PostGame Thread 2026 OFFICIAL POSTGAME THREAD: Patriots Beat Eagles 24-21

[PATSYLICIOUS]

I wonder if morton will get the same attention drew allar got last week

 

[Uptown]

Not sure how accurate this is, but EC3 is a baller nonetheless..

 

[Uptown]

Larison reminds me a bit of Da Burkmeister

 

[Uptown]

 

[Uptown]

 

[n1997y]

Found the incessant chatter between Zo and the McCourty twins insufferable.
They do not announce the game, unfortunately.
Very difficult to watch with the current style of the announcers.

I thought this game was better than last. Noticed some good use of Hoyer on the sidelines.

 

[Wozzy]

Chism is much more consistent than K. Williams.

Wiliams hasn’t shown any ability as a WR except his release on a go ball but the guy can’t run a route to save his life.

It’s Tyquan all over again sort of. Speed is blinding people.

Speed doesn’t do you good if the only thing you can do is running straight.

I don’t know how Williams will see the field in the regular season. A.J Brown, Doubs, Boutte and Hollins are all in front of him. Douglas is a pure slot so Williams won’t take his spot.

if it was me, I would keep Chism over Williams because he is the only backup slot. I don’t think Williams will matter with how little he will see the field.

The original plan IMO was to draft Williams and hope that he was gonna be good enough to replace Boutte this year. But he clearly isn’t.

Did you actually watch the game?

First begin with the obvious. The degree of difficulty of a pass across the middle, ten yards in front of the QB is much less difficult than a thirty yard pass downfield. Chism is more "successful" because he's catching passes that are easier to complete. And sure, Chism has looked good, but comparing the two players is silly, they practically play different positions.

Second Williams has been consistently open this preseason and ran a large variety of routes. They're outside the hashes, because sending a ridiculously fast WR into the slot catch whip routes would be a waste of his talents. There's a tool for every job. Williams is on the outside running go routes because nobody else has his combination of size/speed.

The reality is Williams played almost exclusively with Devito last night and for most of the first half Devito sucked throwing the ball. His passes were nowhere near on target. There was a deep sideline ball reminiscent of last week's game where Williams could possibly have come back to the ball and drew a flag. But the big difference was Williams had two defenders bracketing him and the ball was so far inside he couldn't even find it... but he was open. If Devito drops the ball in the bucket along the sideline, that is another huge chunk play.

Devito made plays with his legs, he completed some short swing passes but they were late arriving and didn't give the receiver time to make a play, he didn't wake up until late in his appearance. Behran Morton looked a lot better than Devito. Williams needs more reps with Drake not less. Boutte is the odd man out.

 

[Salsalife]

Preseason games are getting worse. I'd rather watch the team practices for sure. Very disappointing. Any advice for out of state Patriots fan who's gotta pay to watch this team. So confused...What's the cheapest way. Don't care about other teams gamed at all!

 

[Ross12]

Everyone has depth in someplaces and not others. What are the most worrisome positions? OL has to be one right?

Kinda. Interior OL depth was a concern but they signed Van Roten to fix that, but since he didn’t see the field, and Ben Brown is also still out, the “fix” was not apparent. So while the “2s” were out there to start the game against Philly’s second string, in reality they were playing something like their 5th and 6th best guards. In all likelihood none of the guys who played guard in this game will make the team.

Conversely, OT should be deep but one of the top backups Marcus Bryant got injured in the game and we don’t yet know the severity. So, there might be a slight issue there, although Crownover looked decent in relief and Lomu is likely the top backup OT on both sides so not an immediate issue if Bryant has to miss some time.

At center specifically, I want to say Rizy played almost the entire game and he seemed fine once again. No big issues that I saw. Probably a keeper on the PS, might be good if he can flex to a guard spot.

 

[n1997y]

It’s Tyquan all over again sort of. Speed is blinding people.

Speed doesn’t do you good if the only thing you can do is running straight.

Thing is, Williams has shown more than pure straightline speed. There have been lots of comments about his nasty release, and if you take a close look at it they’re deserved. Plus I’ve seen him do the same quick lateral moves in the middle of the route.

