Surprises that may be seen

[mgteich]

I think it is more likely that Ventrone be cut than being valuable in the red zone offense.

Well,

I can see Ventrone being used on offense in the same manner as Vrabel, inside the 10 or on goal line plays. He could do well there.

Respects,

 

[Captain Cliche]

Using Lamont Jordan and Sammy Morris in the middle allowing McDaniels to use Maroney more on screens and out in space where he excels as a "Brian Westbrook" like weapon.

 

[TeamPats]

I think with less "go-to" proven Wide Receivers on the roster, David Thomas will see a lot of time spread wide and have 40+ receptions and 5 TD's (if healthy)

 

[Ring 6]

Big plays from special teams. Both on return and coverage teams. Belichick kept a boatload of special teams guys (Izzo, Slater, Alexander, Aiken, Guyton) as well as depth that excels on special teams (Woods, Washington, Evans, Wright). Hopefully that translates into big positive changes in field position and the opposing returners putting the ball on the turf.

I'm still waiting for the year we have a returnman do a Hester, Billy White Shoes Johnson, etc, etc.
I think our blocking on return units is as good as anyone in the league. We've seen flashes with Bethel, Hobbs, Maroney on kick returns, and back with Troy Brown on punts.
Slater could be the guy. I would love to see us have one guy return all kicks. If he is talented (and I think Slater could fit that bill) you could see 5-6 return TDs in a season.

 

[Ring 6]

I think with less "go-to" proven Wide Receivers on the roster, David Thomas will see a lot of time spread wide and have 40+ receptions and 5 TD's (if healthy)

I'm intrigued by what Thomas can bring.
IMO, he has more receiving raw skills than any TE we have had other than Watson.
And we've gotten some good production from the Grahams, Wiggins, Faurias, etc.

 

[mgteich]

When did we cut Moss and Welker? Which go-to receivers are you missing so much?

I think with less "go-to" proven Wide Receivers on the roster, David Thomas will see a lot of time spread wide and have 40+ receptions and 5 TD's (if healthy)

 

[spacecrime]

I think L Jordan will Make more of an impact with the Pats then a lot of people might be thinking. I could see him taking a lot snaps away from Faulk. Of course if the O line does not get healthy?

I like Jordan the Patriot for the same reasons I did not like Jordan the Jet

 

[fgssand]

I think L Jordan will Make more of an impact with the Pats then a lot of people might be thinking. I could see him taking a lot snaps away from Faulk. Of course if the O line does not get healthy?

I love Lamont, but do not sell little K. Faulk short, he gets it done and has played at a high level in that 3rd down role for a very long time now.

 

[spacecrime]

I think with less "go-to" proven Wide Receivers on the roster, David Thomas will see a lot of time spread wide and have 40+ receptions and 5 TD's (if healthy)

I like Thomas and want to see him incorparated inot the pasing offense, but what "go-to" WRs did we lose?

 

[AzPatsFan]

Andy,

I think the "surprises", as with most Belichick surprises, don't turn out to be "surprises" with the benefit of hindsight. They turn out to be commonsense.

So approaching the "surprise" issue from a future hindsight perspective, lets look back as is if looking back after this upcoming season. We might then see:

The LB corps evolves over the course of the season. With some older guys phasing out, others phasing in. At the end of the season, I could envision that the nominal "starters" at LB will be Woods, AD, Mayo and Vrabel, weak to strong. The chief sub inside is Bru followed by Guyton, and outside is Crabel. Bruschi has played more snaps than Crabel but the trend is down. Crabel has played a lot fewer snaps, essentially providing blows for Vrabel, but the trend is Up. Mayo starts from day 1. Guyton has seen limited but nonetheless valuable snaps at ILB.

From that perspective, Woods just "naturally" matured, grew into, and gradually split reps with AD at OLB, after Pierre's three years of grooming and learning. AD spent the balance of his essentially full time snaps inside, just like he did last season. But in this case he swings, and goes inside to provide an "inside blitz" or over the middle coverage in passing situations, other wise he plays OLB.

