Rivers and James released; Mays and Thomas promoted; Asante officially activated

[MrBigglesWorth]

Re: Asante Activated - Per Schefter on NFLN

I checked earlier and the weather channel says it'll be partly cloudy with a high of 84...Which means there will be no weather related excuses, a great day for football.

What's the humidity?

 

[PatsSteve1]

Re: Asante Activated - Per Schefter on NFLN

What's the humidity?

Yeah and what part will be cloudy and what part won't?

 

[patchick]

Re: Asante Activated - Per Schefter on NFLN

Yeah and what part will be cloudy and what part won't?

Jets bench cloudy, Pats bench sunny. That's after the game, of course.

 

[MrBigglesWorth]

Gee, I don't know, Pats1. How about every time they have a short yardage situation and need to put 2 blocking TEs on the field... Which was MANY times last year...

And, YES, I damn well WOULD take Watson off the field for Rivers in those situations.

Put an extra OL in. Personally I think the Pats are extremely thin at DL. Who is their top backup now? Jarvis is a starter and Wright is out. This could be an area of concern to wear down later in the game.

 

[pats1]

No, its not irrelevant. No matter how much you sit there and scream and shout, jumping up and down claiming it doesn't matter, it does. You sit there and rag on Rivers saying that he won't get snaps and such, yet Mays is going to sit on his keaster out there except for 17-25 snaps (out of 110-140). Last I looked, even at 25 to 110, that is still less than 25% of the game....

And how many would Rivers had gotten? 2? Maybe 3 if he was lucky?!?

 

[pats1]

Anybody else a little surprised they didn't re-sign Rashad Moore instead? I don't think he qualifies for the veteran salary guarantee.

He might. 3 accrued seasons.

But Thomas could always play NT in a pinch. Brown probably could too.

 

[cstjohn17]

Thats my 53
S. Thomas
Mays
Britt
Herron
M Guitt
Wright
Baker
D. Thomas

Hard to argue the starting 45. Expect the Jets to try do whatever they can to soften up our DL either by pounding it and then taking shots deep or playing an up tempo game.

Looking at the bottom 8, expect some turnover on the roster in the next couple of weeks. Herron, Guitt., Mays, all seem expendable.

 

[pats1]

Then you weren't looking. He was out there.

Great. Now Mays can be out there and perform better.

What do you think MOST special teamers do? Nothing for a majority of the game. There are between 110-140 plays a game. Of them 17-25 are special teams plays. That's it.

And what do backup DL/OL/QBs do? Hold clipboards? Besides coming in for field goals and extra points, they get 0-2 snaps per game.

And guess what - that's pretty much exactly what Rivers would be doing.

Baker is out.

Hence the "if he was healthy..."

Mike Wright normally lines up on the NOSE in the punt return formation and usually takes out 2 or 3 blockers.

Yes, he's the exception.

And TEs.

Graham had 1 special team tackle last season. Thomas had 2.

You are forgetting Mike Wright. Jarvis Green has also played on return units.

What about Britt? Yates? O'Callaghan? Mruczkowski? Hochstein? Hill? Smith?

 

[RayClay]

Re: Pats Moves

Yeah they could use an OL, but I'm thinking about non goalline and short yardage stuff. Thomas they could use, and I'm not saying they will, from anywhere with his speed. IMO, Rivers blocked and has better hands than Watson does.

I liked Rivers too. I don't think they got really superior TEs with their #1 picks.

Potential is nice but...

 

[pats1]

Re: Pats Moves

I'm pretty sure Rivers caught a TD in the pre-season from Brady against first teamers...

Plus our TE depth scares me. I like Kyle Brady's size but I'm getting some fragile vibes from that guy.

Again, you can't play scared. If Brady's active, then he's going to play. If he was out for this game too, then Rivers would have obviously stayed. But he's not. And he wasn't on the injury report.

