I'm Excited

[Bostonian1962]

Hey man. Great post, and I for one love the enthusiasm. This is the team you follow, and one of the great things about the BB regime is every year going in we know that our club is going to be competitive, and try a lot of new things.

We are lucky, not only in regards to being competitive year in and year out, but this ball club is a blast to watch.

So, are you overly excited? Hell no! Monday can't come too soon. :singing:

Thanks Holy! It's great to see others also excited !

 

[mcmurtry86]

I haven't been excited for a football season as long as I can remember. Between the "unfinished" business of 2007 and getting Brady back on the field, I can't wait.

 

[Kontradiction]

I'm not sold on that OL.

Me neither. Hopefully it improves with the addition of Matthews. The last thing the Pats need is Brady scraping his body off the turf every other play.

 

[mayoclinic]

Me neither. Hopefully it improves with the addition of Matthews. The last thing the Pats need is Brady scraping his body off the turf every other play.

I'm more concerned about the OL's inability to run block than to protect Brady. The pass protection has been excellent overall. The running game hasn't been so hot.

 

[SidelineSid]

It seems to me that we've discussed this one. Some of us don't like the metamorphosis of the Pats into the 2003-2004 Colts, and would rather see the high-octane passing attack balanced by some power running and some better defense.

I still think there's a good chance that this defense will end up being far better than mediocre. It will go through some growing pains, no doubt, and may cost us early on, but I think that by mid-season it should be significantly better than the 2007-2008 defenses.

Apparently you and I see eye to eye. I think the defense should come together by the Tampa game. By then, the different units should be tested, and we should be rotating more players due to fatigue.

 

[Frezo]

Seymour or no Seymour I'm just glad to be a Pats fan. This is going to be another great year. :yeeha:

 

[Patspsycho]

I don't think the problem with Brady being sacked can be solely ascribed to the OL. It may well be because we're all scarred by that superbowl- but that was an aberration. The OL had been doing its job up to that point, as well as anyone could do it..

I think the solution to protecting Brady is modification of the offense to anticipate that the other teams will try to collapse the pocket as soon as they can (as opposed to blitzing, because those two are quite different). I mean who here would disagree that we have as professional an OL as we could possibly get? Sure they get beat from time to time.. they're human, but at the same time they are as disciplined, studious, and polished, technique-speaking as an OL'er could be.

I personally would like to see QB rolls on moving screens every once in a while, just to keep things off balance, because that disrupts the timing of the pressure/blitz as we saw in the sb.

 

[shmessy]

I don't think the problem with Brady being tackled can be solely ascribed to the OL. It may well be because we're all scarred by that superbowl- but that was an aberration. The OL had been doing its job..

I think the solution to protecting Brady is modification of the offense to anticipate that the other teams will try to collapse the pocket as soon as they can. I mean who here would disagree that we have as professional an OL as we could possibly get? Sure they get beat from time to time.. they're human, but at the same time they are as disciplined, studious, and polished, technique-speaking as an OL'er could be.

Pass blocking is only part of the question mark, however.

 

[SidelineSid]

I don't think the problem with Brady being sacked can be solely ascribed to the OL. It may well be because we're all scarred by that superbowl- but that was an aberration. The OL had been doing its job up to that point, as well as anyone could do it..

I think the solution to protecting Brady is modification of the offense to anticipate that the other teams will try to collapse the pocket as soon as they can (as opposed to blitzing, because those two are quite different). I mean who here would disagree that we have as professional an OL as we could possibly get? Sure they get beat from time to time.. they're human, but at the same time they are as disciplined, studious, and polished, technique-speaking as an OL'er could be.

I personally would like to see QB rolls on moving screens every once in a while, just to keep things off balance, because that disrupts the timing of the pressure/blitz as we saw in the sb.

I'm 50/50 with you on this one. On one hand, the O Line isn't a problem in itself. However, the O Line does have problems. I think that Koppen does have a problem with powerful DT's and this does limit our options for both the passing and running games. I think when the center struggles, it causes one of the Guards to help him and leaves one of the Tackles exposed on the edge. I think this problem was evident from Dec 07 through the Super Bowl of that year.

Right now, I think that Kaczur has played much better (the hit on Brady in the Bengals game wasn't his fault, Brady said so). I think this improvement allows the Guards to focus more on the interior pressure from defenses.

Don't think I'm trying to trash Koppen because I think he's been hurt last year and he has been productive. However, if we see him getting bullied by defensive linemen this season, then I think we'll be in trouble. Our Guards and Tackles can't pull to the other side for running plays if linebackers and D linemen are shooting through the line up the middle. Only time will tell where we are.

Note: Our week 9 game against MIA could be a good sign of how far we go in the post season. It would be just after our over seas trip and we'll see if fatigue has caught up with the line. Also, it would be the beginning of a stretch where we play teams with a number of strong pass rushers: MIA (Joey Porter and Jason Taylor), IND (Dwight Freeney and co.), NO (both of their starting pass rushers are former pro bowlers and would have returned from their suspensions by then), MIA again, and then CAR (Julius Peppers).

 

[Bostonian1962]

Me neither. Hopefully it improves with the addition of Matthews. The last thing the Pats need is Brady scraping his body off the turf every other play.

Good point Contra, on the Matthews thing. I wanna see if he's a stud blocker, or not.

 

[PatsGAgirl]

YouTube - Tribute to Randy Moss as a Patriot - "Brady to Moss"

Expecting a little bit of that.

Awesome, thank you for posting that video...I can't believe we have to wait until Monday night..I feel like a kid waiting for Christmas

 

[mcmurtry86]

Note: Our week 9 game against MIA could be a good sign of how far we go in the post season. It would be just after our over seas trip and we'll see if fatigue has caught up with the line.

The Pats have a bye the week after the London trip. There's no reason for the team to be especially fatigued