DaBruinz's takes from Eagles/Pats Pre-Season game

[cstjohn17]

Hoomanawanui was horrible for the most part in his blocking.
.

I thought he was horrid last year as a blocker as well, obviously he has some comprising photos of McDaniels, no other explanation.

 

[Ring 6]

As much as I obviously agree with those who state that Gregory was at fault for the long TD pass, it also should be noted that our CB1 Talib will be in one on one coverage a lot. His specialty is man coverage.

His blame should not be unnoticed either, and it seems that the majority here are just running with the fact that Gregory was out of position on the inside. While true, Talib is going to be in man coverage plenty of times this season and he will be one on one in that situation a lot in the future.

A good sign is that D.Jackson is an elite, speedy WR who had gotten the better of Talib plenty of times over the course of the 3 day practice period; although Talib also got the better of him at times too.

Gregory fails to impress, but may make it anyway due to the poorer depth behind him. Tavon Wilson absolutely sucked, and Harmon hasn't shown enough yet. If Harmon plays strongly down the stretch of TC/preseason, he may make Gregory expendable.

Gregory deserves exactly zero percent of the blame for that play.
Watch the tape, and its clear what the coverage was.
If Gregory was Talib's deep help then that defensive call must have been drawn up by a 3rd grader because it would have been the dumbest defensive play call in NFL history. You don't blitz 6 and ask your safety on the right hash to be deep help on the left sideline.

 

[DaBruinz]

I have just reviewed the game with some plays in slo-mo. Here are some other observations.

Svitek played exceptionally well at RG, when he played there in the 1st Q.

Lane Patterson and RJ Mattes were getting the QBs killed, including two sacks on Mallett and Tebow, and a hard hit on Mallett another time. They made Vince Curry look like an All-Pro.

Neither put out much push in the running game either. Nor did Green.

Under Brady in just under a period he marched the team to 14 points and served notice the "Missing Offense" wasn't missing at all.

Obviously LeGarrette Blount served notice he was both a power back and much more.

Under Mallett in 3/4 of a single period, the Pats pulled ahead and posted the winning points scoring 10, and missing another FG attempt. I noted that only one throw a way pass, did not end up with a Pat receivers hand on the throw, completed or not. Accuracy is missing now by only a foot now. The sailing passes of last preseason have gone away with his coached better footwork.

Under Tebow the Pats sputtered and fooled around for 2 and 1/4 periods and scored an insurance TD.

People criticizng Talib for giving up a TD should be blaming Gregory who was very late in getting to the WR to provide inside support, while Talib was in perfect outside position.

Dane Fletcher won his spot on the team. He stood up a couple of receivers at the spot where he hit them and thwarted First Downs. He also should have had the fourth sack, but slid off the QB, when he had him dead to right.

Michael Buchanon has a burst off the edge. Jake Bequette is doing the job maintaining contain.

The Pats delivered a thorough pasting to the Eagles and might have scored 50.

The Pats Defense is maturing. It is becoming very hard to run on, and the Pass Defense despite missing 2 starters, still kept the Eagles QBs under 60% passing.

Great Synopsis. Only issue is that Tyronne Green didn't play last night..

 

[JackBauer]

I thought Tommy Kelly looked promising.

 

[DaBruinz]

Not sure i would give Ridley an UP. The online was giving him huge holes so they should get the credit. Also disappointed in Ridley for running out of gas on the first play of the game. He got 40 yards downfield then almost collapsed from exhaustion. <exagerration>.

Also not sure i would critique the punter for booming one 60 yards. All he has to do is loft it a little more next time.

Tebow wasn't really down, Tebow was just Tebow. He is not good as a traditional qb. He can be effective though by doing those draws then hitting the occasional bomb.

I thought Mallett was disappointing. Missed a wide open Boyce for a TD. In general he was just ok.

I liked Sudfields moves in the open field and Thompkins is intriguing.

Go watch the play to Boyce again. That wasn't on Mallett, but on Boyce. Boyce seemed to pick the ball up late as I stated in the other thread and neither laid out for the ball nor jumped with both hands. Had he done either, it's likely he comes up with that TD.

Sorry, but Tebow was a down. I know you are one of the "RA-RA" Tebow guys, but face it. Tebow was horrible last night. Extremely slow on his passing reads. He clearly miscommunicated on at least 2 run plays where the RB hadn't even started toward Tebow when Tebow turned around to hand it off.

The punter out-kicking the coverage is an issue. It leads to opponents getting better field position and even scoring TDs on punt returns.

 

[Rob0729]

I thought Tommy Kelly looked promising.

Yeah, that kid looks to have a long career ahead of him.

 

[zoostation]

Obviously LeGarrette Blount served notice he was both a power back and much more.

Blount's combination of speed and power reminded me of Corey Dillon in his prime.

 

[Rob0729]

I said this in another thread, a guy who didn't show up on the stats (he didn't get credit on the stat sheet for stripping the ball from Foles and was only credited with one QB hit) but I felt had a good game is Chandler Jones.

