Idle Thoughts - the opening edition

[jah]

My guess right now is Dobson by default.

Agreed, but I'm not happy about it. Thought Carter would make himself visible in the preseason and steal a spot.

 

[WaterfallJumper]

Anyone wanna take a stab at who gets WR5? Dobson, Washington, Harper, Lucien are all pretty meh and haven't done a whole lot during preseason, and Martin hasn't played at all. Edelman, Amendola, Hogan, Mitchell are locks at this point.

It's too bad because I was kind of hyped by training. Reports saying that Dobson, Harper and Lucien were great during camp and now...meh.

It's a good question. Dobson probably should have caught that first throw from Jimmy G., but it was also pretty far behind him and in an awkward placement to twist back across his body. I would have liked to see him come down with it, but I can't fault him too much -- a better throw is an easy first down. After that it looked like they didn't go back to him, although he showed up as a blocker a few times, I thought. Seems to run clean routes, but lacks urgency. I don't know what to make of him still, but I'd like to see him do well.

Harper is a non-entity to me. Average, mediocre preseason performer. I don't really expect much, but I'm open to being pleasantly surprised.

Lucien ran some nice routes. He just lost awareness on the sidelines -- probably just adjusting to the difference in hash marks in the pros? I am trying to be charitable. Maybe a year on the practice squad will pay dividends. Maybe he'll just fade into obscurity. Who knows.

Regardless, I'm still scouting WRs next year. Amendola has a pretty high cap hit next year ($7.9M), and Edelman will be 31 and coming off injury-shortened seasons. There's plenty of room for improvement.

 

[AtomicDawg]

punishment. I clicked on EEI and all they were talking about was the "real story" behind Brady's absence last night. I immediately turned to 98.5 and got more of the same. So at a time I wanted to listen to some post game discussion of what happened on the field, I listened to about a minute and a half before I had to go back to whatever was on NPR. How long can it be before some idiot on ESPN speculates that Brady's cut was a botched suicide attempt by the distraught QB.

Ken, I mentioned in the game thread that MCI pretty much put that narrative out there as soon as the "street clothes" story came out. So it doesn't surprise me that the radio stations piggybacked off of it. He Tweeted something to the effect of "Brady’s in street clothes and leaving the premises....THIS MUST MEAN SOMETHING MORE??!!" As @ctpatsfan77 said, wtf is he supposed to do, sleep in his ****ing uniform??!! That's why BB acts the way he does towards the media, national and local. It's all about the narrative which = $$$$

 

[long distance]

@ Dobson

He had all the time in the world and all the luck in the world this preseason to show up.
Ironically he can't catch this break.

Mitchell grabbed it instantly. With him in mind i don't see Dobson as a need. Martin is much greater commodity in this context: he can back all WR positions and has good ST (return) value.

(And then there's this other feeling that he doesn't come across as somebody who'd take the bullet for his teammate. I don't have this feeling with Julian, Danny, Malcolm, Keshawn or almost any other player on the team. Sure he went for some blocks the other night but overall the feeling is similar to LaFell 2015)

 

[PF_SU]

If you're saying that, then why would you cite the depth the patriots supposedly have at the position to suggest it's less important to re-sign Butler?

Don't put words in my mouth. Where have I said it's less important to re-sign Butler?

 

[long distance]

@ OL

Two players I was watching closely yesterday were Solder and Cannon. I was happy with the progress from the week before. I don't know how much it was due to their respective matchups but its not even important.
Solder did exactly what he said he would do after acknowledging his technical mistakes vs Saints plus his glueing with Thuney showed progress. He doesn't seem in his mode yet, not 100% confident and comfortable but I was happy to see him going in that direction. I guess the unbelievable stability of Thuney helped there as well so we can add another credit to the great rookie story we are seeing. Cannon was holding his own well on the weaker side (no RG stability to glue with) so he earned some of my respect and attention.

In any case I feel better reg. OT. If Cooper&Mason could stay healthy and Stork would have a better head (in all senses) the OL story could have a surprisingly positive twist.

The guy I really like is Karras. Wherever they put him he stands his ground. This year might be just a bit too soon for him but I'd keep him. If he's cut some team will be happy to have him.

 

[aluminum seats]

Don't put words in my mouth. Where have I said it's less important to re-sign Butler?

Ironically, it's you who's putting words in my mouth. I didn't say you said it's less important to re-sign Butler, I said you suggested it. Which, considering you agree not having Butler would put the Pats into a crisis mode, is an odd thing to suggest.

 

[PF_SU]

Ironically, it's you who's putting words in my mouth. I didn't say you said it's less important to re-sign Butler, I said you suggested it. Which, considering you agree not having Butler would put the Pats into a crisis mode, is an odd thing to suggest.

Same thing, where have I suggested that?

