PostGame Thread OFFICIAL 2025 PRESEASON GAME 2 POST GAME THREAD: Patriots Lose 42-10 to Giants

[jdlboot14]

I would 100% take DeVito as our #2. I don't mind the idea of Dobbs, but he's so inconsistent... and I mean from play to play.
Dobbs & Wooldridge have looked very inaccurate this preseason. And, truthfully, Maye has too.
I don't know what JMD and Ashton Grant are doing - but as far as mechanics, timing, and accuracy - it's dropped from last year.

 

[PatsFan2]

I would 100% take DeVito as our #2. I don't mind the idea of Dobbs, but he's so inconsistent... and I mean from play to play.
Dobbs & Wooldridge have looked very inaccurate this preseason. And, truthfully, Maye has too.
I don't know what JMD and Ashton Grant are doing - but as far as mechanics, timing, and accuracy - it's dropped from last year.

DeVito have been very accurate this Preseason.

 

[signbabybrady]

How about Lowe @ LT Campbell @ LG Wilson @ C Onwenu @ RG and Corpse Moses @ RT

That's a nice interior.

Too much value in training Campbell to be our LT for a decade but your probably onto something that likely would be our best combo now.

 

[Mike the Brit]

What an awful game! I can't remember a worse Patriots quarterback since Andrew Walter.

It was hard to watch closely, but was I the only one that thought, along with all of the other failings by the Pats, the refs. seemed determined to give the Giants as many bad calls as they could?

One hilarious one was when the Gnats were complaining about not getting PI and the replay showed the receiver punching the Patriots cornerback in the helmet. But there seemed to be a lot of others too.

 

[PatsFan2]

Too much value in training Campbell to be our LT for a decade but your probably onto something that likely would be our best combo now.

I still think Will Campbell's future will be @ Guard eventually. Him and Wilson @ Center would give us fine Interior for while.

 

[signbabybrady]

I still think Will Campbell's future will be @ Guard eventually. Him and Wilson @ Center would give us fine Interior for while.

I think he's been awesome at LT seems to get better and better every week. I haven't seen anything to indicate we need to think about moving him.

 

[Ross12]

I’d be happy with DeVito as the new #3 on the 53 who will eventually supplant Dobbs as the #2. Then Dobbs becomes the “emergency #3”. DeVito is good enough to be a long term backup behind Maye.

 

[PatsFan2]

I’d be happy with DeVito as the new #3 on the 53 who will eventually supplant Dobbs as the #2. Then Dobbs becomes the “emergency #3”. DeVito is good enough to be a long term backup behind Maye.

If we get DeVito or Winston goodbye Dobbs no need to keep him. Dobbs could easily make our PS plus Zappe will be around.

 

[zydecochris]

Thanks for the write up, this was a nice read. I pretty much agree with all of it as it pertains to the OL. Sow looked worse than ever which sucks, but Lowe and Wallace looked like keepers which is nice. Jacobs showed enough to be worth carrying on the PS, which is where he was in Denver before NE signed him.

Top OL for now:
Campbell / Wilson / Bradbury / Onwenu / Moses

Reserve LG: Wallace
Reserve C/G: Brown
Reserve T: Bryant, Lowe (both guys played both spots in camp/preseason so there’s some wiggle room here)

It would be nice to carry another guard but nobody showed enough to deserve it. I would cut the Robinsons, Sow and Strange and see if I could get one of T.Robinson or Strange to the PS.

Ideally, Wallace and Wilson develop this year and can become the starting LG and C respectively in 2026. Moses is more likely than not the starting RT next year, based on money, which gives Bryant lots of time to develop and become the starting RT in mid-2026 or 2027. Until then, he will probably see periodic snaps in a relief effort. I’m good with keeping Lowe around long-term as a backup, but some team with critical tackle issues may come calling for him eventually.

I realize that it was only one game, and one that the Pats weren't really trying to win, so the story could change in the future based on future practices, future games, and of course injuries.

But, if as you say based on this game, we now know that Wallace now looks like a viable future possible (with a few more qualifiers) option for LG, and Lowe didn't look too bad as a fourth OT, then we are starting to see the outlines of our future OL story:
Campbell at LT, hopefully Wallace at LG (?), Wilson at C, Onwenu or a future draft pick at RG, and Bryant at RT.

And when it comes to Strange, I agree it would be good to sneak him onto the practice squad, I don't see why all the hate. It wasn't his fault he was over drafted, he was an athletic prototypical LG who was a mostly decent NFL starter before suffering one of the worst injuries a lineman can suffer, a torn patellar tendon, and he simply hasn't been able to return from it, not really his fault.

