The Official Shmessy Observation Post From Section 407, Row 2, Seat 8:
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1) Welcome to the New England Patriots, Malcolm Butler - - I saw enough of this kid tonight to make up my mind. He is dynamite, played the entire game, was his own island and covered for others when they screwed up in the run game. Give the kid a parking space.
2) Biggest disappointment (Yes, even bigger than Mallet, tonight): James Anderson. I write this with a very heavy heart because I was excited when they signed this guy a few months back. I LOVED the signing - - wrote that it seemed like a Roman Phifer type move. Felt that Anderson would be a quality 4th LB who could do it all and had the smarts to actually call plays as he did last year with the Bears......... THUMP! All I saw tonight was #55 over pursuing and lunging at RB's running past him as if he wasn't there. It was amateurish and shockingly bad. If he plays like this going forward, it will be a big problem for the team.
3) Bianca has lost a lot of weight and looks great - - Good job, Mrs. Wilfork!
4) Stephen Houston? Maybe professional football is not for you. Sorry.
5) Harmon, McCourty, T. Wilson and Chung are going to be our Safeties. Chung was all over the place and very active out there tonight. I believe the Ebner era is over.
6) I know Mallet will be getting a lot of blame, but the OL gave him zero protection, he never had time to even plant his feet. He's just not a scrambler.......which brings me to #7,
7) Garropolo. OK, this is another thing I did not expect tonight. All TC, I have been reading reports about how the kid looked like a deer in the headlights, was indecisive and that the pro game was too fast for him at this point.
Well.......
He owned the field tonight. Truly could have been 3 touchdowns instead of just one (Tyms DID make that catch in the EZ right under seats on the deep pass interference and my pin cushion Steven Houston coughed it up deep in the Red Zone). He worked with changing pace, from no huddle to slow down and back. He used both sides of the field. he threw screens, intermediates, sideline ropes, deep patterns, you name it. His pocket awareness was good and he is obviously the best scrambler of our QB's. Am I ready to crown him the #2 QB after preseason game #1? No. God forbid, if Brady goes down in game 1 in Miami, I want Mallet coming in, not Garropolo. However, by this time next year, if Garropolo continues to learn and work hard, I now have more confidence of him being able to master the NFL speed than I did before this game tonight. He made things happen and reminded me slightly of a taller Doug Flutie out there in his improv-ability.
8) Fedex Field is a travesty.
From the surface playing area (which I think was behind BB's strategy to work the first 2 strings hard in Richmond this week and keep them safely off Fedex' "field" tonight) to the dangerously undercooked $8 sausages at the concessions to the barely attached metal bleachers in the 400's section - - the 3rd most valuable franchise in the NFL should be ashamed of itself......but then, I remember Dan Snyder is its owner, and it all makes sense again.
