Rob0729

1.) Brady is amazing. He looks to be on an MVP performance yet again. Brady decided since there will be no Peyton Manning this year, he would do his best Peyton Manning imitation minus the annoying arm waiving. I loved how they went with the hurry up for most of the game. I doubt they will do this all season, but it was definitely a back breaker for the Dolphins defense in the heat.
2.) I think Hernandez is going to turn into the next Antonio Gates/Tony Gonzalez. The guy was lining up in multiple positions and creating match up problems. You can't put a LB on him. He is too quick. A lot of nickelbacks are too small.
3.) Solder has a great start. Wake is no scrub, but he looked that way last night for most of the game. For a guy who was supposably raw and a poor technique, Solder's blocking style was textbook. He was able to constantly get a fast guy like Wake head up and get his hands under the pads like a seasoned veteran.
4.) Kudos to Dan Connolly. He slid into the center role with minimal problems. He had a couple poor snaps on shotgun, but nothing too bad. He did seem to look a little uncomfortable presnap, but he and Brady should get a rhythm over time.
5.) Loved the Pats turn the tables on the Dolphins and use the heat against them with a hurried up offense. Even during the Super Bowl years,you would see the Pats defenders sucking wind and getting worn down. Tonight it was the Dolphins defenders who were using oxygen on the sidelines.
6.) The Pats need an upgrade at free safety. The Pats are going to face too many good TEs this season (Gates, Keller, Clark, Witten, Miller, etc.). This is going to be an area that opposing offenses can attack. Putting Guyton on these guys definitely isn't the answer.
7.) The defense is still a work in progress. There were positive signs (the Dolphins were 2 for 14 on third down) and the Dolphins offense didn't perform as well as their stats indicated. That said, the coverages were spotty at times to say the least. The pass rush was inconsistent (although kudos for Henne to perform well while getting hit multiple times).
8.) So much for all the talk that Branch might be done after not getting a catch this preseason.
9.) Ochocinco is only going to be a role player in this offense. Let's hope he can deal with it. His lack of playing time and receptions has a lot to do with the hurry up. I never expected Ochocinco to be a stud in this offense, but at least for the early part of the year he might be less than I thought.
10.) If Haynesworth can get into better shape, he is going to be a monster. There were plays where he was virtually unblockable. He easily brought down Bush with an one arm tackle. Bush looked like he ran into a brick wall in another play. Haynesworth's biggest problem right now is consistency, but if he gets into better shape he is a guy who they have to gameplan against.

JackBauer

Good read. I think it's a bit too early to conclusively evaluate the safety play. I mean, you could very well be right, but since it's Barrett's first game starting I'd take a wait-and-see approach (also due to the fact that there's not much out there in the way of alternatives).

I didn't see anything from Barrett to indicate that he's physically unable to play the position, so I'd like to assume BB & Patricia can coach them up.

Patriot_in_NY

I certainly agree that the Dolphins stats overrate their performance. Outside the first drive, they really did not do much offensively till towards the end when they had to completely open it up. Remember it was hot for our D too and they struggled a bit at the end, which is somewhat expected. Certainly not to the same level as the Miami D.

Overall though, I think our D is a work in progress, but certainly has the makings of a good defense.

Solder was a beast last night.

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RelocatedPatFan

Wasn't he too weak and needed some strength cnditioning to be effective as well? I'd say the kid knows how use his leverage and has a huge upside if his strength is indeed lacking (relatively). Then again, it's 1 game and teams don't have film on him to exploit his tendencies. Still, all around solid job by our first round pick.
Liked the images of some defenders breathing oxygen. TB definitely exploits others weaknesses. like seeing the one DB crapping and the very next play goes to the guy he's covering (think that was the Hernandex catch for the almost touchdown)

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signbabybrady

Two drives into the red zone heck inside the 10 ended in 3 total points that will skew the stats.

While you have to be concerned about the total ground gained by the Dolphin offense you have to be equally if not more excited about those two goal line stands. Clean up and get more consistant and keep playing like those two stands and this D will turn into something nasty.

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Rob0729

One thing I forgot. Kudos to Chad Henne. The guy might actually live up to his Dolphins fans' hype from prior to last season. The guy was hitting targets while under pressure and getting hit (I think the Pats had 10 pressures, 4 hits, and 4 sacks).

It is amazing that this was the first game of his pro career that he was allowed to call audibles at the line of scrimmage (yet, just showing the "brilliance" of Dan Henning). I thought he called the audibles at the right time.

Henne will never be an elite QB or a top QB, but I think he might be a good QB now that Daboll will give him some freedom and not call the conservative crap Henning used to run.

Rob0729

That was another knock on him. Clearly it wasn't a problem last night. I thought that was overrated too since the Pats have never had incredibly strong o-linemen.

Now the question is when Vollmer returns, who goes to the bench - Light or Solder? Right now it is Solder who will rotate in liberally, but that could change quickly

Rob0729

Just judging it based on last night. Still think that position is the Pats' biggest weakness, In a few weeks, it could be wrong.

Razor's Edge

"The defense is still a work in progress. There were positive signs (the Dolphins were 2 for 14 on third down) and the Dolphins offense didn't perform as well as their stats indicated. That said, the coverages were spotty at times to say the least. The pass rush was inconsistent (although kudos for Henne to perform well while getting hit multiple times). "

I think this will improve but is a concern for me

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Patriot_in_NY

Indeed......

Let's not forget......... It was 90 degrees for our defense too, and they were a little gassed at the end of the game. 220+ of Miami's 480 were in this garbage time 8 Minutes (Miami only got 7 points out of it too). Up to that point is was a reasonable 250 yds. Then the D ran out of gas........ not as bad as the Miami D did, but it was there.

24 point out of 480 yards of offense isn't much. Most teams that have that much offense score 30+.

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