PATRIOTS NOTEBOOK: Decker walks away

Signed earlier this month, 31-year-old wide receiver Eric Decker, who was totally unimpressive in his brief time with the Patriots, announces on Instagram that he is retiring from pro football.

FOXBORO –Speaking to the media via a conference call on Saturday, head coach Bill Belichick said that veteran wide receiver Eric Decker had been learning his lessons well since he signed with the Patriots on Aug. 3

More than anything, it seems Decker's three weeks with the team taught him one thing.

He was done.

The 31-year-old wide receiver took to Instagram on Sunday afternoon to announce his retirement from the NFL.

"It has been my childhood dream and my passion to play the game of football," Decker wrote in his post. "I was very fortunate and blessed to have had the opportunity to have those dreams fulfilled, to have played with such extremely talented, hard-working teammates, coaches and staff. This has been a passion inside of me since I was a little boy, but I know now it is time to hang my helmet up and start a new chapter in my life. I love football and always will. It will continue to be a part of life. I'm looking forward to spending more time with my wife and kids. I want to give a special thank you to my family, friends and fans for all your support on this incredible journey. It's been an amazing chapter in my life. I look forward to the future and the many adventures ahead!"

The final chapter was a microcosm of Decker's brief time with the Patriots.

While he caught two passes for 12 yards in Friday's 25-14 loss to Carolina at Bank of America Stadium, Decker had a rough night of it as didn't play a snap when Tom Brady was on the field in the first half, got flagged for a false start less than a minute-and-a-half into the third quarter, missed a block on a wide receiver screen to Riley McCarron and failed to come up with a pass from Brian Hoyer that appeared to be catchable.

Decker's stint with the Patriots was plagued by drops that seemed to occur from the moment he set foot on the practice field with them. His chances of surviving this Saturday's cut to 53 players was borderline at best.

Decker's departure leaves the Patriots with 87 players on their roster, nine of them wide receivers: Braxton Berrios, Phillip Dorsett, Julian Edelman (who will sit out the first four games of the season for violating the league policy on performance-enhancing substances), Chris Hogan, Devin Lucien, Riley McCarron, Cordarrelle Patterson, Matthew Slater (who is almost exclusively a special teamer) and Paul Turner.

His eight-year career comes to an end with 439 receptions for 5,816 yards and 53 touchdowns in time spent with Denver (four seasons), the New York Jets (three) and Tennessee (one).

A safety net? – Have the Patriots thrown Jason McCourty a safety net?

Might the look he is suddenly getting at safety help earn the 31-year-old cornerback a spot on the team's 53-man roster?

A cornerback throughout his nine-year career with Tennessee (eight seasons) and Cleveland (one), McCourty got work at the safety position on Friday night.

“Jason’s a very experienced player and he understands football concepts and a lot of just basic defenses, pass defense and run force concepts and the responsibilities that go with that,” Patriots head coach Bill Belichick said. “So he’s taken more reps at safety and those were good steps for him. He had some opportunities to play there in the game and had some positive plays, had a couple good tackles, made a good tackle on the goal line, run force and was involved in some coverage plays.”

McCourty’s debut at safety didn't make him an overnight sensation; it was a mix of good and bad.

The good: Reading and reacting from the free safety position, he burst to the ball and came up in run support to throw Cameron Artis-Payne for a 1-yard loss as he attempted to sweep left end from the Patriots 4 in the third quarter.

The bad: Earlier on that same drive, McCourty was late giving rookie corner Keion Crossen the help he so desperately needed as Taylor Heinicke went deep to wide receiver Curtis Samuel for 31 yards.

“Like every player who played (Friday) night, there were some things that he’ll learn from and he’ll see on film and we’ll correct and there were some things that he did well that we can build on and he can build on,” said Belichick. “It’s a combination of those.”

McCourty entered the game at cornerback, playing behind starters Stephon Gilmore (who had his second subpar performance in the preseason) and Eric Rowe.

Acquired along with a seventh-round draft choice from the Browns in an offseason deal that saw the Patriots send a sixth-round pick to Cleveland, at this point McCourty is anything but a sure thing at a crowded cornerback position so any ability he might show at safety would only strengthen his chances.

Should he add that to his resume and survive this coming Saturday's cuts to 53, McCourty won’t have to go far with any questions he might have about adapting to the position. His twin brother Devin made the transition from cornerback to safety on a full-time basis years ago in a career that’s seen him earn four Pro Bowl berths (one on the corner; three at safety).

“We’ll see how all that unfolds going forward, but I think it was a good experience and hopefully whether he does or doesn’t play safety down the road, even just the opportunity to do that might help him have a little better awareness of that position when he plays corner,” said Belichick. “So I think it’s all positive.”

A Giant reunion: The Patriots will travel to East Rutherford, N.J., for a game with the New York Giants on Thursday night (7), the 14th year in a row the two teams have closed out the preseason together.

This will be the 28th preseason game between the two teams overall, making the Giants the opponent the Patriots have most often faced at this time of year.

The Giants hold a decided upper hand in the preseason series, 18-9, and, as you may have heard, are up 2-0 in the postseason. The two teams have split 12 regular-season games.