I think he got a reputation from his body of work during his rookie year, when he was swamped by the magnitude of the jump to the pros. He’s not the product of a big time program so he wouldn’t have a lot of maturity around the off-field world he was stepping into either. He seems to have made a big sophomore leap, and the interviews with him where he talks about how he now understands the why as well as the what give a good reason for the game slowing down for him. I’m hopeful that will make a big difference in his route running. That play last night was pretty sweet, the way he used the space to the sideline to open a bit more separation. I’d like to see more of that, during the regular season.

I don’t know how Williams will see the field in the regular season. A.J Brown, Doubs, Boutte and Hollins are all in front of him. Douglas is a pure slot so Williams won’t take his spot.

You’re right. That’s why Boutte is a problem. He’s too good to cut outright, but he’s in the way of developing Williams who has three more years on his cheap rookie contract. From what I’ve seen so far this preseason I’m not sure Williams is much behind Boutte even now, other than seniority.

if it was me, I would keep Chism over Williams because he is the only backup slot. I don’t think Williams will matter with how little he will see the field.

The original plan IMO was to draft Williams and hope that he was gonna be good enough to replace Boutte this year. But he clearly isn’t.

It’s not clear to me that he clearly isn’t. Boutte has the advantage of a larger body of work in the regular season. But he’s also in his fourth season in the league when Williams is in his second. I think you’re right that the plan was to draft Williams to replace Boutte, but not this year rather when Boutte’s rookie contract expires and he leaves in FA next year. But that was before we developed a logjam at WR.

I agree about keeping Chism to back up Douglas, and replace him next year when his rookie contract expires. ATM I’m inclined to keep Williams over Boutte, and that’s making me more willing to trade Boutte if we can find a good deal. Williams and Boutte aren’t the only players who can fill the outside role so we don’t need them both, and Williams’ career arc seems to be developing momentum Boutte’s never had. I think I’d prefer a player for player swap if we could get a good edge or ILB prospect for Boutte, as a more immediate value than some future pick.

 

[Rob0729]

I gotta say it is time to do away with the preseason. The product is just unwatchable except for the hardcore fans who want to watch players who will probably rarely if ever make the field even if they make the roster to see who might get cut or break out.

And I don't even know if you can completely blame it all on the 17 game season. It may be Belichick's fault. (Here comes all the Belichick defenders to flame me). I don't mean this as an attack on Belichick. I think it has a lot to do with the joint practices and Belichick was pretty much the creator of the joint practices since the Patriots were doing them before anyone else (well, except for the teams that the Pats did the joint practices with).

I think teams were already devaluing the preseason games prior to the 17 game season because the joint practices gave coaches a way to evaluate the starters and get them reps against other teams starters in a controlled environment. The coaches can choose what is focused on in these environments and have red zone drills and other situations that may not happen naturally in a preseason game where the starters play a few series or a quarter or two.

But with two or three joint practices in the preseason, a lot of coaches wonder what is the point to play the starters in preseason games. Most of the point is to get them reps against starters of other teams. You got vanilla offenses and defenses with no real game plan. Most starters are pulled after one or two series anyway.

I think for a developing a team to be ready for the season and become a potential contender, the joints practices were a great innovation for the preseason. In terms of making preseason games entertaining for the fans, it was one of the death nails of anything remotely entertaining.

What they really should do at this point is make those joint practices primetime televised events. You can have Zo and the McCourty's do play by play and color commentary too. It can't be any less watchable than the product that we saw last night even with the second half production of Morton and the offense after most people turned off the game.

This has been my TED talk for the day.

 

[Rob0729]

It’s Tyquan all over again sort of. Speed is blinding people.

Speed doesn’t do you good if the only thing you can do is running straight.

I don’t know how Williams will see the field in the regular season. A.J Brown, Doubs, Boutte and Hollins are all in front of him. Douglas is a pure slot so Williams won’t take his spot.

if it was me, I would keep Chism over Williams because he is the only backup slot. I don’t think Williams will matter with how little he will see the field.