 

[PatsFan2]

I’d be happy with DeVito as the new #3 on the 53 who will eventually supplant Dobbs as the #2. Then Dobbs becomes the “emergency #3”. DeVito is good enough to be a long term backup behind Maye.

Can't believe that Milton was such a Byaach. He has look better than what we have.

 

[BobDigital]

I want to touch on the depth issue everyone is jumping on. People talking about how the Patriots have horrrible depth. They actually don't. they have pretty good depth. With a few notable position exceptions obvious.

WR? Their WR depth is actually really good. Their 4-6 is Chism, Williams and Hollins. Those are a great 4-6. How many 4-6s are you trading them for? The issue is we lack top tier talent.

TE? Hooper is the back up. That is really good depth. He'll play with Hunter sometimes as well, but we need to remember we don't 2 TE sets all the time. How many teams have a back up better than Hooper? I would wager most don't.

CB? Our 4th and 5th are Marcus and James. Not bad at all., both have shown well enough We could use a 6th, but that isn't a bad 4th and 5th to have. If you're 6th needs to see time, you're kind of screwed in this league no matter who you are.

S? Woodson and Dugger (if he stays). Not bad at all. Even if Dugger leaves Woodson/Pettus is solid for a 3rd and 4th.

And so on...

Here is where we are bad at depth... OL (particularly the interior), QB and LB. That's it. The whole narrative for bad depth comes from the massive difference in QB play this game. A lot of bad players from the Giants (dropped passes, uncalled OPI, not great protection) was solved by really good QB play. When QBs play well your depth looks pretty solid. When they don't people tend to notice how it all grinds to a halt.

The Giants have a great QB room... everyone in there was 1 level above the players hey faced tonight or more. And they dominated the game because of it.

Wooldridge looked bad, was put in bad positions by playcalling, and it made everything look bad, even things which aren't that bad. Overall for most positions i am happy with the depth... sometimes not the top of the roster, but that is a separate conversation than the depth one.

 

[Ross12]

I realize that it was only one game, and one that the Pats weren't really trying to win, so the story could change in the future based on future practices, future games, and of course injuries.

But, if as you say based on this game, we now know that Wallace now looks like a viable future possible (with a few more qualifiers) option for LG, and Lowe didn't look too bad as a fourth OT, then we are starting to see the outlines of our future OL story:
Campbell at LT, hopefully Wallace at LG (?), Wilson at C, Onwenu or a future draft pick at RG, and Bryant at RT.

And when it comes to Strange, I agree it would be good to sneak him onto the practice squad, I don't see why all the hate. It wasn't his fault he was over drafted, he was an athletic prototypical LG who was a mostly decent NFL starter before suffering one of the worst injuries a lineman can suffer, a torn patellar tendon, and he simply hasn't been able to return from it, not really his fault.

Yeah, Strange’s money has been paid so there’s no harm in keeping him on the PS to see if he can slowly learn to play around his weaknesses. In reality, he is probably just going to be a guy who is smart enough to play the role but whose body will cause him to get beat relatively often. Still, as a depth OL who you’re only calling on if there’s an emergency, that’s not so bad.

 

[Ross12]

I want to touch on the depth issue everyone is jumping on. People talking about how the Patriots have horrrible depth. They actually don't. they have pretty good depth. With a few notable position exceptions obvious.

WR? Their WR depth is actually really good. Their 4-6 is Chism, Williams and Hollins. Those are a great 4-6. How many 4-6s are you trading them for? The issue is we lack top tier talent.

TE? Hooper is the back up. That is really good depth. He'll play with Hunter sometimes as well, but we need to remember we don't 2 TE sets all the time. How many teams have a back up better than Hooper? I would wager most don't.

CB? Our 4th and 5th are Marcus and James. Not bad at all., both have shown well enough We could use a 6th, but that isn't a bad 4th and 5th to have. If you're 6th needs to see time, you're kind of screwed in this league no matter who you are.

S? Woodson and Dugger (if he stays)s. Not bad at all. Even if Dugger leaves Woodson/Pettus is solid for a 3rd and 4th.

And so on...

Here is where we are bad at depth... OL (particularly the interior), QB and LB. That's it. The whole narrative for bad depth comes from the massive difference in QB play this game. A lot of bad players from the Giants (dropped passes, uncalled OPI, not great protection) was solved by really good QB play. When QBs play well your depth looks pretty solid. When they don't people tend to notice how it all grinds to a halt.

The Giants have a great QB room... everyone in their was 1 level above the players hey faced tonight or more. And they dominated the game because of it.

