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When Ben Brown went down in the first quarter of the preseason opener against the Indianapolis Colts, the New England Patriots were forced to adapt. That meant inserting third-string center Jacob Rizy into the lineup much sooner than initially anticipated. Undrafted rookie Jacob Rizy taking increased Patriots role in stride Rizy took over for the injured Ben Brown in the preseason opener. Rizy ended up playing 55 straight snaps to close out the 13-13 game, taking the field alongside both of the team’s backup quarterbacks, Tommy DeVito and Behren Morton. And with Brown expected to miss multiple weeks, more of the same might be on the menu for the undrafted rookie over the next two preseason contests against the Eagles and Browns. But, there is no time to think about expectations, depth charts or projections. For Rizy, the focus is on the here and now. “I don’t really know what to expect. It’s the NFL. I’ve only ever played high school and then college, and I knew this would be a step up,” he said following Monday’s training camp practice at Gillette Stadium. “Just trying to find my way around, get better every day. Trying to get 1% better ever day.” Rizy spent his six-year college career at Harvard and Florida State, where he started 27 total games and saw action all over the offensive line. After joining the Patriots as an undrafted free agent earlier this year, he focused extensively on playing center and eventually entered the Colts game as the No. 3 on the position depth chart behind Jared Wilson and Ben Brown. With Brown now sidelined for the foreseeable future, Rizy finds himself moving up a spot and into “one snap away” territory. He is not intimidated by that prospect, though. “The first thing that crossed my mind was I know how much Ben has been working, and it was really unfortunate to see that happen. You never wish that for your teammates, and that was super unfortunate,” he said. “But I knew I had to go play, so I just kind of went play football, pretty much. … It’s been pretty fun. Speed’s been pretty fast. But I’m just trying to enjoy it and get better.” Rizy’s NFL debut had its expected ups and downs, but head coach Mike Vrabel was pleased with the young center’s performance overall. “He’s battled, he’s competed, he’s studied. For a young center to go in there, it was good,” Vrabel said. “I didn’t think that the game, the way that he got thrown into the game by injury, was too big for him. He was prepared, and I think he’ll continue to work and understand that this is a little different game than probably what he was used to in college. But he is figuring it out, figuring out angles, and those things are so critical for interior linemen where they have to go to get ‘backers at the second level. ‘These guys maybe react a little quicker at this level, so I have to take a little better angle.’” It will be seen whether or not Rizy will continue to stay on an upwards trajectory as the Patriots’ backup center for the remainder of training camp and preseason, or whether he will even keep the job in light of veteran interior lineman Greg Van Roten getting signed as a free agent. Regardless, the first step was a positive one and the 24-year-old ready to take more.