 

[aluminum seats]

Same thing, where have I suggested that?

My bad, you jumped in at such an odd place I assumed the original comment was yours.

 

[Peachhead]

here's the sack. fleming reported in as a tight end and got beat inside by acho:


you can see other clips in the link in my sig. let me know if there's any other play you want to see.

Fleming still sucks mightly I see.

 

[Brady'sButtBoy]

Yeah, Tommy's cut had me flashing to the 'real' story-

Unhappy with TB12 because he didn't get her ginseng and mint leaf bath water to exactly 103.7F, momma G snapped. Chasing the GOAT into the kitchen she flails a bit of $5000 Swedish carbon kitchen steel - just like Ms. Fryar! That's all I could think of - Tommy raked by the angry Argentine in a fit of multi-million dollar domestic pique!

Then the bummer - I found out that Jimmy G stabbed him because last week TB12 had scolded Jimmy for not making the team his own.

 

[Ring 6]

Yep -- at the logjam positions, you have to look at roster building and what each player might uniquely contribute for individual matchups and gameplans. For Roberts, it's hard to ignore this:

5'11, 4.38 40, 39" vertical

That makes him the tallest CB on the roster AND one of the fastest.

Similiarly, Anthony Johnson has remade himself into the team's best (only?) option for a lighter, quicker DT on a roster of behemoths.

Our lighter quicker DTS are playing DE on 1st and 2nd down

 

[sambam94]

Same can be said for Blount then cause he looked no better overall IMO.

I agree..I really don't get the Blount love at all. He was painfully slow last year and maybe looks a tad quicker this year which isn't saying much. He dances behind the line of scrimmage too often and for a big back he sucks at short yardage.

 

[oldrover]

Take a stab? Lucien.

Maybe, but that was a bad drop in the EZ on a great throw by Brisset.

 

[jefmblrd]

Anthony Johnson came out of nowhere and showed up as a quick and disruptive force from the inside which we really could use. While he has to keep this up to make the team, I'm hoping he does. At this point it looks like Knighton and Kuhn are on the bubble and Branch needs to show up and keep his head together.

I like the way Tyler Gaffney hits the hole and runs hard; he could make this team. Blount must be feeling a bit of pressure from Gaffney as he came out and played very hard against the Bears. Bolden has showed up on a couple of plays and has a vital role on special teams, but I'm wondering if what he does couldn't be duplicated by others and open up another RB slot. I always felt that Donald Brown was a longshot to make this team, and he looks like even more of one now. Based on his electric play last year, Dion Lewis should step in when he comes back. Hopefully Foster can make it to the PS.

Trey Flowers continues to impress and will make a huge impact on defense this season; he is a playmaker. Grissom should make a difference on STs but will most likely get some defensive snaps as the season goes on. I like Rufus Johnson but wonder if there's room on the team to carry him--hope he makes it to the PS. I like the speed that KGH brings to the defense and see him making it on STs and playing some situational defense. The CB position is jammed--a nice change from years' past. Things may shake out there if someone has an injury, which I hope doesn't happen but often does. Safety looks strong.

The Offensive Line seems to be shaking out a bit with Solder and Vollmer (when he comes back) at OT and Thuney and Mason at G with Andrews at C. Backup T remains an issue as Cannon just doesn't play well and Fleming isn't there yet either.

Kicking, punting and long snapping are strong, but they have to put the right pieces in place on the ST units where they should be fine.

 

[StockingAnarchyNumber12]

Blount needs to go and soon. I've never really been impressed with the guy and was hoping we'd acquire somebody more reliable.

 

[TBR]

Can't find the post where someone was concerned about our shorter CBs (maybe another thread) but..

Keenan Lewis was released by the Saints. He's a 6'1, tough, physical corner but has had injury issues.

I'd sign him and use him situationally, especially against taller WRs if some of the shorter ones struggle mid-game.

 

[Ochmed Jones]

My thoughts on the o line from the Chicago game.

Solder is slowly working his way back to being a really good OT.

Kline was doing really well until early in the second quarter on Blount's lady first down before the Bolden fumble, it looks like Kline hurt his shoulder. After that he was not nearly as effective.

Andrews and Stork had rough games.

Thuney is a stud, he took on every Chicago dt they had one on one. He ate Goldman up all first half.

Cannon is a jag.

Fleming is a run blocker and horrible as a pass blocker.​

 

[Froob]

Blount needs to go and soon. I've never really been impressed with the guy and was hoping we'd acquire somebody more reliable.

Think it's more the line to be honest that's held us back. Line really has left no where to run past couple of playoff runs.

 

[StockingAnarchyNumber12]

@Froob - True, but his job must be in potential jeopardy for a reason right?

I've just noticed while the O-Line hasn't been great, he himself isn't a great runner when compared to others