That blitzing/zone pass coverage is usually primarily from the WILB position. Which means Mayo is force-groomed by Brushi into being the "mike man" at SILB. Thanks to the helmets, Vrabel might well share, along with Tedy, and be the de facto play caller, while Jarod learns the mental aspects of the game as well. Bruschi, Mike and Jarod appear to have the head to perform those activities. I don't know whether Gary could do the mental aspects of ther "Mike" job, Belichickl is the judge. If not he could turn out to be a pretty effective zone pass ILB as well at WILB.

Bruschi could then phase way down, or retire next offseason along with Larry. I would expect another LB heavy draft to fill in behind the newcomers, or to play if anyone slips.

Eventually Guyton and Crabel will contribute, more so next season after the rookie learning experience. Guyton as a good ILB sub, and possible starter over the years; and Crabel as a possible starter outside, especially in the SOLB position that Vrabel plays.

From that perspective Bill will have rebuilt/retooled his precious LB corps on the fly, as he has done before, and be well positioned for several seasons of good play there.

 

[Lloyd_Christmas]

I do think Ventrone will prove to be a valuable receiving threat for us this year... not that Welker, Gaffney, and Moss have anything to worry about.

I think one suprise will be our game plans on defense. I don't think the preseason showed us any hints to what we will see this year. I expect our defense to look different this year with a lot more blitzing than in the past.

 

[Frezo]

The biggest shock to this forum would be the impressive play of Cassel when he steps in because Brady's foot needs a game off.

 

[Ring 6]

The biggest shock to this forum would be the impressive play of Cassel when he steps in because Brady's foot needs a game off.

Frankly, with a gameplan built around his strengths and weaknesses, and the fact that it is very likely that we are far superior to the team we would be playing he may do well.

 

[Metaphors]

I'm still waiting for the year we have a returnman do a Hester, Billy White Shoes Johnson, etc, etc.
I think our blocking on return units is as good as anyone in the league. We've seen flashes with Bethel, Hobbs, Maroney on kick returns, and back with Troy Brown on punts.
Slater could be the guy. I would love to see us have one guy return all kicks. If he is talented (and I think Slater could fit that bill) you could see 5-6 return TDs in a season.

My hopes are a little more modest than that. I would love to see the Pats consistently win the battle of field position. It may seem like a little thing but it translates well to the playoffs when the offense and/or defense may not be clicking on that day.

I would also love to see some big hits on kick coverage that generate some turnovers. Getting turnovers in the kicking game seem to have a significantly greater impact on changing the momentum in a game than forcing turnovers on defense. Maybe it is psychological but it seems like teams have a hard time recovering from coughing up a punt/kickoff return.

 

[chris_in_sunnyvale]

I think Jordan will emerge as the feature back, at least while Neal is out. Jordan's hard-hitting style fits better with an imperfect OL that doesn't open the holes as well as Maroney seems to need. Jordan was tearing it up for Oakland in the first four games last year before hurting his back and he clearly wasn't the same upon his return. Now he's in much better health and the Jordan we saw in the preseason looked a lot like the guy playing for Oakland in September 2007.

I think the Pats' CBs will play more man coverage like they did in 2003. The zone D was getting eaten alive in the preseason as QBs were completing high percentages and moved the chains with relative ease.

Regards,
Chris

 

[PatsFan37]

I think with less "go-to" proven Wide Receivers on the roster, David Thomas will see a lot of time spread wide and have 40+ receptions and 5 TD's (if healthy)

With Watson not practicing and Welker still a little banged up (I expect he'll be 'questionable' and possibly not play Sunday), it may be up to Thomas to run some of those middle routes. If the Oline doesn't held long enough for Moss to get downfield, he'll be the man.

So we may find out sooner rather than later.

By the end of the season: two surprises would be Wilhite and Guyton. If Wilhite can take over as 'starting' nickelback, relegating O'Neal to the bench (with Wheatley as corner opp. Hobbs), that would add a lot of needed speed to the middle. If Guyton can take regular snaps next to Mayo, esp. on third down, again, speed in the middle. I would love to see those two surprises.