woolster22

Macdonald (started at LG ahead of Thomas) had an inconsistent night at best. Got stood up often and driven back in pass pro, not much push in the run game. Thomas comes in with hoyer and admittedly misses a block that blew up the incomplete screen to bolden, but straight up handled the same rotation of guys MacDonald was struggling with. This kid has it. Serious ability in the run game, excellent pass pro. Often was the man setting the point so to speak (closest engaged blocker to the los, might also be due to mac getting moved to c when Thomas came in...maybe this should be about Koppen's ineffectiveness, I digress...). Anyone else notice solder faired a touch better after thomas came in as well? Seriously though, after the catch by stallworth in the last two minutes of the half, he damn near takes out the right side of the line while tossing the guy that ate McDonald's lunch all night (even the fries, what a d!ck!).

Second half, old man koppen is back in and both guards seem interested in helping the geezer out...

Again, Thomas looks good, not sure where the rg was pulling to on riddles first run...kind of odd. Again though, Thomas is the one setting the pocket, and making room in the run game. Hell, the incompletion down the sideline with a few left in the third, Thomas keeps his man moving laterally, and stops Koppen (who was getting help from the rg) from getting driven back any further. Christ, start of fourth, he tosses his guy back a few yards, bounces over and chips weems' (who?!) guy outside the pocket buying enough time for a bomb to stallworth down the left (who seems to have lost about ten steps).

Guess who was at center for our second possession of the fourth? My boy Thomas. Faired alright, but probably committed himself to the right too early on third, letting the LG get beat inside. Didn't get the same push in the run game but does well sealing off his man. Again late/ineffective setting up the screen.

Of course there was the stupid penalty after the fg. But he is young, timing (screens) and in game intelligence will come. If you ask me, I'd rather have four mean, nasty whisky drinkers and a center than five calm cool collected milk drinkers anyway...well, in the fourth quarter anyway.

Long story short, Thomas came in and imposed his will where others failed to stand their ground. The kid looks impressive.

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Marqui

Yea, he's looked like a poor man's Brian Waters so far this year.

BradyManny

Thomas has been solid in both games.

Really, I don't think anyone is too worried about the interior line at this point - we have some depth there. Without Waters, it's not elite, but we have a lot of adequate guys. With Waters, it's much stronger all around.

Reckedtrek

If Waters doesn't show up soon, he'll be a rich man's Brian Waters.

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Gwedd

Waters will be there. I'm guessing sometime after the Tampa game he'll report. Most likely after the last pre-season game. I'm not worried yet.

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IllegalContact

isn't the OL shake every preseason?

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jmt57

After the 2012 season I had McDonald penciled in as the first interior lineman off the bench, ahead of Wendell and Thomas. Over the years this 'super-sub' has had a vital role because of the inevitability of injuries in the NFL to interior offensive linemen, from Russ Hochstein to Dan Connolly, to whomever assumes that role this year.

Since camp has started Thomas has gone from a guy that I figured was a longshot to make the roster to probably the top backup on that unit. McDonald has been a bit of a disappointment but I wouldn't give up on him yet; I think he's still lagging behind due to the late start he had after missing about the first two weeks of training camp. I don't think it helped him when he was asked to fill in at tackle when there were no able bodies left to do so a week ago; he would have been better served getting more reps at guard.

Now that Belichick has Thomas playing some at center it gives the Pats four options (Thomas, Wendell, McDonald and Koppen) inside on the o-line behind Mankins, Connolly and Waters, with three of them able to play all three of those positions. It's something to keep an eye on and make watching preseason football worthwhile. Presumably two of those four are in and two will be released.

Gwedd

I think what has helped Thomas most is that he is consistently getting better. That one facet will give him the nod over another player who maybe plays solidly, but hasn't shown any improvement.

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jmt57

Great point. I recall Belichick in an interview a year or two ago talking about evaluating players, and the longer you see them the better feel he has for what their ceiling is. He was saying something along the lines that if a player levels off then at that point the coaching staff makes the determination of whether it is worth it to keep him, or look for somebody else that may have a higher upside. However if the player is continuing to improve then it's a bit more difficult to make that determination because he's not static and hasn't leveled off; they don't have a good feel for what his ceiling is yet.

In that regard that's good news for Thomas and his chances of making the roster this year.

Gwedd

Concur, and that's the good sort of quandry to be in. It's interesting how so many folks from New England's program might get released and yet end up somewhere else as an every-down player. It isn't that they weren't good players to start with, it's just that for some reason they didn't fit the system here, or had simply reached a point where New England felt they had reached their performance level and weren't going to get any better.

Nothing wrong with solid, journeyman players. However, your leaders and team captains are going to come from those always trying to do just a bit more to improve themselves and, by extension, those around them.

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