Patriots have multiple players exceeding expectations

[SeanBruschi54]

Theres no denying that this team is having a ton of players exceed what anyone thought they could do or to be honest what they have ever done.

Mike Wright, Jarvis Green, Gary Guyton, Tully Banta-Cain, Brandon McGowan, Leigh Bodden, Shawn Springs, Marlon Pryor and Darious Butler on defense.

Julian Edelmen and Vollmer on offense.

Thats not to mention the consistency of high play from several of our aged starting vets. Wilfork, Mariweather and Sanders (why some feel he is a liability boggles me)

What has me concerned is what becomes of this team? Do these players continue to trend upwards and have shockingly amazing to career years or does this team start to come back to normalcy.

We have seen in seasons past that teams that come out strong on one side of the ball tend to lose that momentum later in the season.


Edelmen for a rookie WR has been more than good at not only learning becomming a wideout but being an asset to the offense so quickly at times. Vollmer does not see consistent time on the field but is activated as an elligible reciever so he can be used as an extra blocker and has seemed to shine in that spot so far.

Pryor, Wright and Green have been really consistent at holding the line and creating pressure. This coming from a group where no one thought they would contribute as much or more than Seymour could. Now we have several players rotating these spots keeping them fresh and ready. All at a fraction of the price.

Gary Guyton had went from UDRFA to Mike in less than a year. Granted this position was thrown onto him in the middle of game 1 but his speed, agility and ability to shed blocks has been second to only the man he's been replacing.

Same goes for McGowan Butler, Bodden, Springs and Sanders. These guys, along with Meriweather, have been better than what we've had in years. McGowan is one of thjose players Belichick finds and plugs into his system and allows him to be a hard hitting safety but hes also been given some pretty tough assignments and flourished at them. Covering Heap and AG these last two weeks. No easy feet for a defender. Butler has also been a very reliable nickle back and the rotation of Wilhite and Springs has seem to make their WR's less effective.

My only hope is that this team continues to exceed expectations with the soon returing Mayo and verteran leadership of Seau

 

[supafly]

Great post, lots of good analysis + insight.

Really nice to see guys developing into role players on D especially, so far our faster and younger defense looks quite promising.

 

[pats1]

Myron Pryor, not Marlon. (Darius Butler, Julian Edelman, Brandon Meriweather...)

 

[Marqui]

Im looking forward to seeing Guyton and Mayo playing at the same time.

 

[pats1]

Im looking forward to seeing Guyton and Mayo playing at the same time.

They did a heck of a lot of that last year.

 

[farn]

I agree with much... I am less impressed with Vollmer than the others. To me the main one is McGowan. This team has basically morphed into a three safety team.

 

[Marqui]

They did a heck of a lot of that last year.

Yes but not with new and improved Guyton

 

[SeanBruschi54]

Myron Pryor, not Marlon. (Darius Butler, Julian Edelman, Brandon Meriweather...)

LMAO! Nice cathces! I am usually the first one to notice on other peoples posts the mis-spelling of player names. But nonetheless when your talking in your head and typing it just goes all out the window i suppose.

 

[farn]

LMAO! Nice cathces! I am usually the first one to notice on other peoples posts the mis-spelling of player names. But nonetheless when your talking in your head and typing it just goes all out the window i suppose.

Yikes... better be on the ball with your own spelling before declaring yourself the editor in chief !

 

[amazinPats]

You would include Jarvis Green in the list? I don't think he has exceeded expectations at all. In fact, I think he has been pretty invisible so far.

 

[RobertWeathers]

You would include Jarvis Green in the list? I don't think he has exceeded expectations at all. In fact, I think he has been pretty invisible so far.

Mike Wright, Gary Guyton, Brandon McGowan, Leigh Bodden, Shawn Springs, Myron Pryor, Julian Edelman and Darius Butler

 

[slash83]

You would include Jarvis Green in the list? I don't think he has exceeded expectations at all. In fact, I think he has been pretty invisible so far.

You read my mind..