 

[pats1]

Re: Pats Moves

You can also use a lineman. I liked Rivers abilities compared to our other tight ends. He can block and catch. Might be they waited until rosters were set to drop him and will reacquire to give Thomas time to heal.

Unfortunately, it doesn't matter how well he can block and catch. If he's not better than Watson or Brady, then he'll only play special teams. And if Mays can play special teams better, then Mays will get the nod instead. As has happened (freaky, huh?)

 

[363839]

I was disappointed that they released Rivers, too.

But Pats1 makes a good point about Mays value as ST'er vs Rivers value as essentially a backup.

I hope we get him back.

 

[pats1]

Re: Pats Moves

I have a more one-dimensional view to these things.

The way I look at it, keeping Rivers is adding depth to what I see/feel is a position on the team that could potentially be a volatile one. Rivers is both an adequate pass catcher and blocker, covering the hypothetical loss of either Watson or Brady.

You bring in Mays, and other than his yeoman's efforts on ST, he's a useless body on the sideline.

I think you're devaluing special teams far too much.

Yet again, there isn't enough room on a 53-man roster to keep an extra player around just because a position "could potentially be a volatile one." It's that extra player who himself will be "the useless body on the sideline."

 

[pats1]

Put an extra OL in. Personally I think the Pats are extremely thin at DL. Who is their top backup now? Jarvis is a starter and Wright is out. This could be an area of concern to wear down later in the game.

Smith...Brown will be active as well.

That's just the way things go.

 

[pats1]

I was disappointed that they released Rivers, too.

It's the Patrick Cobbs syndrome, I'm tellin' ya. You see a player perform well in the preseason and you don't want to let go.

But Pats1 makes a good point about Mays value as ST'er vs Rivers value as essentially a backup.

I hope we get him back.

There we go...

 

[Box_O_Rocks]

Re: Pats Moves

The way I look at it, keeping Rivers is adding depth to what I see/feel is a position on the team that could potentially be a volatile one. Rivers is both an adequate pass catcher and blocker, covering the hypothetical loss of either Watson or Brady.

I like Rivers and I expect that we've not seen the last of him on the Pats' roster.

You bring in Mays, and other than his yeoman's efforts on ST, he's a useless body on the sideline.

If you're going to be one dimensional, lean towards BB's STs bias. Izzo is considered to be a waste by a portion of the posters here, yet he has three rings and made the team for another year (Captain to boot). Let's imagine for the moment that I agreed with your assessment of Mays at ILB (I don't), he still has value for BB in one of the three phases of the game or he wouldn't have been re-signed to the Practice Squad, let alone the gameday roster. At this point in the team building process, a Special Teams player becomes more important than another ILB. BB has Bruschi, Seau, Thomas, Vrabel, and Alexander for ILB - Mays is superfluous at LB, but important to BB & Seeley on STs. [Brain flatulence update - I forgot to list Alexander as a core STs player in my first post, STs is looking better and better all of a sudden. Herron inactive is looking like a lock now.]

 

[Box_O_Rocks]

Smith...Brown will be active as well.

I don't see Brown ahead of Thomas, why bring Thomas up at all? Brown is still the DL I expect to see inactive.

 

[pats1]

I don't see Brown ahead of Thomas, why bring Thomas up at all? Brown is still the DL I expect to see inactive.

In about 13 hours we'll have the answer...

 

[RayClay]

Re: Pats Moves

Unfortunately, it doesn't matter how well he can block and catch. If he's not better than Watson or Brady, then he'll only play special teams. And if Mays can play special teams better, then Mays will get the nod instead. As has happened (freaky, huh?)

Can Watson block and catch? Considering his draft position and experience it's a shame that's still a legitimate question.

 

[Slagathor]

Re: Pats Moves

Can Watson block and catch? Considering his draft position and experience it's a shame that's still a legitimate question.

I think BB is constantly looking for the next Mark Bavaro.

Very Don Quixote-ish.

I predict we'll take a TE in the 1st two rounds next year.