New England Patriots News 9-22, AFC East Notes
(PHOTO: Greg M. Cooper - USA TODAY Sports) 🕑 Read Time: 8 minutes
Posted Under: Patriots Commentary
(PHOTO: Greg M. Cooper - USA TODAY Sports) 🕑 Read Time: 8 minutes
New England Patriots > Patriots Blog
(PHOTO: Greg M. Cooper - USA TODAY Sports) Good morning, here is your Sunday Patriots news 09-22 and AFC East notes this week.
Game Day,.and the Patriots face off against their old rivals from the AFL, the New York Jets. But something tells me the pregame shows will not be focusing on the game as much as the off-field drama. Let’s all hope that it isn’t the case and we can get all get back to paying attention to the games.
Antonio Brown – lasted just 11 days here in New England, his actions that came to light on Thursday night spelled the end of his short tenure here. We’re not getting into the entire fiasco again, it has been played out ad nauseam elsewhere. It was, however, intriguing, to see the possibilities with him in this offense. That’s the sad part of all of it, his football skills are incredible. C’est la vie.
Marshall Newhouse – will have a lot of eyes on him this afternoon as he protects Tom Brady’s blindside. Look for the Jets to test him early and often today. Isaiah Wynn’s turf toe will keep him on the shelf until late November and the veteran offensive lineman has a chance to carve out a nice roll and payday for himself.
Damien Harris – may see his first NFL game action today. With James Develin likely to miss the game this week, he hasn’t practiced, the Patriots will definitely miss their big lead blocking fullback. But it may give the rookie Harris the opportunity to get some game reps in against the Jets. We’ve been excited to see what he can do since they drafted him in May.
NFL Top 100 Plays – had a couple of Patriots plays in there and two [at least here] were not truly given their due. Malcolm Butler’s interception in the Super Bowl came in at a very respectable #5 but that play was the difference between the Patriots winning or losing Super Bowl XLIX. None of the top four had that kind of drama, in our humble opinion.
Adam Vinatieri’s 45-yard field goal in the swirling snow in the old Foxboro Stadium was to me the greatest kick in NFL history. At #18, I believe was woefully underrated, but perhaps my Vinatieri bias is showing. The Philly Special [illegal formation] at #10? LOL Child, please…
My favorite anti-Patriots play was and always will be that Barry Sanders run [#59] where he turned the Patriots defense inside out with an amazing run. Absolutely amazing.
Dante Scarnecchia – Loved to see the Patriots make the assistant coaches available this week, especially Scarnecchia who is a legend in these parts. I could watch him talk all day long. “Continuity is more important than anything right now.” Asked about how tough it is to get new players up to speed, “I don’t do anything, I just coach.”
After the Miami game, many were comparing the Patriots passing attack to the 2007 team that ran roughshod over the league when Tom Brady passed for 50 touchdowns and the team went undefeated in the regular season. Now many of the same people are sounding the alarm bell, “the Patriots are back in the same boat they were a few weeks ago!” To quote Joe Kenda here… well my, my, my.
No one is doubting the on-field abilities of Antonio Brown, which are huge. But the rest of the group remains intact and there is help on the horizon if the need arises. And to think the loss of one player makes the entire group go from all-time mention to “uh-oh Houston we’ve got a problem here” is just crazy talk.
The top three of Julian Edelman, Josh Gordon, and Phillip Dorsett is just fine. And with Dorsett back as the #3 option for WRs, he’ll get more looks in the passing game where he’s caught the last 23 passes thrown his way. Rookie Jakobi Meyers who had a strong summer and flashed in very limited reps in the Pittsburgh game is now guaranteed to get some more reps now after being inactive last week.
The Patriots still have rookie 1st-round draft pick N’Keal Harry on IR and he can return after Week 8. The Patriots signed Cam Meredith and placed him on PUP, he can return after Week 6. Meredith in 2016 caught 66 passes for the Bears. In 2017 he suffered a bad knee injury and was lost for the season. He came back and played very sparingly for the Saints last year and caught nine passes for 114 yards and a touchdown. It is unknown if he can ever recapture his magic of three years ago.
Harry, on the other hand, is the big, [6’4, 225] rookie wide receiver that the Patriots really like. He’ll be coming back later this year and is eligible to return Week 9 when the Patriots take on the Ravens.
The Thursday Night Football broadcast was notable for not only the rain deluge that the teams had to play thru but the number of penalties that were called. The NFL had said that it was cracking down on the amount of holding that has been going on and the TNF game was notable for it.
The refereeing crew led by Shawn [Baby Guns] Hochuli called 20 penalties in the game, 15 in the first half and eight of those were for holding. Social media was abuzz with the number of calls [12 of which went against Tennessee]. Tom Brady then lit a fire under it all when he went on Twitter to bash the league for the number of flags.
I’m turning off this game I can’t watch these ridiculous penalties anymore #TENvsJAC
Too many penalties. Just let us play!!!! #TENvsJAC
@TomBrady
The Giants announced that they were moving on from an aging Eli Manning to the young Daniel Jones at QB this week. This immediately set off the HOF debate for Manning the Younger as to whether or not he’s worthy of a bust in Canton. Can we just wait until Manning, you know, actually retires before having this debate?
