woolster22

Watching the game finally...may have found a copy on the interwebs...

Given the hoopla around jones I have been watching him and Hightower. At the saints possession late first...kyle love is dominating the center and left guard. Beat doubles three plays straight to start their drive. He legitimately looked to me like what many of us wish fat Albert was last year.

Hightower looks like he is thinking too much. Seems par for the course given he is a rookie.

Jones...enough has been said, I hope he keeps it up.

Solder, I owe you an apology. He got beat a few times, but looks stronger than last year. He has locked himself up a few times but I am sure scar will beat that out of him. I'm going to channel my inner politician here and flip flop, this kid should be just fine. Good feet, and seems to have bulked up. His upper body and seat seem much more developed than last year.

Mayo is free to roam...look out NFL. When Hightower finally gets comfortable...let's say I'm incredibly optimistic. Mayo, Hightower, spikes? Holy ****, the ameoba is very real folks. Love and Vince are the big two, Jones and (insert here) as your "guess if I am rushing/dropping de's". And holy **** is Hightower strong...just threw a te six yards out if bounds (wrap please though). Again Hightower blows to ivory, but doesn't wrap. Great read, huge hit. I'm sure the coaches will be on his ass about wrapping up. He seems to be settling in as the game wears on. Could be the lowered competition, could be getting the jitters out.

Anyone else notice Wilson everywhere? One od the first two drives he was right behind mayo to make the stop on third down (mayo made the play unassisted). Seems to be all around the ball, committing to the run game.

Thomas (ol) has looked great so far. Koppen...not so much. Cannon seems to be having the rougher game than solder. Mallet. Ugh. Great arm, but Bledsoe had one too. Should have been pi on the bomb down the sideline before the pick. Where are the real refs, the tall black one looks like he can't believe he is on an nfl field, deer in the head lights comes to mind... Bolden looks like a law firm with speed/burst. Say good bye to addai. Run game seems to be doing fine. Looking forward to this year. Not expecting huge scores, but viciously efficient, up and down the field, well executed offense.

Most important however, Ridley, high and tight. Look out...

Hitting the half now, mallet seems to be dialing in for this two minute drill...and he skies one fifteen yards past everyone...anyone else think that his arm is too big for his own good?

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BananaRepublican

Nobody is expecting sacks from Mayo but this is a whole new defense.

Yep somebody wrote an article about Wilson recently that revealed how versatile he is and how good he is in run support. He is going to line up in a bewildering number of ways.

randomk1

Nice post but we said goodbye to addai before Bolden stood out.

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mayoclinic

Wow, this is really great to hear. Love is a bit of an unknown quantity this year as far as his ceiling is concerned. He really has developed nicely over the past 2 years, and the question is whether he ends up being a solid rotational guy or can develop into something more. You suggest the latter. Having a second interior lineman (in addition to Wilfork, obviously) who can dominate the center and beat double teams would be an incredible plus for the defense, and create lots of opportunities both insisde and for the outside playmakers. And - not to jump the gun, but it's hard not to get excited - if, just if, Myron Pryor can ever come back and/or Jonathan Fanene can get back on the field and show the kind of combination of quickness and strength that he flashed during the first week of practices, then the DL might be in pretty decent shape. I'm keeping my fingers crossed on this one.

I'm not worried about Hightower. The coaching staff will correct some basic stuff, and it was his first time on a pro stage. Mayo being "free to roam" should be a really nice change. Mike Reiss had a nice shout out on Mayo's oerformnance, including some high praise from BB:

Mayo's night warrants notice - New England Patriots Blog - ESPN Boston

That's consistent with the reports of Wilson in practice. He always seems to be around the ball, always in the right place, and very strong in run support. Shows an aptitude for blitzing, for playing a hybrid DB/LB role, and for handling TEs. If Wilson can do all of that on a consistent basis and just "be all around the ball", it will significantly improve the defense, especially with Chung and Gregory looking like a decent safety tandem.

Nice observations on Solder. I think he'll be ok. He was pretty solid last year, and I'm confident Scar will keep him from slipping. Thomas has been a sleeper. Wendell got good reviews as well, and Nick McDonald has been my interior OL binky for a while now. I'm not sanguine on Koppen making the team at this point. Mankins-[Waters]-Connolly-McDonald-Thomas-Wendell is ok with me. I'm probably more worried about who the 4th OT is going to be, especially with Vollmer still out and Cannon looking a bit shaky at times.

I think Josh McD is just playing with his new toys at the RB position right now. Once he figures out what they can do and integrates them in to the offense ... look out. The numbers won't be astronomical, but if they can be "viciously efficient" then the offense will reach what OTG would call "Biblical" heights.

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"OVER Loading at ANY position can create a Fatal Advantage. THAT is what interests ME. Attacking With Concentrated Force. THAT is what WINS. In the words ~ more or less ~ of General Patton: 'I'm fighting a WAR, here. Let the B*****ES worry about their FLANKS.' " - Off the Grid

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Tyler.Durden

Thought Marcus Forston looked good as well, showed up a couple of times.