The original plan IMO was to draft Williams and hope that he was gonna be good enough to replace Boutte this year. But he clearly isn’t.

We have seen Williams do more than just straight line speed in the joint practices.

And if you watched the TD last night, it wasn't just straight line speed that got him open. He did do a stutter step that he faked going inside the defender and then cut outside the defender that caught the defender off balance. Now you can argue that a starting CB wouldn't get caught flat footed like that, but it wasn't like Williams just ran straight down the field and outran the defender.



And I don't know if Williams had anything to do with Boutte. I don't think they thought Boutte was even going to be on the roster last year. Williams a good prospect in the round at a position of need. They needed WR help no matter what.

 

[n1997y]

I've been doing some research on Amari Gainer because he's stood out to me the last couple of games and it's quite interesting.

Thanks for that. I’ve noticed him a couple of times, hadn’t yet looked into his background. Appreciate the info you found and shared.

He spent 4 years at Florida State and two years at UNC (at the same time as Maye).

Interestingly he was largely an off ball linebacker there, predominently playing WILL but also MIKE on Occasion. In his last year at FSU, he had almost 3 times as many snaps as a linebacker than he did an EDGE rusher. In his last year at UNC those numbers were reversed and he became much more of an edge rusher.

He had an outstanding forty at his pro day of 4.52. The rest of his numbers while not elite, are NFL worthy.


[RAS graphic redacted, looked okay]


He played LB for the Raiders in pre-season and did very well in '24 although not well enough to make the team aside from one game. It's interesting because during the draft, there was reports that we tried to trade up for Trey Moore from Texas who was a LB/EDGE hybrid so maybe Gainer is that guy.

As I’ve been looking at possible players to get in a swap for Boutte I started liking Logan Hall from the Texans, because he’s listed at edge and the Texans have some depth there and also because SI reports they’re also working him at LB. So I’m interested in in seeing if we might keep Gainer since we already have him in house and from his RAS he seems athletic enough. And he’s shown up making At least a few plays on the field.

I don't know if he'll make the final roster - he was playing with the threes after all, but I hope he's a PS keeper. Played very well yesterday.

Trey Moore was drafted by the ‘Phins in the fourth round, and Gainer was UDFA. If Moore doesn’t make Miami’s 53 would he be an upgrade? And I didn’t realize Hall was drafted in 2022, in the second round, so he’s made it to his second contract, a two year deal. Maybe a straight up swap for Boutte would be fair value for value, or I might even throw in a sixth round sweetener at this point. Edge and LB are both positions we need to strengthen so I’d be happy to see aggressive action plus Gainer emerging as a possible contributor there.

 

[Wozzy]

I gotta say it is time to do away with the preseason. The product is just unwatchable except for the hardcore fans who want to watch players who will probably rarely if ever make the field even if they make the roster to see who might get cut or break out.

I disagree, there's still utility for young players to dress and prepare for real game-like conditions. It's also still a showcase for borderline players to earn roster spots, if not on their current team, for other teams thin at those positions.

Besides, greedy owners will take preseason away while adding more games to the regular season. Unless they're increasing the size of rosters, this is approaching dangerous territory for the players. Owners will strangle the golden goose if the players union and fans don't hold them in check.

You don't want game one to be your rookies first pro experience in the stadium in front of a crowd. Game simulations are helpful.

 

[mgteich]

Here we go round the mulberry again…

6 WR

Brown
Doubs
Douglas
Boutte
Hollins
Williams
Chism

But that’s 7, so who’s out?

Boutte will likely be traded before the trade deadline, probably in the couple of days after the cut to 53.

We will continue to debate how much to accept for Boutte and how much value he adds to the 6 WR's listed above.

 

[manxman2601]

Thanks for that. I’ve noticed him a couple of times, hadn’t yet looked into his background. Appreciate the info you found and shared.


As I’ve been looking at possible players to get in a swap for Boutte I started liking Logan Hall from the Texans, because he’s listed at edge and the Texans have some depth there and also because SI reports they’re also working him at LB. So I’m interested in in seeing if we might keep Gainer since we already have him in house and from his RAS he seems athletic enough. And he’s shown up making At least a few plays on the field.

