PostGame Thread OFFICIAL 2026 Post Game Thread: Patriots Finish with a 13-13 tie against the Colts

[BobDigital]

That's the second time you have said that Williams " lacks something," but haven't been able to say what that " something" is. That's pretty weak Bob. If you have a valid criticism of him Bob that's fine, but at a minimum you should be able to say what it is.

Sure. I think he lacks awareness. The game seems to happen a little too fast for him mentally. It is like he is trying to keep track of too many things and so something goes wrong. Either he runs the wrong route... or he runs the right route and doesn't track the ball, or he tracks the ball and doesn't come back to it/adjust to it. Or he sees the defense and doesn't do that little adjustment.

It is just too often things seem to go wrong. There is some excuse always between him and getting the ball. But then you see the way he can play when it all works, and on pure talent, he should be the #2 WR on this team, but wasn't last year. And even early this year him and Maye just keep missing, or he doesn't come back for the ball, or he isn't where the ball is for some reason. I think he might lack that mental component to his game. At least when it comes to this particular system. It might just be too much to keep track of.

It is frustrating... cause when you see his speed, his ability to stop flat, and his relatively solid hands, he has all the tools physically. When it works it REALLY works. Which makes the times it doesn't work stand out even more.

 

[Pape]

Turned the game off at half time... Every real piece of action there was, the stream crapped out... It was annoying

A few thoughts
Devito is not a starter, he has some touch but needs a lot more work... Still we kept the right guy letting go of Dobbs

Lomu is raw... Not sure if it was just jitters but with how some guys talked about him replacing Campbell this year, I expected more... Swing tackle at best right now

Larison has good hands... Nice to see him run good routes and make the catches

Kyle Williams needs more playing time... Damn that boy can get open when he wants to

Vildor and purty looking good in the backfield

Both lines got swallowed whole last. Night... Not too impressive... OL was the depth playing, so there's that... Not sure about the dl... Not sure who was who so help a fella out and give me your opinions on their play...

Liked the turnovers... Disliked borregales last night... He's better than that...

Miss anything of note in the second half?

 

[turkeyneck]

Vrabel will help Borregales with any confidence issues, just as he did with Stephenson with his fumbling issues last season.

Larison looks like he's going to have a Burkhead role on this team.

Kyle Williams is going to be a serious threat for defenses to handle.

The rookies played OK, but they have a lot to learn. The good thing is that they look like they belong in the NFL.

Overall the best news is that they have gone from the worst roster in the NFL to a situation where they are going to be cutting prospects who could turn out to be quality NFL players in less than 2 years. Great job by Grabel and Co.

Larison looking like a Burkhead comp is good. I really liked Burkhead. His way of moving always made me think of a bigger Edelman and I thought he could have done much more for us getting more touches as a staight-up receiver vs. a pass-catching RB. Looking forward to see how McD develops Larison's role.

 

[patchick]

Larison looking like a Burkhead comp is good. I really liked Burkhead. His way of moving always made me think of a bigger Edelman and I thought he could have done much more for us getting more touches as a staight-up receiver vs. a pass-catching RB. Looking forward to see how McD develops Larison's role.

Stirring the pot further…Larison vs. Chism rather than Larison vs. Miller? Larison certainly looked better as a KR.

 

[manxman2601]

They certainly did, but I just don’t see the same qualities in Chism. I would be delighted to be wrong.

Meanwhile I have irrational optimism about Cameron Dorner. Based on a way-too-small sample size, he reminds me of a smoother Jakobi Meyers. FWIW one pre-draft writeup I saw listed Romeo Doubs as comp for his upside.

Fair enough, our eyes are subjective. I'm just buying into the guy who broke Cooper Kupp's receiving records in college, went 3-3 with 1 TD when given a chance in this offence in the regular season, has done well consistently in pre-season and was kept on the roster so he couldn't be claimed elsewhere. Is he a KR? No. Is he in a difficult position at the back of the roster? Yes. Might he be cut? Of course. However, Boutte and Pop are probably not on the roster this time next year. I think it's worth persevering with Williams and Chism so they're in prime position to replace them rather than continuing the endless cycle of needing WRs.

 

[Clonamery]

Stirring the pot further…Larison vs. Chism rather than Larison vs. Miller? Larison certainly looked better as a KR.

I was thinking the same thing but it gets you a 4th rb, too. Larison had a 1st good game at rb in last year's preseason before getting hurt. To be honest the KR blocking hasn't been great for anyone (avg yds wise) in a Pats uni the last 2 years.

