Wozzy's 2024 preseason Game 1 review:
“You're never as good as everyone tells you when you win, and you're never as bad as they say when you lose.” ? Lou Holtz
I posted this quote for perspective. The Pats looked pretty good last night, the Panthers are the absolute worst team in the league... 32nd worst. Keep that in mind, there's a lot of room for improvement.
When the game started it was raining, it slowly dissipated as the game went on. Brissett and first team dealt with the downpour more than the rest, but everybody had to deal with a wet ball. I thought that hampered a lot of passing and running. But let's go through the game...
First team defense, first play of the game after the Panthers receive the kickoff... Panthers test our CB2 and Marco Wilson with blanket coverage smothers it. He's your CB opposite Gonzo and should be... we might have two CB1's. Jon Jones should play at free safety so they can get their best players on the field. Jaylinn Hawkins was out there with Duggar to start the game, he is pretty versatile and finds himself around the ball a lot. Ekuale and Keion were the DT's on third down in the first series, Ekuale made some plays later in the game versus the scrubs but he is a dud against the starters. Wise shows why he is still a factor bringing heat off the edge. All in all the defense is still good. Three and out to start the game for our D.
First offensive series for the Pats and Brissett is too amped for his own good. Wilcox is running across the middle and Jacoby throws it too high. Wilcox has had the worst hands on the entire team all camp, Brissett is going him no favors. Next play Tyquan Thornton smokes the outside CB and if Brissett throws it and makes him chase it we're looking at a sure TD... big explosive play. Instead Brissett underthrows it terribly. Jacoby said in his in game interview he was a little to excited on the first drive and it showed. The Blocking was reasonable, Rhamondre ripped an 11 yard run off on the first play over the right side.
Pat's D does their job again on the Panthers next series with a 3 and out.
Second offensive series, Drake Maye's debut. One yard off tackle run by Gibson gets stuffed. Maye has issues getting them set up and Okorafor jumps for a false start. It looks disjointed, he's not starting because of what happens pre-snap, not post snap. Next run by Gibson gets stuffed, the Panthers starting DT's look stout against the run. Next play was a 13 yard gain on a middle screen to Gibson, it should have been negated since Vederian Lowe jumped the snap. A great open field block by Sow and Andrews was downfield, great execution. Next play Maye sails a throw over Reagor's head, it's raining kid and you had two outlet guys open underneath... take the single there on first down. Another run stuff... this zone blocking is going to be project. Maye makes the smart play another dump off to Kevin Harris who rumbles 6 yards but not enough for the first down. If Maye took the easy pass earlier instead of the risky pass to Reagor this drive is still going... lesson learned hopefully.
Pat's D does their job again on the Panthers next series with another 3 and out. That's the third straight 3 and out for our D to start the game.
Third series for the Pat's offense, Zappe in the game. Crowd is restless and wants to see more Drake Maye so they boo. Keep it classy New England... you'll see a lot more Maye next week against the Eagles and you'd better hope the offensive tackles play better. By the way... cut Vederian Lowe yesterday, the guy stinks to high heaven. Zappe played pretty good this game, they should really let him go somewhere for a fresh start. Pettway and Wilcox each with a penalty on this 7 play drive puts them behind the 8 ball then Zappe draw the intentional grounding on a play where Reagor fell down. I wouldn't say Reagor had a great game.
4th series for our defense, first play and Oshane Ximines gets washed out and gives up contain for an 11 yard run. Armon Watts doesn't have the juice to catch up with the RB, but Schooler catches up and knocks him out of bounds saving what could have been a much longer run. In short, all three defenders could have done a better job in contain, Ximines made some pressures later in the game but if he can't hold up in contain against the run he won't make this team. We already have one situational pass rusher in Uche and he plays better in contain. Mayo was explaining to Ximines what he did wrong and coach Judon came over for the assist to give the kid a tutorial. Mayo either appreciated the help or didn't, he was stone faced. Regarding Judon... pay that man. 4 and out for the defense.
Fourth series Pat's offense, Anderson/Wallace at OT, Jordan/Robinson at OG and Leverett at center. Harris starts with a nice 6 yard run, then a short gain of 3 on back to back runs. Third and 2 Zappe improvises a nice shovel pass to Boutte for a 9 yard gain, heads up play. Harris rips off another five yard run. Second down Baker runs a ten yard dig inside and rounds off his route which one of the McCourty's point out in-game. Third down Baker is covered but Zappe throws the outside back shoulder where only his receiver Baker can get it but the rookie runs into coverage and doesn't see it. Back to back mistakes by Baker ends the drive. He's still a rookie, looking great in one on ones is nice but knowing what to do in a game is better.
Another three and out by our defense. Our backups are superior to their offensive backups by far, and our cornerbacks might be the deepest position on the team. Marcus Dial put a lot of good football on tape yesterday. Wade, Austin and Victor showed why the very end of the CB depth chart is stacked. Our run defense is a wall, even with the backups. It's more than just talent against the run, they're disciplined... they still look like a BB defense.
