PromisedLand said:
I hope Kaczur will be back soon to take Gory's job away from him. Option 2 would be to move Mankins to RT and play Hochstein at LG.
Mankins is a fixture at RG for the next 10 years.
Getting Light and Kaczur on the field together will solve our Gorin problem. Plus, there's reason to hope that O'Callaghan will hop Gorin on the depth chart, eventually.
But, to me, that is really the only major concern on this O. We have a legitimate hope of being the #1 offensive unit this year, right up there with the Kansas City's, the Indy's... all the best, most explosive scoring teams.
The WR corp didn't look great with the guy who should be our #3 receiver playing the role of our #1... and not looking too good. But Branch and Jackson will be the real core of that unit, and Troy was held out.
If for some reason those guys cant come to bat for us, then I'd like to see how well opposing defenses matchup against a formation with Moroney, Graham, Watson, Thomas and Mills as our five skill players. On paper that looks like a short yardage unit, but those are all demonstrated dangerous players in the passing game, too. The mismatches that lineup creates for opposing teams will allow us to run or pass based on the personnel that the D has on the field (= you choose how you want us to beat you).
Generally, for a 4-3 team with a four man rush, one LB will cover Moroney, another will cover Graham. If Watson draws the double team from a LB and SS, then that leaves a DB on Thomas and a DB on Mills in single coverage.
This is where the BB/SP drafting magic kicks in. Those guys both have sticky hands, the speed and size to run over their defender. Not to mention, Moroney can probably beat a single LB, and we've got Brady reading the D and distributing the ball. The O could break a play for a touchdown at any time.
And that's if the D is playing to stop the pass. If they bring in an extra LB for a CB, to stop the power run, either Thomas or Mills is going to have a mismatch in coverage as a matter of pure speed and coverage. That's a situation where Tom can split a ball over the top for a big gainer.
Now, if you bring Branch and Jackson onto the field, you bring an even deeper threat into the equation, which should soften things up for the running game, and short passing, to move the ball.
I think we're going to score a ton of points this year. My only concern is whether we can keep points off the board... especially for a team with a balanced pass/run attack, where we cant cheat our S towards one or the other. We need Rodney and Tedy back, healthy and whole, and then this could be the best Patriots team I've ever witnessed.
QB: A-, elite talent, but depth needed
RB: A, the best Pats RB unit ever
WR: C, high upside, but too many questions
TE: A, four starting quality players
OT: B, talent and depth, but lacks consistency
OG: A-, Mankins and Neal are awesome
OC: A-, Hochstein is good, Koppen is better
NT: B+, young and strong, but depth is unproven
DE: A-, best in the league when Seymour is healthy
OLB: B+, Mincey and Woods answered questions, Vrabel and Colvin are elite
ILB: D, other than Bruschi, we have zilch. Bring on Paul Posluzny!
CB: C, Hobbs seems like our best player, Samuel is hot and cold
S: C, doesn't bring instinctive physical play without Harrison
Harrison and Bruschi should be enough to galvanize the D, if they can stay on the field for the season-- but I miss having Phifer, TJ, McGinest, Washington and Law on the depth chart.
And that feeling that the D can make a stop whenever they need to, or stop the Colts on the 1 yard line on four consecutive downs-- those days are gone. I suspect our new strategy will be to get a quick 21 point lead and end the game early.