MoLewisrocks

Love did look good and he's playing (for peanuts on a ERFA tender) for his first big contract they could not agree on this off season. So he's a motivated load. There was a lot to like on D out of the gate. Just enthusiasm has to be tempered because we've seen this before and need to see it consistently when the bell rings.

doesntmatter1

After watching the game twice here are a few things i would like to report on as well. I want to start with our pass rushers.

Jones is a flat out beast. He showed so much power and his long arms gave bushrod problems. Ninko was pretty good and looked the same as usual. Cunningham showed the most burst of all the rushers and was still good in the run game. Jake was okay. Jake isn't going to beat anyone with pure speed or power but he will get those effort sacks and held his own in the run game. Justin Francis was invisible. Now i differ from many on my views of T. Scott. He played exactly like I expected. Unlike the other rushers scott doesnt really let blockers get a hold of him. He consistently tried to turn the corner and tackles don't seem to really fear his speed. He was credited with a few hurries but the qb kinda seemed to ignore him more than once and just completed the pass for a first down. And the qb had plenty of time to get rid of the ball on his sack. And they seemed to have more success running the ball to the right side of the line where he was(not all him cause there are other defenders on that side but still). Another reason why I don't like rushers like scott are because he doesn't fully engage the tackle and it makes it harder to blitz when they can just pass him off to another blocker. I can't imagine bushrod passing off jones to a guard and picking up a blitzer with the way he is all up in his grill.

Now the dline. Wilfork is still a beast and kyle love blew up a few runs. Between them the saints didn't find much running room. m. harrison was so-so but he definitely had an interception. Forston was not really effective in the run game but as the game went on he started slipping off blocks and caused a few negative plays. Forston may be worth developing. Pretty much it for dline.

LBs. I would like to start off by saying how disappointed i am w/ fletcher's injury since he is really good. Mayo was all over the place and showed better coverage. Hightower is strong but played hesitant. Carpenter looked like he belonged and showed solid speed and power. Was very decisive when it came to taking on blocks. Koutivides showed some power taking on one block i saw and the surprise performer was mike rivera. Rivera was in the middle and was pretty good in stopping the run and even though he doesn't look that fast he seemed to have good coverage. Tarp does nothing for me. Clearly the least physical in the run game and he was targeted often with dump offs to the rb.

The secondary was pretty good. The safeties looked like actual safeties and wilson was around the ball often. I am actually a fan of arrington but he did get picked on a little. Sterling moore showed his strengths and weaknesses in this game. He is very tenacious and will go for the ball consistently on anything from short to intermediate, but watch out on the deep ball. He clearly lacks make up speed and doesn't seem to have much of a vertical jump. And even though it was against backups, ras-i looks like a bully just man handling receivers with perfect timing. Almost forgot dmac. Was very good in run support and wasn't tested often but he had great deep coverage on tight end thomas.

The qb's. Brady didn't have good protection but he still looked like Brady. Hoyer had his moments and showed nice touch on a few deep balls even though they didn't connect. Mallet kind of played like crap.

The running backs were good. Ridley has great burst and i love vereen's cutting ability. Vereen may even be a better third down back than woodhead. Bolden had inconsistent blocking. Kettani was okay but i prefer my fullback to smash into his blocks instead of just getting in the way.

Now the wrs. I will discuss the lower tier wideouts. stallworth didn't really get a chance to do anything. Gaffney runs pretty good routes and he kind of boxes out like a big guy even though he's not. Edelman had some easy catches over the middle that weren't really contested. I still need to see alot more from edelman as a wideout. The rest of the receivers didn't stand out and holley had one horrible drop on a 15-20 yard pass from hoyer.

Special teams. Slater is the best gunner ever. And there is a battle going on between cole and williams as the next best gunner. Cole seems to have a slight edge. Its hard to judge special teams because you can't see it all but one thing im certain is i am tired of seeing edelman return kicks. Let anyone else do it, i don't care. Especially after he botched one badly.

Lastly, the oline. Solder's issues seemed more technical but Cannon just had a rough go. I also thought connoly struggled just as bad. And I feel koppen isn't our best option a c. Imo donald thomas and ryan wendell(besides one whiff) had a solid night.

Sfpat

Did it occur to you that the reason Edelman "had some easy catches" is because he has a great ability to run routes, get open and catch? You know, be a good receiver.

patchick

Glad you mentioned Forston, he caught my eye too. He has plenty of talent...maybe going undrafted was the wake-up call he needed to realize talent isn't enough? IMO the final DT job is still up for grabs.

signbabybrady

Love is the man and quickly becoming one of my favorite players. Last year he broke out and this camp and through one preason game he seems to have continued to get better. Right now I consider him to be our second best DL although it looks like Jones is gonna take that title quickly.

Also don't forget he will still be restricted next year so still time to get a long term deal done.

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