PonyExpress
In the Starting Line-Up
- Joined
- Feb 12, 2006
- Messages
- 4,659
- Reaction score
- 78
For what it's worth.
http://www.profootballweekly.com/PFW/The+Way+We+Hear+It/Whispers/2007/whispers120107.htm
The Patriots are really starting to sour on rookie DB Brandon Meriweather. Not only is he looking mentally lost in trying to grasp the Patriots’ playbook, but he is looking physically overmatched, as well. If he is to play safety, which the Patriots want him to play over cornerback, the 5-11, 200-pounder needs to gain at least 10-15 pounds. However, because he is just a rookie, the Pats remain hopeful that he will eventually develop into a quality player.
Expect to see Kevin Faulk as the Patriots’ running back when they go to four-wide alignments. Faulk has better open-field quickness than Laurence Maroney, and the Pats are growing increasingly less fond of giving Maroney a full workload. We hear they’re beginning to doubt Maroney’s toughness and don’t see him as a 20-plus-carry running back.
Asante Samuel has always been a very good cornerback, but his outstanding play this season makes it very likely that the Patriots will go to great lengths to lock him to a long-term, lucrative deal this offseason. Making this more important is the recent regression of Patriots CBs Ellis Hobbs and Randall Gay. It was formerly believed that Samuel would demand too much money for the salary-cap-conscious Pats to pony up to, but we hear they no longer view him as a “system guy” and now see him as an elite talent.
http://www.profootballweekly.com/PFW/The+Way+We+Hear+It/Whispers/2007/whispers120107.htm