Fifth series Pat's offense after a great punt return by David Wallis, who was very solid in punt return all game and made smart decisions. After two short pass attempts and a drop by Wilcox, Zappe throws high and Boutte climbs to grab for a great catch for a 28 yard gain. Two power run attempts and Harris muscles his way inside for a TD.
The Panther engineer the longest drive of the game so far for a six play drive. Giles Harris gets put in a blender on a screen to give up a ten yard first down play. Dell Pettus blows his coverage gives up a big 28 yard gain on a pass to sustain a drive. Pats D apply some pressure and force an intentional grounding then a sack. Roberts and Hill do a great job at DT pushing the pocket and Ximines cleans up for the sack. Punt.
Sixth series for Pat's offense was a three and out. A no gain run up the middle, Zappe pass to Polk for 5. Zape throws a good ball low where only Wilcox can catch it for 9 yards and a third down conversion but Wilcox dropped it after review. His hands suck. Punt. Baringer still looks like an All Pro punter.
Next series for Panther offense goes 5 plays for a punt. Ellis is a really explosive weakside LB for us, Mapu and TakiTaki haven't practiced and might start the season on PUP or IR for all we know. Having Ellis is good depth and it might also mean they keep another SS since there's not much else there. Giles Harris had a good blocked pass though that he might have been able to pick off. Mike Purcell is fat and slow.
Pats engineer a five play drive, Boutte continues to look impressive as a possession receiver. Gets open, makes catch, gets yards after the catch. We have a lot of these guys it seems. Zappe gets sacked on a third and one pass attempt on a jail break by the defense, our line gets overwhelmed easily because the defense knows there's no time on the clock. They enter the half after a two play attempt by Carolina.
HALFTIME
After the half the Pats get the ball, Zappe is still in there. Start with a 17 yard pass play to Baker that gets called back for offsetting penalties. First and ten again and Hasty gets dropped for negative 4 yards, the blocking is breaking down now. The line makes up for it on a Hasty 12 yard run to get within 3rd and 2. A deep pass to Boutte doesn't connect, again why not get the first down there via run or dump off? Maybe they're working on weaknesses rather than trying to win this meaningless game.
Panther put together another 5 play drive, entire defense bite on play action for a ten yard pass play. Plummer gets sacked by the whole defensive front, Pharms gets credit I think. Punt.
Second drive for the Pat's offense after the half, Zappe is still in there. They put together a six play drive, undone by some bad blocking and a delay of game penalty by Zappe. Pretty sloppy series...
Another 3 and out for Pat's D...
Third drive for the Pat's O and Milton is at QB. Puts together an 11 play drive that was almost entirely runs. Milton had a 12 yard scramble as well. Milton was incomplete on his last two passes and Slye hits a 42 yard field goal.
Another 3 and out for Pat's D...
Second drive for Milton and he and the offense have a very good series. Starts with a good run for Jennings but Mafi had hands to the face so it comes back. 1st and 15 and Milton rips off a 13 yard run on a wicked pump fake that froze defenders. Jennings gets first down on a 2 yard push. Milton pushes it downfield for Jaque Jackson and the defender draws a flag. Jennings rips off a 20 yard run, Zuri Henry and Mafi destroy the interior DT's while Jaheim Bell seals off the outside defender... great blocking leads to great runs.
The great blocking continues on the very next play as pass blockers hold up well so Milton can throw a 38 yard TD pass to a wide open Jackson. He had all day to throw it. Being the end of the game and it was clearly the bottom of Carolina's roster, but the final offensive line for us was pretty good. Deisch/Zuri Henry at OT, Mafi/Robinson at OG and Charles Turner at center. These guys hopefully will move up the depth chart as we have some questionable contributors at the top who could be improved upon.
In summation: an impressive showing but against a terrible team... all things in perspective.
Offensively V.Lowe and Wilcox should be cut today as far as I'm concerned... they're terrible. Robinson, Calvin Anderson, Zuri Henry and Deisch are our best hope at good OT play, said this before a preseason snap and it still holds. Harris was solid at RB, he's clearly #3 on the chart. Mafi, Robinson and Turner did well against the backend of that roster. Michael Jordan is a jag.
Defensively Trysten Hill really stood out to me, pushing the pocket, a hustle play tracking down a RB on a play action ten yards downfield, applying pressure and run force. I know they like Eukule and he's a nice guy and all but he's limited and getting long of tooth. Sam Roberts also looked good in the audition for Barmore's fill-in. I didn't notice or see Bronson at all. The linebackers and SS's are active and get on ball carriers quickly. Christian Elliss played a good game and deserves some snaps with Taki and Mapu out. He's an explosive WLB. Like I said earlier our CB's are really deep, Marco Wilson sits at the top next to Gonzo and Jon Jones... but they run deep there.
The upcoming preseason game against Philly should post a much bigger challenge.