Wooldridge looked bad, was put in bad positions by playcalling, and it made everything look bad, even things which aren't that bad. Overall for most positions i am happy with the depth... sometimes not the top of the roster, but that is a separate conversation than the depth one.

It’s kinda funny because when the Pats played their 1s against Washington and Minnesota’s 2s, the naysayers said any positive performances don’t count. However, now when New York played their 2s against NE’s 3s, it’s a big problem.

Not only did zero starters play (I suppose with the exception of Jared Wilson for a few snaps, and Peppers), they also barely used any second stringers. Guys like Bryant and Brown didn’t really play more than a few snaps. Zero WRs who will make the roster played. The starting RB would be 6th on the depth chart if Larison and Jennings weren’t hurt. I think the only guys who are a 1 or 2 that played significant snaps are Peppers and White.

 

[Ian]

Was just going through the stat sheet (I'll have that uploaded in a bit) and noticed that Wooldridge never threw another pass after that pick-six. Literally had zero attempts in the 4th quarter, and they ran it 15 straight times:

Ben Wooldridge Passing Totals:

By Quarter:

• Q1: 1/4 (25%) 4 yards
• Q2: 8/12 (66.7%) 70 yards 1 TD
• Q3: 1/4 (25%) 8 yards 1 INT
• Q4: None

By Down:

• 1st: 2/5 (40%) 19yds 1TD
• 2nd: 4/7 (57.1%) 29yds 1 INT
• 3rd: *4/8 (50%) 34 yards
  *3 Passing First Downs

Hard not to wonder the reason. He did close out the first half with a 14 play, 80yd touchdown drive (where he made a terrific throw to Jeremiah Webb), so it's not like he was so horrible they needed to shut him down. But three possessions and just four pass attempts later, that was it. And on a night where they're still evaluating receivers (and the score didn't matter), to not have him throw again was certainly sort of an interesting decision.

 

[Ross12]

Was just going through the stat sheet (I'll have that uploaded in a bit) and noticed that Wooldridge never threw another pass after that pick-six. Literally had zero attempts in the 4th quarter, and they ran it 15 straight times:

Ben Wooldridge Passing Totals:

By Quarter:

• Q1: 1/4 (25%) 4 yards
• Q2: 8/12 (66.7%) 70 yards 1 TD
• Q3: 1/4 (25%) 8 yards 1 INT
• Q4: None

By Down:

• 1st: 2/5 (40%) 19yds 1TD
• 2nd: 4/7 (57.1%) 29yds 1 INT
• 3rd: *4/8 (50%) 34 yards
  *3 Passing First Downs

Hard not to wonder the reason. He did close out the first half with a 14 play, 80yd touchdown drive (where he made a terrific throw to Jeremiah Webb), so it's not like he was so horrible they needed to shut him down. But three possessions and just four pass attempts later, that was it. And on a night where they're still evaluating receivers (and the score didn't matter), to not have him throw again was certainly sort of an interesting decision.

I think they probably had seen enough from him, Jiles and Webb and so just wanted to close out the game and get home. Also let them get a longer look at Watts (who benefitted - he looked decent) as well as the depth OL’s run blocking ability, which is valuable for a team that will probably be run-heavy.

 

[PatsFan2]

I think they probably had seen enough from him, Jiles and Webb and so just wanted to close out the game and get home. Also let them get a longer look at Watts (who benefitted - he looked decent) as well as the depth OL’s run blocking ability, which is valuable for a team that will probably be run-heavy.

Jiles - Webb and Watts Practice squad??

 

[upstater1]

I'm going to trust the new regime they don't like him. That's why he was running with the Second and Third Units.

Or, he's in his 4th yr and they are moving on to finding long-termers. It's not always cut and dry. We've seen him give better perfomances than what we've gotten out of the OL so far.

The same holds true of Dugger.

 

[Mike the Brit]

Hard not to wonder the reason. He did close out the first half with a 14 play, 80yd touchdown drive (where he made a terrific throw to Jeremiah Webb), so it's not like he was so horrible they needed to shut him down. But three possessions and just four pass attempts later, that was it. And on a night where they're still evaluating receivers (and the score didn't matter), to not have him throw again was certainly sort of an interesting decision.

Maybe McDaniels found him as painful to watch as I did.

 

[KCSVEN]

Can't believe that Milton was such a Byaach. He has look better than what we have.

You might want to check out his preseason tape. The Pats backup QB's outplayed him. True story.

 

[PatsFan2]

@patfanken: Campbell is going be like Logan Mankins that's his ceiling.