Because the NFL is a fickle business and there are no guarantees here. Even though many predict great things for Jones [including here], no one knows how he’ll fare while facing the top defenses against the teams he’ll be facing, including the Bucs today.
Manning is by no means done just yet if Jones struggles or gets hurt, see Nick Foles, Drew Brees, Ben Roethlisberger, Sam Darnold, Trevor Siemian et. al. in just the first two weeks of the season. Manning may find himself right back in the starting lineup. And his story hasn’t been finished. What is the rush anyway? Can’t we all just hold our collective horses before getting into these needless debates before the last chapter is written?
How are you feeling about the games this week? We have a post on our PatsFans Forum where our readers can predict the slate of games for that week. I did it on our weekly Sunday column here and will post it up below. Here is the link if you’d care to pick your own: https://www.patsfans.com/new-england-patriots/messageboard/picks/
Last Week: 10-6
Season: 21-10-1
TNF Tennessee over Jacksonville 0-1
Dallas over Miami
Buffalo over Cincinnati
Patriots over New York Jets
Philly over Detroit
Colts over Falcons
Minnesota over Oakland
Baltimore over Kansas City [Upset special]
Packers over Denver
NY Giants over Tampa Bay [Welcome Daniel Jones!]
Cardinals over Panthers
49ers over Steelers
Seattle over New Orleans
LA Chargers over Houston
SNF LA Rams over Cleveland
MNF Bears over Redskins
Early Thursday Night Football pick Philly over Green Bay
The Buffalo Bills and the fanbase are getting really excited about this team’s chances after an impressive 2-0 start to the season behind the solid play of 2nd-year QB Josh Allen. The team was down 16-0 in the Meadowlands against the Jets in Week 1 when Allen led a 17-point comeback win. Last week, after the Giants closed with a score to make it a one-score game late, Allen led a touchdown drive to put the game and the Giants away. And the guy who was specifically brought in to help Allen, Cole Beasley is loving life in Western New York.
“You know, everybody sees Josh making throws and extending plays with his feet but they don’t really see how he remains level emotionally throughout the mini highs and lows of a football game. It got as bad as it could really get in Week 1 and he remained the same guy the whole time, still pushing the unit, still competing, still leading,” said Beasley on Uninterrupted 17 Week’s podcast.
“That’s a good sign for a guy as young as he is and that’s really exciting to see and that’s hard to find. You know, a lot of guys, under pressure, you know you always want to see what a guy is about when he is dealing with adversity. He handles it very well. You can’t even tell if he’s going through a bad time or a good time. That’s a great thing to see from a young guy and it is easy to follow a guy like that.”
With a win today versus Cincinnati and a Patriots victory over the Jets, that would set up a meeting of 3-0 teams in Buffalo in Week 4. Then things will really get crazy in Buffalo.
The Miami Dolphins are starting QB Josh Rosen today when the face off against the Dallas Cowboys. And things won’t be easy as facing the Cowboys’ defense is a daunting task. But for Rosen and the Dolphins who invested a 2nd-round pick for him this year, it is time to see what he can do.
Head coach Brian Flores has seen steady improvement in Rosen all summer. “There’s been a lot of improvement. That’s something that we’ve focused on really since he got here – reading defenses, making quick decisions, pushing the ball downfield when it’s the right time to do those things, getting in and out of the huddle, managing the game correctly, limiting mistakes and turnovers and things of that nature. I think mentally, he’s processing all of that a little bit better. I think he’s ready to go.”
While the management has made it clear they are tanking for Tua, Rosen has 14 weeks to show them that they already have a franchise QB to build around. Then all of that draft capital can be used to build around him and not Tua…stay tuned.
The New York Jets are 23 point underdogs today as they face off against the Patriots for the first time in 2019, and their QB situation has a lot to do with it. Sam Darnold is out for at least a month with an illness [Mononucleosis], backup Trevor Siemian was knocked out of the first quarter of MNF with an ankle injury that resulted in him going on IR. So it is up to 3rd string QB Luke Falk.
They have to play error-free and that begins with Falk. But all of the players know it as well. “We can’t make no mistakes,” DT Steve McLendon said. “Zero. You almost got to play perfect.”
Expect the unexpected today. Trick plays, weird formations etc. The Jets are playing with house money as the Patriots have dominated in recent years, winning 14 of 16 and 10 in a row at Gillette. The last three have been ugly with the Patriots out-scoring the Jets 105-12 in those matchups. Le’Veon Bell throwing a pass? Flea flickers? It is kitchen sink time injury-depleted Jets.
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“Yeah, I think I’ve already addressed this, so we’re going to get ready for the Jets here. I’m happy to answer any football questions, but I’m done with the rest of it..” – Bill Belichick on the incessant questions about Antonio Brown and not on the Jets game.
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“So, how was your week?”
Follow me on Twitter @SteveB7SFG or email me at [email protected]
Listen to our Patriots 4th and 2 podcasts on blog talk radio as Russ Goldman, Derek Havens and myself from PatsFans.com discuss the latest Patriots news and game analysis.
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