Reiss Takes His Shot at the 53

[QB12]

Notable cuts: Hochstein, Alexander, T. Williams, Ventrone, Slater.

Keeps: BJGE, Walter, All 4 TE's.

Patriots blog - Reiss' Pieces - Boston.com

QB12

 

[Sean Pa Patriot]

Whew... Im glad he put Brady and Moss on the roster,

 

[PatsBoy12]

Challenging night for Terrence Wheatley. Second-year CB Terrence Wheatley was victimized in both tackling and coverage. He had been rising last year into a starter’s role before injuring his wrist in early November, and now he looks like the fourth or fifth corner.

That's brutal and sad for him. It shows how important it is to stay on the field. That injury proved to me more than just a minor setback for the kid.

 

[Trocadile]

Notable cuts: Hochstein

QB12

Actually, he has Hochstein as one of his 8 OL

 

[patchick]

Hold the phone...only three tackles? No LeVoir?

 

[mgteich]

Good work as usual by Mike.
I agree with 51 of the 53.

My guess is that Reiss expects LeVoir to be on the PUP list; otherwise only 3 OT's is pretty crazy. I still would have kept four, keeping Britt.

I would keep another linebacker; but perhaps Lenon isn't cutting it. Even with more 53, I'd rather be prepared for Bruschi not having a major role.

MY BOTTOM LINE
Britt or Levoir instead of Smith.
Lenon instead of BJGE.

 

[patsox23]

I love Reiss, but I don't see Ventrone or LeVoir getting cut.

 

[Box_O_Rocks]

Hold the phone...only three tackles? No LeVoir?

Reiss is falling in love with new and shiny and forgetting the nuts and bolts.
-- TE is nice, but you can't justify four.
-- If you can't keep four TEs, it's hard to keep five RBs.
-- Eight OL would make sense if one was a veteran T/G combo, but I'd not be trusting Brady to Vollmer if one of Light or Kac goes out, and Hochstein/Orhnberger are not subbing at T in anything but an absolute emergency. And while he was admiring Orhnberger, did he see the guys who weren't daydreaming on that play? O most likely got a 'wake-up kid, this is the NFL,' from Dante during the tape review.
-- How is Ingram the lock? Hodel took the day off so they could focus those half dozen reps on Ingram.
-- Mike keeps one Special Teams Ace, BB may surprise us, but I don't think he goes that far from his roster template.

 

[Fencer]

Reiss sounded least committed to Smith among all of his 53. But he thinks Slater will be on.

Is BJE worth a 5th-round pick in trade?

 

[Box_O_Rocks]

Is BJE worth a 5th-round pick in trade?

No.

1010101010

 

[lamafist]

Reiss is falling in love with new and shiny and forgetting the nuts and bolts.
-- TE is nice, but you can't justify four.
-- If you can't keep four TEs, it's hard to keep five RBs.
-- Eight OL would make sense if one was a veteran T/G combo, but I'd not be trusting Brady to Vollmer if one of Light or Kac goes out, and Hochstein/Orhnberger are not subbing at T in anything but an absolute emergency. And while he was admiring Orhnberger, did he see the guys who weren't daydreaming on that play? O most likely got a 'wake-up kid, this is the NFL,' from Dante during the tape review.
-- How is Ingram the lock? Hodel took the day off so they could focus those half dozen reps on Ingram.
-- Mike keeps one Special Teams Ace, BB may surprise us, but I don't think he goes that far from his roster template.

The Pats have gone into the season with 4 TE's before, and that was back when they kept a true FB or two on the roster. Now that we're not even bothering with fullbacks, it makes a ton of sense to go heavy on TE and RB.

Any anyway, with Belichick, you really can't assume we're going to go with the traditional numbers of players at each position: he lets the dispersal of talent around the roster determine how many slots a position gets.

 

[Box_O_Rocks]

The Pats have gone into the season with 4 TE's before, and that was back when they kept a true FB or two on the roster. Now that we're not even bothering with fullbacks, it makes a ton of sense to go heavy on TE and RB.

Any anyway, with Belichick, you really can't assume we're going to go with the traditional numbers of players at each position: he lets the dispersal of talent around the roster determine how many slots a position gets.

He also looks at his balance of forces and doesn't let greed for one position overwelm common sense. This is the most stacked preseason roster of BB's tenure, however many TEs he likes, he also has to have minimum numbers at the other roster spots, and there's some good talent in all areas.

 

[Patsfanin Philly]

Projected players not on 2008 roster....