 

[imahobgoblin]

Turned the game off at half time... Every real piece of action there was, the stream crapped out... It was annoying

A few thoughts
Devito is not a starter, he has some touch but needs a lot more work... Still we kept the right guy letting go of Dobbs

Lomu is raw... Not sure if it was just jitters but with how some guys talked about him replacing Campbell this year, I expected more... Swing tackle at best right now

Larison has good hands... Nice to see him run good routes and make the catches

Kyle Williams needs more playing time... Damn that boy can get open when he wants to

Vildor and purty looking good in the backfield

Both lines got swallowed whole last. Night... Not too impressive... OL was the depth playing, so there's that... Not sure about the dl... Not sure who was who so help a fella out and give me your opinions on their play...

Liked the turnovers... Disliked borregales last night... He's better than that...

Miss anything of note in the second half?

Tommy Two Chains was not too impressive. He under throws downfield quite a bit, and sails sideline throws. He could not him Hollins in the numbers and Mac is a big target, but they could not get on the same page.

The criticism from the very beginning is that Lomu is raw. Its not jitters. Anyone who claimed he would push Campbell this year is an idiot. Your expectation was off. Seeing him in person last night showed me he needs two major things: Strength and speed. He just looked really light to me with the frame he has, which is very capable of filling out. Vollmer played heavy and lost tons of weight when he retired. Lomu needs to get fit, and put on the weight. He looks too marshmallow right now.

Larison can't run the ball and we don't need a WR out of the backfield. Miller was making stuff happen with his oline last night, and Larison just didn't have the same vision. He honestly looks like he put on good weight from his preseason game last year that I was at too. He was twitching. I wonder if this muscle gain took away his twitch. He is a cut.

KW was the best WR on the field last night.

Its worth noting Pop didn't play and Chism played a lot and did not produce much at all. The way people talk up Chism, he shoudl have dominated last night. He just did not consistently get open against the Colts second and third string.

 

[PATSYLICIOUS]

Britt and swinson impressed . Not sure how much it means in preseason but those are 2 areas where our depth was questionable.

Borregales was pretty shaky last preseason. Ai says he was 3/5 and I remember one of those misses against the Vikings was way worse than any of yesterday’s. Not concerned yet

I like our rb depth, glad we took the conservative route there.

Prunty and vildor continue to look like great finds.

I hope Williams can find some looks this year in a stacked wr room. He’s a weapon

Seemed indy moved the ball pretty easily in half 1. credit the defense for those punchouts but it was a bit concerning for our depth up front.

 

[Wozzy]

One preseason game does not make a preseason, young players will improve, others won’t… but they’ll be judged on the entire body of work and not one, or even one quarter of a preseason game.

Wait for camp to end before snap judgments….

 

[rkarp1]

-lots of mental errors/penalties

-Lomu looked like he belongs

-Devito reverted back to what I remembered when he played for the Giants. He looked much better the 2 times I attended practice

-combined, there is a 3rd RB with Larison and Miller. on their own? thinking both to the PS

-Prunty looks like he belongs

-I will withhold on Borregales until Ashby returns

-I was in the car post game listening, and from what I heard, no injuries to report? (yet?) Brown?

 

[TheRainMaker]

When in the world will Robert Kraft get rid of those damn uniforms?

 

[p8ryts]

They certainly did, but I just don’t see the same qualities in Chism. I would be delighted to be wrong.

Meanwhile I have irrational optimism about Cameron Dorner. Based on a way-too-small sample size, he reminds me of a smoother Jakobi Meyers. FWIW one pre-draft writeup I saw listed Romeo Doubs as comp for his upside.

Amendola and Welker were more experienced from stints with other teams. Amendola was good with St. Louis. I like both Boutte and Chism. I think Chism stays and Boutte goes.

 

[p8ryts]

So the good.

Baringer
Jam Miller's running.
Lan Larison as a receiver.
TD for Kyle Williams.

And that's about it.

I didn't really watch the OL but Rizy seemed to do OK and I don't remember James Hudson giving up pressures in the 2nd half when he switched to LT.

Didn’t think Hudson was that great. Thought Rupcich was better. Rizy must have been good, didn’t hear his name.

 

[SlowGettingUp]

Describe what is in front of you and who is playing

Some receiver makes a nice play, and they can't be bothered to say who it is. They have the roster in front of them, and they could look up his name if they don't know it already.
The McCourty brothers know football too - they could at least comment when someone (Jacas) gets sucked into a read option. Or explain why Vrabel was mad at Williams for not coming back to that underthrown (and uncatchable) ball.