 

[BradyFTW!]

Dunno if I'd call Wilfork, Meriweather and Sanders aged vets. They're 27, 25, and 25 respectively. All in all I agree though- we're getting huge boosts where we had question marks, most notably from McGowan (safety depth was a ?), Bodden (CB was a ?), Guyton (LB was a ?) Banta Cain (pass rush was a ?).

 

[Reckedtrek]

You would include Jarvis Green in the list? I don't think he has exceeded expectations at all. In fact, I think he has been pretty invisible so far.

Yaeh, Jorvits Greane is realy good.

 

[SidelineSid]

Theres no denying that this team is having a ton of players exceed what anyone thought they could do or to be honest what they have ever done.

Mike Wright, Jarvis Green, Gary Guyton, Tully Banta-Cain, Brandon McGowan, Leigh Bodden, Shawn Springs, Marlon Pryor and Darious Butler on defense.

Julian Edelmen and Vollmer on offense.

Thats not to mention the consistency of high play from several of our aged starting vets. Wilfork, Mariweather and Sanders (why some feel he is a liability boggles me)

What has me concerned is what becomes of this team? Do these players continue to trend upwards and have shockingly amazing to career years or does this team start to come back to normalcy.

We have seen in seasons past that teams that come out strong on one side of the ball tend to lose that momentum later in the season.


Edelmen for a rookie WR has been more than good at not only learning becomming a wideout but being an asset to the offense so quickly at times. Vollmer does not see consistent time on the field but is activated as an elligible reciever so he can be used as an extra blocker and has seemed to shine in that spot so far.

Pryor, Wright and Green have been really consistent at holding the line and creating pressure. This coming from a group where no one thought they would contribute as much or more than Seymour could. Now we have several players rotating these spots keeping them fresh and ready. All at a fraction of the price.

Gary Guyton had went from UDRFA to Mike in less than a year. Granted this position was thrown onto him in the middle of game 1 but his speed, agility and ability to shed blocks has been second to only the man he's been replacing.

Same goes for McGowan Butler, Bodden, Springs and Sanders. These guys, along with Meriweather, have been better than what we've had in years. McGowan is one of thjose players Belichick finds and plugs into his system and allows him to be a hard hitting safety but hes also been given some pretty tough assignments and flourished at them. Covering Heap and AG these last two weeks. No easy feet for a defender. Butler has also been a very reliable nickle back and the rotation of Wilhite and Springs has seem to make their WR's less effective.

My only hope is that this team continues to exceed expectations with the soon returing Mayo and verteran leadership of Seau

Nice write up. I agree with most of what you said. Here are a few comments:


Mike Wright, Gary Guyton, Tully Banta-Cain, Brandon McGowan, Leigh Bodden, Myron Pryor and Darius Butler have all played surprisingly well on defense. I think these pleasant surprises have added to the change in the defense that we are seeing this year.

To be fair, Jarvis Green has been his usual self. Shawn Springs has been more of a role player.

The one player that I cannot find any noticeable improvement in James Sanders. Once again, he let a fast running back embarrass him. He pitifully tackled dirt as Ray Rice scampered up field for a huge gain. When I saw that play, I had flashbacks of the Joseph Addai play where he embarrassed Sanders in a similar fashion.

Now, does this one play summarize all of Sander's work this year: NO! But McGowan has looked pretty good this year and Sanders has not. Also Mike Reiss pointed out that McGowan had more snaps than Sanders on Sunday. Just pointing that out.

 

[pats1]

Yes but not with new and improved Guyton

I thought he was pretty good last year.

 

[mayoclinic]

Here's my take at who has exceeded expectations:

Players Playing at a Pro Bowl Level

- Brandon Meriweather, S - expected to be good, but not this good. Our best defensive player so far.

Players Playing at a Near Pro Bowl Level

- Leigh Bodden, CB - the best CB we've had since Asante Samuel, and possibly Ty Law.
- Gary Guyton, LB - has gotten better each game, and is becoming a defensive force in his own right while taking the MLB and signal calling role from Mayo. Our defensive MVP so far, along with Meriweather and Bodden.

