State

Stephen Neal . Look for big things from him this year.

The sight of his playing healthy the whole year should do wonders to rejuvenate Fred Taylor.

His ability to operate in space, to pull and take on the second layer of the defensive, is extremely valuable for the Patriots. Without him the line has been known to suffer.

I think he's one of the unheralded keys to the Patriots this season. Isn't he on the last year of his contract?

Is it too much to expect 1200 yards from Taylor? I don't think so. He's finally got a good offense line to run behind. Time to put up some big numbers before taking off the cleats for good.

Box_O_Rocks

Damn, you stole Deus' thunder! That's so cold.

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unoriginal

Stephen Neal's health, unfortunately, is far from a given.

But based on the draft I think we should be looking for good things from whoever we put out there at RG.

stinkypete

When I read the title to this thread, I thought the same thing: Steven Neil.

The difference in the line's play with and without Neal in the past 2 years has been astounding.

patriot lifer

at least he isn't looking like he will be coming off of PUP like last year (as far as we know). that's a better start

knock on wood...

WhiskeyBreath

I think it is.

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BradyFTW!

I don't know if he's any more valuable than Mankins (he probably isn't). We just know for a fact how much it hurts the OL when he gets hurt because he gets hurt all the time. If Mankins was out for any significant amount of time, I expect we would see a similar dropoff.

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Lord_Reginald_III

why didnt they extend him? someone on NEST was calling vince expendable, saying something to the effect of: pats extend players they want early like seymour etc, the rest move on. if you buy this (not sure i do) same logic applies to mankins

eagle eye

Sea Bass is gonna kick some ass if Neal has any problems.

BradyFTW!

I think they might just think that the guard position in general is expendable, whether it's by drafting someone and plugging him in as a rookie (Mankins) or coaching up some random UDFA wrestler.

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