 

[Pape]

Tommy Two Chains was not too impressive. He under throws downfield quite a bit, and sails sideline throws. He could not him Hollins in the numbers and Mac is a big target, but they could not get on the same page.

Never said he was the second coming...

The criticism from the very beginning is that Lomu is raw. Its not jitters. Anyone who claimed he would push Campbell this year is an idiot. Your expectation was off. Seeing him in person last night showed me he needs two major things: Strength and speed. He just looked really light to me with the frame he has, which is very capable of filling out. Vollmer played heavy and lost tons of weight when he retired. Lomu needs to get fit, and put on the weight. He looks too marshmallow right now.

my expectation that he would play better might have been "off"... First time seeing him play in an NFL game, so i can live with having higher expectations for a lineman...

Larison can't run the ball and we don't need a WR out of the backfield. Miller was making stuff happen with his oline last night, and Larison just didn't have the same vision. He honestly looks like he put on good weight from his preseason game last year that I was at too. He was twitching. I wonder if this muscle gain took away his twitch. He is a cut.

Certainly he did not do a good job running the ball last night... we will see how that area progresses... but to say we don't need a pass catching back - i know you added the hyperbolic wr to your response but that was stupid so i ignore it - yeah, I am going to disagree with that... nice to have options out of the backfield beyond henderson/stevenson... Hope his play earns him a spot...

KW was the best WR on the field last night.

yeah

Its worth noting Pop didn't play and Chism played a lot and did not produce much at all. The way people talk up Chism, he shoudl have dominated last night. He just did not consistently get open against the Colts second and third string.

not worried about pop or chism... stay or go, it doesn't matter.

 

[Wozzy]

Rizy must have been good, didn’t hear his name.

I had high hopes for Rizy when he picked up.

Thought it was a great sign he was exclusively the starting center for the third offensive line unit because position versatility would earn him a job. Even prior to Brown getting dinged up I hoped and suspected he would make the PS and be that next developmental interior lineman in the chute.

He might be asked to do more than that depending on Brown’s health, this increase in practice reps could help or hurt… we’ll see, but the kid has athleticism.

 

[Huckleberry1]

Sure. I think he lacks awareness. The game seems to happen a little too fast for him mentally. It is like he is trying to keep track of too many things and so something goes wrong. Either he runs the wrong route... or he runs the right route and doesn't track the ball, or he tracks the ball and doesn't come back to it/adjust to it. Or he sees the defense and doesn't do that little adjustment.

It is just too often things seem to go wrong. There is some excuse always between him and getting the ball. But then you see the way he can play when it all works, and on pure talent, he should be the #2 WR on this team, but wasn't last year. And even early this year him and Maye just keep missing, or he doesn't come back for the ball, or he isn't where the ball is for some reason. I think he might lack that mental component to his game. At least when it comes to this particular system. It might just be too much to keep track of.

It is frustrating... cause when you see his speed, his ability to stop flat, and his relatively solid hands, he has all the tools physically. When it works it REALLY works. Which makes the times it doesn't work stand out even more.

Thanks. Awareness comes with understanding, and understanding comes with development. He's just beginning his 2nd season in an offense that veteran pro bowl and all pro caliber receivers struggled to learn, his awareness will come the more he develops in that system. The same goes for most of their young offensive players.

 

[Triumph]

Stirring the pot further…Larison vs. Chism rather than Larison vs. Miller? Larison certainly looked better as a KR.

Looks like Miller had a good night @ 4 yac and converting 2 - 4th down runs.

 

[Triumph]

Did that data analysis really try to combine 80% preseason games against scrubs with 20% real games? That’s a new one.

I like Chism. How can you not? He works hard and does everything well. But when the game cranks up that final notch from practice and preseason to full NFL speed, his athletic limitations start to show.

Chism was all the rage last preseason and he did basically nothing all season. In fairness his opportunities were limited @ 92 snaps.

As you mentioned Dorner does look intriguing. He received a shout out on the Pats website.

 

[mikey m]

Thanks. Awareness comes with understanding, and understanding comes with development. He's just beginning his 2nd season in an offense that veteran pro bowl and all pro caliber receivers struggled to learn, his awareness will come the more he develops in that system. The same goes for most of their young offensive players.

Agree with both of you on KW. He obviously hasn’t put it all together yet through his rookie season till now, but he absolutely has the physical tools. If he develops and gains the confidence of mentally knowing what he needs to do each play, he can become a good to very good #2. He’s the perfect candidate of a WR who could have that year 3 breakout. If it doesn’t work out, at least it won’t be because we picked another bum like Harry or Polk. Kid has serious skills.