Trey Moore was drafted by the ‘Phins in the fourth round, and Gainer was UDFA. If Moore doesn’t make Miami’s 53 would he be an upgrade? And I didn’t realize Hall was drafted in 2022, in the second round, so he’s made it to his second contract, a two year deal. Maybe a straight up swap for Boutte would be fair value for value, or I might even throw in a sixth round sweetener at this point. Edge and LB are both positions we need to strengthen so I’d be happy to see aggressive action plus Gainer emerging as a possible contributor there.

Moore looked to have a serious ankle injury yesterday sadly and has apparently been doing well in pre-season up to that point.

 

[n1997y]

…
What they really should do at this point is make those joint practices primetime televised events. You can have Zo and the McCourty's do play by play and color commentary too. It can't be any less watchable than the product that we saw last night even with the second half production of Morton and the offense after most people turned off the game.

OMG please just NO! Maybe get rid of Zo, put Hoyer in his place.

But I really want to see the games play out with the back of the roster guys fighting for their professional lives.

The very argument you make in favor of joint practices over games is to me an argument against that. The controlled scripted nature of practices means there’s not the chance for guys to rise to the occasion when the unexpected happens. We’d never get to see Morton punting, for example. Or Amari Gainer Quintayvious Hutchins forcing a game clinching fumble. And Kyle Williams taking a 68 yard TD to the house would not stand out, it would be lost in the dozen or so similar plays made by AJ and Doubs and Boutte et al. Look back at the joint practices and could how many such plays were reported. They are different kinds of sessions, and the gameplay is still needed. Plus it gets the coaching staff a chance to practice game situations, challenges, substitutions, decisions under real time pressure not simulated.

Preseason games provide situational elements that joint practices do not. They give players on the roster bubble a chance to show how they respond to live game anction. Eliminating them would detract from the overall quality of the NFL season.

EDIT TO CORRECT ABOVE

 

[mgteich]

Kinda. Interior OL depth was a concern but they signed Van Roten to fix that, but since he didn’t see the field, and Ben Brown is also still out, the “fix” was not apparent. So while the “2s” were out there to start the game against Philly’s second string, in reality they were playing something like their 5th and 6th best guards. In all likelihood none of the guys who played guard in this game will make the team.

Conversely, OT should be deep but one of the top backups Marcus Bryant got injured in the game and we don’t yet know the severity. So, there might be a slight issue there, although Crownover looked decent in relief and Lomu is likely the top backup OT on both sides so not an immediate issue if Bryant has to miss some time.

At center specifically, I want to say Rizy played almost the entire game and he seemed fine once again. No big issues that I saw. Probably a keeper on the PS, might be good if he can flex to a guard spot.

Now that we replaced Wallace/Rupcich with Van Roten, the backups should be much improved. If Rizy is the replacement for Brown for a few weeks, he may need to be on the 53.

It good to hear the Crownover was "OK". That is a major achievement for him. We should be OK with him as the #4 OT, at least until Bryant is back.

 

[n1997y]

Boutte will likely be traded before the trade deadline, probably in the couple of days after the cut to 53.

Possibly before? I’d think the Pats would like the trade to happen before, so they don’t have to cut a player they’d rather keep. And if it’s a swap for a player that they want on the roster they don’t risk that player ending up elsewhere.

We will continue to debate how much to accept for Boutte and how much value he adds to the 6 WR's listed above.

Of course we will. Quite likely even after he’s traded or not traded.

 

[jdlboot14]

Our OL depth dropping like flies - Hudson is terrible, no matter what people say on paper.
We're counting on Van Roten, Rizy, Butler as our backup IOL going into the season? Not good.

DL depth is bad too. Taylor & Farmer have not been good. Iton & Pharms had some good moments last year, but didn't seem to know what to do last night.

I'd take Saunders over M. Brown. Last CB spot will be a battle - but Prunty wins it based on ceiling potential.