[FONT=&quot]Walter
Taylor,
Baker, Smith
Galloway, Edelman®, Lewis, Vollmer®, Ohrnberger, ®
Brace®, Pryor®,
Burgess, Banta-Cain
Springs, Bodden, , Butler,®
Chung®, McGowan
Ingram(R)
[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]7 rookies and 19 new faces. IIRC in the last few years the turnover has been about 20% or 11 new faces per year…

[/FONT]
Assuming McKenzie and Tate on IR/PUP

 

[Rob0729]

I don't have much problems with his roster. I can see them carrying 4 TEs if Thomas can handle the H-Back roll. If one TE can spend part of the time at FB, then I can see carrying four. I still think one TE (most likely Smith at this point) will either be cut or traded.

I can see them carrying 5 RBs again, but I still think there are a lot of tougher cuts elsewhere and that 5th RB could be the victim of those tough cuts. BJGE could make the final roster, but I think he still has to prove more in the preseason to make the final roster. He had a Mike Cloud type of year last year (one really good game and then quickly disapeared). He needs to prove he is better than Mike Cloud.

Reiss also seems to make his roster based on his belief that the Pats will use far more 4-3 this year. I am not sold yet. If they do still continue the 3-4 base, I think the roster on defense will be slightly different with a 3-4 base.

 

[RoughingthePasser]

Projected players not on 2008 roster....

[FONT=&quot]Walter
Taylor,
Baker, Smith
Galloway, Edelman®, Lewis, Vollmer®, Ohrnberger, ®
Brace®, Pryor®,
Burgess, Banta-Cain
Springs, Bodden, , Butler,®
Chung®, McGowan
Ingram(R)
[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]7 rookies and 19 new faces. IIRC in the last few years the turnover has been about 20% or 11 new faces per year…

[/FONT]
Assuming McKenzie and Tate on IR/PUP

Interesting-It's true we have more new players.
This is a good thing.
Banta-Cain has been w/ us before though just not last yr.-technically.

 

[RoughingthePasser]

That's brutal and sad for him. It shows how important it is to stay on the field. That injury proved to me more than just a minor setback for the kid.

Tough situation for Wheatley. He was a second rounder in 2008 and Wilhite was a 4th! Tight competition this yr.

 

[Box_O_Rocks]

Wheatley was rusty to finish the first half, but he shook it off and played well the second half.

 

[RoughingthePasser]

Good work as usual by Mike.
I agree with 51 of the 53.

My guess is that Reiss expects LeVoir to be on the PUP list; otherwise only 3 OT's is pretty crazy. I still would have kept four, keeping Britt.

I would keep another linebacker; but perhaps Lenon isn't cutting it. Even with more 53, I'd rather be prepared for Bruschi not having a major role.

MY BOTTOM LINE
Britt or Levoir instead of Smith.
Lenon instead of BJGE.

We should keep 4 OT's.
You can't have enough insurance for TB
The TE position is relative to the Oline, Backs etc. as well....so I'm curious how this will all work out.

I love Tedy and I'm his age but....we all slow down physically

 

[signbabybrady]

My obsverations reading this

1) it would seem Reiss had a hard time counting because when I first looked at this Slater and Le Kevin were on the squad. All kidding aside about the counting it goes to show you how tough the decisions are.

2) 8 OL looks small and it is but it also is typical to have 8 gameday active and with Vollmer proving to be a swing tackle and Hochstein being a guard and center this does seem to work but is a huge risk trying to get guys to the PS who given one injury could be more important than the risk.

3) Seems light on the special teamers. No Ventrone or Slater.

4) I think unless Walter shows improvement in the next few weeks I might prefer 2 with Hoyer on the PS, I cant see 5 RBs, 6 WRs, and 4 TEs while ignoring OL and STs. I think the WR position could be 6 as Edelman and Aiken will be key STs (if Edelman makes it which he would seem close to a lock now but lets make sure he keeps it up). But if we go with 2 QBs, 4 RBs, and 3 TEs we free up 3 spots for an extra OL and 2 STs guys or keep the 3rd QB and free up 2 spots.

5) Lennon would seemingly be one of the bigger cuts but with Seau willing to give some time it is kind of added depth not on the 53.

 

[RoughingthePasser]

Wheatley was rusty to finish the first half, but he shook it off and played well the second half.

You're correct. He shows good hustle and aggressiveness-the 2nd was an improvement....I know he is a good player (we wouldn't have taken him in the 2nd)
I think he'll show everyone why in the next few games.