Players Who Have Made Unexpected Major Contributions

- Brandon McGowan, S - who saw him coming? He's always around the ball.
- Tully Banta-Cain, DE/OLB - who saw him contributing like this?
- Mike Wright, DE/DT - ditto. He's been a defensive force.
- Darius Butler, CB - may be starting soon. Was huge in the Ravens game.
- Ben Watson, TE - has never played like this for us.
- Fred Taylor and Sammie Morris, RB - the power running game has stepped up.

Rookies Who Have Stepped Up

- Darius Butler, CB - see above.
- Julian Edelman, WR - "mini me" filled in admirably for Wes Welker for 2 weeks.
- Myron Pryor, DT/DE - a solid contributor on the DL as a 6th round rookie.
- Sebastian Vollmer, OT - looks like a future starting LT.

Not surprisingly, most of the guys who have exceeded expectations have been on defense.

 

[PatsfanGlo]

Here's my take at who has exceeded expectations:

Players Playing at a Pro Bowl Level

- Brandon Meriweather, S - expected to be good, but not this good. Our best defensive player so far.

Players Playing at a Near Pro Bowl Level

- Leigh Bodden, CB - the best CB we've had since Asante Samuel, and possibly Ty Law.
- Gary Guyton, LB - has gotten better each game, and is becoming a defensive force in his own right while taking the MLB and signal calling role from Mayo. Our defensive MVP so far, along with Meriweather and Bodden.

Players Who Have Made Unexpected Major Contributions

- Brandon McGowan, S - who saw him coming? He's always around the ball.
- Tully Banta-Cain, DE/OLB - who saw him contributing like this?
- Mike Wright, DE/DT - ditto. He's been a defensive force.
- Darius Butler, CB - may be starting soon. Was huge in the Ravens game.
- Ben Watson, TE - has never played like this for us.
- Fred Taylor and Sammie Morris, RB - the power running game has stepped up.

Rookies Who Have Stepped Up

- Darius Butler, CB - see above.
- Julian Edelman, WR - "mini me" filled in admirably for Wes Welker for 2 weeks.
- Myron Pryor, DT/DE - a solid contributor on the DL as a 6th round rookie.
- Sebastian Vollmer, OT - looks like a future starting LT.

Not surprisingly, most of the guys who have exceeded expectations have been on defense.

Very good write up. Couldn't agree more with this. I might add our O-line to the list of exceeding expectation a wee bit. After Jets game, people here were screaming that they stunk and Matt Light was getting called out big time. I think he and the entire O-line has done very fine job holding TB upright as much as possible. I know Matt Light gave up strip sack but that was against Suggs, top 5 pass rusher in the league.

 

[condon84]

Nice write up. I agree with most of what you said. Here are a few comments:

The one player that I cannot find any noticeable improvement in James Sanders. Once again, he let a fast running back embarrass him. He pitifully tackled dirt as Ray Rice scampered up field for a huge gain. When I saw that play, I had flashbacks of the Joseph Addai play where he embarrassed Sanders in a similar fashion.

Now, does this one play summarize all of Sander's work this year: NO! But McGowan has looked pretty good this year and Sanders has not. Also Mike Reiss pointed out that McGowan had more snaps than Sanders on Sunday. Just pointing that out.

I completely agree with this. The Sanders apologists boggles my mind. I was just watching the replay tonight and they broke down the play when Mason beat Sanders deep and Merriweather had to run ACROSS the field to break it up. Sanders looked like he had cement for feet and just looked awful. I'm glad Belichick is finally reducing his snaps and giving them to McGowan.

 

[Reckedtrek]

There are certainly a large number who have exceeded our expectations, but do you think BB knew what he had all along, or at least a pretty good idea? I do. He surely didn't plan on Mayo being hurt and Guyton having to step up in such a big way, but he more than likely knew Guyton was a lot better than most fans were giving him credit for.