I watched him specifically. His night was tempered because Vick is a mobile left handed QB, but he was constantly drawing double teams and even a triple team (he broke away from a double team and was picked up by the RB at the next level). He was showing more moves than he had last year (seems to be effective with a push-pull move). He was throwing guys around in his limited action and helped draw attention away from Kelly to get free.

 

[Rob0729]

Blount's combination of speed and power reminded me of Corey Dillon in his prime.

Let's pump the breaks a bit there. Blount had a great game last night, but he will have to show a lot more of that to be compared to Dillon in his prime.

 

[zoostation]

Let's pump the breaks a bit there. Blount had a great game last night, but he will have to show a lot more of that to be compared to Dillon in his prime.

The entire board knew he was a power back however, I for one did not expect the burst of speed he exhibited.

By no means am I stating he is the next CD. Is this better? ---> Blount's combination of speed and power reminded me of my 1998 GMC Sierra pickup with it's rebuild engine and steel brush guard.

 

[Ring 6]

Bolden was playing behind a line that consisted of two players the Pats have already released this preseason and two others that were without a team until about a week ago. He also had only what 4 carries? Pretty small sample size. That penalty was a horrible call.

I believe Washington is here to return kicks, not be the third down back. I wouldn't be surprised if he gets less than 30 touches on offense this year. I'm looking at him as a ST only type player if he even makes the roster.

Blount may have surpassed Bolden on the depth chart but I still think he makes the team.

I agree, Washington is not going to be on the field for offense unless there are injuries.
I do not think both Bolden and Blount make the team. Next week is big for Bolden. Based on past preseasons if he is truly in close competition with Blount he will get a lot of carries next week. If Blount gets them it would mean they are getting Blount ready not having a competition.

 

[BTTA]

Great Synopsis. Only issue is that Tyronne Green didn't play last night..

Technically, the statement is still true then. Green got no push at all.

 

[Ring 6]

Blount's combination of speed and power reminded me of Corey Dillon in his prime.

Thats funny, it remended me of Antowain Smith, maybe not in his prime, running against a putrid defense.
Still better to succeed than fail regardless of the competition level.

 

[letekro]

Thats funny, it remended me of Antowain Smith, maybe not in his prime, running against a putrid defense.
Still better to succeed than fail regardless of the competition level.

Agreed. For how big he is, he did way too much east-west last night. Some of those runs that went for big yardage would have been losses or no gains against competent run defense. I prefer Bolden, if he can ever stay healthy.

 

[DaBruinz]

Agreed. For how big he is, he did way too much east-west last night. Some of those runs that went for big yardage would have been losses or no gains against competent run defense. I prefer Bolden, if he can ever stay healthy.

Bolden? You mean the guy who stood there perplexed, twice, that he was supposed to be running the ball?

Yes, I blame Tebow for the failure to communicate the play, but part of it has to be on Bolden as well.

Furthermore, Bolden was the one responsible for the running into the punter penalty.

 

[goheels22002]

Bolden? You mean the guy who stood there perplexed, twice, that he was supposed to be running the ball?

Yes, I blame Tebow for the failure to communicate the play, but part of it has to be on Bolden as well.

Furthermore, Bolden was the one responsible for the running into the punter penalty.

It looked to me like the punter flopped.

Bolden is definitely fighting for a roster spot with the emergence of LeGarrette Blount as one of the grown-ups in the backfield. I like what we're seeing - real talent, depth and youth in the backfield with Brady.

My favorite Patriots drive of 2012 was the 16-play 7-minute drive in the 4th quarter at Miami when they ran the ball down the Dolphins' throats. These four guys (Blount, Bolden, Ridley, Vereen) give the Patriots the horses to chew up clock and move the chains, keeping the defense fresh.

 

[BlueThunder]

The punter definately flopped...Bolden touched his shoulder as he went by.

Great acting job to get that penalty. :rocker:

 

[patsfaninpa]

It looked to me like the punter flopped.

Bolden is definitely fighting for a roster spot with the emergence of LeGarrette Blount as one of the grown-ups in the backfield. I like what we're seeing - real talent, depth and youth in the backfield with Brady.

My favorite Patriots drive of 2012 was the 16-play 7-minute drive in the 4th quarter at Miami when they ran the ball down the Dolphins' throats. These four guys (Blount, Bolden, Ridley, Vereen) give the Patriots the horses to chew up clock and move the chains, keeping the defense fresh.

I got stuck watching the Eagles feed here in Pa. Baldinger did the color. He even said it an Academy Award winning flop. Showed some close-ups of it. The whole 2nd half was a joke. I don't what in the heck that formation we ran was planning on doing. And, the Eagles ran Oregon's offense. We're not going to see that again this year. I want to see our defense against Det and TB. Two drop back and chuck it teams.

 

[neuronet]

Also disappointed in Ridley for running out of gas on the first play of the game. He got 40 yards downfield then almost collapsed from exhaustion.

That was pretty conspicuous....though, the guy that caught him (who was it?) was on fire, and Ridley is not exactly an open-field sprinter. He's more bull than gazelle, and that's fine with me.

 

[AzPatsFan]

Great Synopsis. Only issue is that Tyronne Green didn't play last night..

I thought I saw #68 out there. Perhaps it was # 69, Stankiewitch, instead. Sorry.