Re: Not sure what to make of this team.....
1. Brady looks great on the short and intermediate passes. He's scary accurate right now and looks to be his old self against the blitz again. On the deep passes, however, Brady shouldn't hesitate to try to measure the throw. I feel that, when he does this, it usually gets underthrown/intercepted or overthrown. He needs to have more trust in his arm and just uncork the ball the first second he sees daylight.
2. Our slew of running backs will only go as far as the blocking in front of them dictates. Anybody that watched Fred Taylor last night should have seen the difference between preseason games one and two and last night. In the first two games, the O-Line was opening up lanes for Taylor to blow through. Once he gets to the second level, he is hard to bring down. But no RB is going to be able to get through a pair of defensive linemen and a couple of linebackers when they're already in the backfield as the back is receiving the handoff.
3. Really liking what our TE's are doing right now. However, they too are only going to as far as the blocking along the O-Line dictates. If health holds up and Brady is sufficiently protected by the starting five, then the TE's will be free to run routes. This will present serious match-up problems for the defense as Crumpler has shown us that he's an excellent blocker, but still has something left in the tank as a presence in the passing game. Gronk has also shown a great capability of threatening the seam and presenting match-up problems in the red zone based on his sheer size and athleticism alone. However, if the O-Line isn't holding up, those weapons will be about of the passing game as they stay back to block and help protect the franchise. This is why it's deadly important to get some cohesion along the line right now.
4. Our back-up offensive linemen have looked bad this offseason. And that's putting it gently.
5. Really liking our receiving corps. Moss is still a premier deep threat in the league. Tate is a burner who can stretch the field and run intermediate routes. He's also a very underrated blocker. Edelman and Welker should be monsters in the slot. Hernandez threatens the seam, over the middle, up top, and can also line up in the slot and on the LOS, presenting match-up problems for DB's with his size and strength and for LB's with his speed.
6. Defensive line is a question mark. Is Brace a one hit wonder? Probably not. If he gets healthy, he's a better option against both the run and the pass than Gerard Warren. Watching Warren over the preseason, he hardly, if ever, demands double teams. It's been alarmingly easy for the RT to move him in the running game and the only time I've honestly seen him become a presence in the passing game is when a blown assignment occurs along the opposing O-Line. Brace, on the other hand, showed that he's capable of demanding double teams while still holding his own. Wilfork is Wilfork. RDE is still going to be a question mark. On the other side, Wright is great against the pass but is a liability against the run. Whether Brace and Wilfork holding down two spots will be great but, unless something drastic and out of the ordinary happens with Deaderick, there's still going to be a question mark at RDE.
7. The linebackers have some growing up to do. Even Mayo and Spikes. Burgess is a better fit as a 4-3 DE for us than he is a 3-4 OLB. We don't know what we're going to get out of Cunningham yet, but reports out of TC have been mostly positive. TBC needs to limit the boneheaded mistakes.
8. As expected, we're going to see some serious growing pains with the cornerbacks this season. Meanwhile, I'm pretty high on the safety position. Chung and Meriweather can hit and both have pretty good noses for the ball.
Basically, in a nutshell, I'm expecting the offense to carry us through our fair share of games this season and praying for something to occur in the defense. Week 1 will be the first test. After that game, we're going to get a more clear picture of where the defense is really at.
