, and it's understandable if the Rams might be a slight bit peeved that any perceived advantage of being the home team on Thursday is negated. This might be the first time since the league started playing games on Thursdays in 2006 that the visiting team arrived in the city of the game before the home team. The Rams are visiting the Cardinals on Sunday.

3. Defining time for Cam: When Patriots quarterback Cam Newton held his weekly video conference on Thursday, he said, "What drives me is knowing that I have yet to play my best football." Time is running out. Newton's approach has won over many in the locker room, and the feeling among team decision-makers seems to be he's closer to the quarterback who was firing lasers down the field two weeks ago in Houston than the one who was spraying it around last week in Foxborough, Massachusetts. This is his time to prove those folks right. In that sense, the stakes couldn't be much higher for Newton.

4. Revisiting trade with Chargers: Sunday's Patriots-Chargers game provides a springboard to revisit the draft-day trade between the teams, with New England shipping its first-round pick (No. 23) in exchange for Los Angeles' second-rounder (No. 37) and third-rounder (71). The Chargers selected linebacker Kenneth Murray Jr., while the Patriots took safety Kyle Dugger and then packaged the high third-rounder to move up in the second round for linebacker Josh Uche (60).

Dugger (40% playing time) and Uche (11.1%) are starting to become bigger factors in New England, and their speed and athleticism are vital for a unit in need of it. The Patriots have reason to feel good about their future prospects, as they have been eased more slowly into the mix, as is often coach Bill Belichick's approach with rookies.

As for Murray, he's totaled 90% of the defensive snaps, with a slight blip on his résumé in early November when he was pulled in a loss to the Raiders after some on-field communication issues. His 67 tackles is tied for third most in the NFL among rookies, with Panthers safety Jeremy Chinn (86) and Ravens linebacker Patrick Queen (70) with more.

"He's flashed some good things," said Chargers radio analyst Daniel Jeremiah, who also serves as an NFL Network draft analyst. "It's tough to play [middle linebacker] as a rookie. He is at his best when he can run and hit. He's progressing with his vision/instincts in coverage [but] still a ways to go."

5. Folk tale: With Patriots kicker Nick Folk winning his second AFC Special Teams Player of the Week honor after drilling a game-winning 50-yard field goal at the gun last Sunday, he decisively put his name atop the list of success stories from the brief Alliance of American Football league, which lasted a mere eight games in 2019. Given how consistent Folk, 36, has been this season (19 straight field goals), not to mention how clutch, it's hard to believe he was kicking for the AAF's Arizona Hotshots in hopes of showing NFL teams he was healthy after not having attempted a goal in the NFL since early in the 2017 season. This season, Folk became the first kicker in NFL history to convert multiple game-winning field goals of 50-plus yards as time expired in a single season.

6. Phillips' absence jolts Chargers: Safety Adrian Phillips leads the Patriots with 70 tackles and has been a solid free-agent addition on a two-year deal with a base value of $6 million. Coach Anthony Lynn said this week his Chargers "miss him dearly," so the natural follow-up was why L.A. would let Phillips go in the first place. It seems to be a combination of the Patriots as an aggressive suitor (they also tried to sign Phillips in 2018) and the Chargers needing to devote resources to bigger contracts, such as for defensive end Joey Bosa.

7. Edelman's return on hold: Wide receiver Julian Edelman's potential return from injured reserve (knee) has a new wrinkle after he landed on the reserve/COVID-19 list this past week. The possibility of him coming back to add a spark in back-to-back games in Los Angeles was compelling, although it's unclear if his knee is at a point where that would have been a realistic option. But now COVID-19 will definitely knock him out of those games, and if the Patriots return home from the West Coast out of the playoff mix, would it even be worth having Edelman return for any of the final three games (at the Dolphins, then home against the Bills and Jets)?

8. They said it: "I don't say the words that Bill [Belichick] is misunderstood, because overall, I don't think he is. I think everybody knows now when he's short in the words he says, he has a reason and a plan. But I will say this: For whatever people think he is on the exterior, he's been super nice to my daughter, my wife, my son. People down here, when we go up to see him, they'll ask me, 'What's he like? He seems so focused on football that there's nothing else.' Every coach gives off a persona, but they're also normal people. People forget that sometimes. I'm grateful that he would talk football with me, and I'm very grateful for the things that I learned from the Patriots. I don't think there's any question that those principles have helped us win some of our state championships." -- Kevin Kelley, football coach at Pulaski Academy in Little Rock, Arkansas, after Belichick referenced their connection last week when speaking about Pulaski alum and current Chargers tight end Hunter Henry.

9. Why Patriots didn’t test drive Ford: The Patriots released receiver Isaiah Ford on Saturday a little more than a month after acquiring him from the Dolphins for a conditional sixth-round pick. Ford dressed for only one game in New England, and he didn’t play a single snap that day. So what happened? It seems pretty straight-forward: The Patriots viewed Ford as insurance for N'Keal Harry, who had been sidelined with a concussion but has since returned, and they also couldn’t have projected that veteran receiver Donte Moncrief -- whom they initially signed to the practice squad the same day they acquired Ford -- would become a breakout special-teamer warranting a spot on the 53-man roster over Ford. As for the draft pick, the Patriots did not respond to an inquiry on Saturday night asking if they’ll still be sending the selection to Miami. So here’s a best-guess: Miami likely still gets a seventh-rounder, which would have become a sixth-rounder if Ford had reached certain statistical levels.

10. Did You Know: Patriots running back Damien Harris is averaging 5.1 yards per carry this season (110 rushing attempts for 561 yards). Only four Patriots have finished with least a 5-yard average (minimum 100 carries) in a single season -- Don Calhoun (1976, 5.59), Mosi Tatupu (1983, 5.45), LeGarrette Blount (2013, 5.05) and Carl Garrett (1969, 5.04).