PostGame Thread 2026 Official Postgame Thread: Patriots close out preseason w/37-13 loss to the Browns

[Clonamery]

Crazy that there are people here who have followed football closely for decades who think anything that happens in the preseason is embarrassing.

Embarrassing 'that there are people here who have followed football closely for decades who think anything that happens in the preseason is embarrassing.'

 

[EddardSnow67]

When Vrabel quips the Pats have no depth, last night was proof.

Certainly not disputing that. I'm more going in on the repeated inability of some people to resist the use of hyperbole. Almost as if they're playing a character or something.

But it's the Internet, so what can ya do?

 

[One-If-By-Sea]

When Vrabel quips the Pats have no depth, last night was proof.

The second half of the game was guys that will not be on any team after Sunday. Who cares?

There are 11 on offense and defense plus 3 on special teams which is 25. Vrabel when commenting on limited depth was talking about player number 26 to 46. None of those guys were on the field after the first quarter. Last night proved nothing related to depth on the 53.

 

[Hammer of Thor]

Well... I thought for sure we would beat the browns in the presseason...

Thats what I get for thinking.

Remember that the 0-16 Detroit Lions of 2008 went 4-0 in the preseason.

They’re not trying to win the games, although certainly they’re trying to see how players respond to game scores and situations themselves. They’re ultimately trying to evaluate players and to determine who, if any, can help the team when it does matter. Obviously a 37-13 score means many of those players didn’t respond positively….

There are certain players already identified in this thread who did appear to respond positively in the snaps they had. I was hoping to see more fight from many of the others, especially on defense, knowing their jobs are on the line. If that doesn’t motivate you, what else can? But there were too many poor angles, too much arm tackling and just poor tackling attempts in general. Having said that, if you’re playing a soft zone and the other defensive backs mess up their assignments, the results won’t look good for the guys that are playing their assignments properly too. So I’m sure some other players are getting swept up in the “bad” generalization that may not have been.

 

[n1997y]

Haskins on the 53, Larison to PS?

Or both to PS

 

[n1997y]

Charles Woods and Behren Morton played both their ways to our Practice Squad last night...maybe CFL when you really think about it.

NBD on either of those

 

[n1997y]

Morton needs to be on the PS at best. Not a good performance last night.

Doesn’t the emergency QB need to be rostered, not a PS elevation? Or am I misremembering that?

 

[n1997y]

I expect the initial cutdown will have some odd proportions. E.g. I haven’t seen anything to suggest that Dippre & Tanner will be snapped up elsewhere, so let’s say 2 TEs to make room for Crownover.

Dippre having that INT bounce off his shin while he blocked instead of looking for the ball was not a good look for him.

 

[n1997y]

Morton looked horrible as a snap-shot. But, look what he had to work with. No run game, all new guys at IOL. But, he could manage a game and dink & dunk an offense with a starting cast. I think they'd be safe stashing him on PS.

I believe that stashing Morton on the PS and activating him on game days would mean having one less player at another skill position active on game days, if I recall correctly how the emergency QB rule works.

 

[n1997y]

I'd be surprised if they already pegged Miller for RB3. He's not bad, but doesn't have the pop than Lan has. Miller is the safe choice, but not very exciting. And Lan is the better KR and receiving threat. We'll see.
I also like Haskins as a short yardage bull - he's far better than any of our backs inside.

Two RBs to the 53, the other three to the PS

 

[n1997y]

Best news of the night IMO if Crownover is turning the corner.

No knock on Campbell but Crownover has got more than 2 inches more reach than our starting LT

If Lomu isn't able to make the transition to RT it looks like Crownover has great potential and the fact that he can be depth at LT is gravy.

Don’t forget that Bryant has seemed to be our LT2 so far. And it’s not clear if Lomu has shown he can play LT as effectively as any of Campbell, Bryant, or Crownover but there have been some folks making noise about his potential there, at least when he was first drafted. If Lomu proves he can play LT, as the other three all have, we would have four serviceable LTs. That would make letting Lowe go less questionable.

 

[n1997y]

FWIW, I don’t see the emergency QB rule as a free roster spot. He can only enter if QB1& 2 are both unable to play due to injury or ejection and he isn’t allowed to play any other position, so there’s no real impact on the 45. I believe that the majority of teams carried only 2 QBs last season.

That’s one way to look at it, works if you only want to carry two QBs.

The other way to look at it is if you want to carry three QBs and can’t use the emergency QB roster exemption because one is a PS elevation it costs you another skill position player on the game day actives.

 

[n1997y]

I think they'll use him to take the Top Off the Defense like DeSean Jackson. I think that's KW's ceiling.

So, if taking the top off is his ceiling does that mean he has no ceiling?

Once the top is off where’s the ceiling? The roof? Does he take the roof off as well?

 

[n1997y]

If the staff thinks that happened, those players won’t make the team. And this is a year where I could see 5-10 spots changing before week one which effectively means they could cut much deeper than 53 and may need to. Depth at CB, LB, Edge is really bad.

i saw a post earlier saying they used junior coaches as OC and DC for this game. I think that plus the extremely simple game plan may account for the hot mess we saw. The offense was competitive for the first couple of possessions then they put the soon to be unemployed players in. The defense was playing soft zone all night, and if the junior DC didn’t give them a good plan for their responsibilities it would look like just what we saw, total confusion.

 

[n1997y]

I don't presume that we will carry 3 TE's, especially considering that we have a FB. We could keep three but it doesn't see necessary.

I do see the 4th safety (5th if you count Schooler) as completely open, even we even carry 4. We went through much of last year with Woodson, Hawkins and Pettus. My WAG is that Pettus will make the 53.

I don’t think he has outplayed Saunders so far this year. Reed is a lock after they traded Boutte for him, and I expect Saunders will make the 53 over Pettus.

 

[n1997y]

I would add Moses and Hudson.

From what I've read Hudson has looked like a solid backup at tackle, though he beyond sucks at guard.

The roster is thin. Bryant is hurt and Lomu/Crownover or for that matter Bryant might not be ready. I think they should stack at tackle, especially with the number of JAGS that will be on this roster.

Hudson has looked less bad at tackle might be a better way to say that. He was dogshit on the Giants last year so he has a track record.

 

[jdlboot14]

Two RBs to the 53, the other three to the PS

There's no way they only carry 2 RB's. There will be a 3rd - and he'll have to return kicks too. That's what makes me think it should be Larison. BUT, if the team only carries 3 RB's, and they value versatility (being able to cover some of what Rham + Hendo does) then it could very well be Miller.

 

[KCSVEN]

As far as I can tell, the only guys who played last night who have any chance of making the roster are below:

A few series:
- QB DeVito
- WR Williams
- WR Chism
- RB Larison
- TE Arkin
- S Pettus
- DT Taylor
- DT Farmer
- DE Jacas

More than a few series:
- QB Morton
- OT Lomu
- OT Crownover
- CB Vildor
- CB Woods
- CB Prunty
- DT Taylor
- DE Swinson
- LB Britt

None of that second group are likely to see the field at all even if they make the roster for more than limited snaps unless there are injuries.

Lomu was on the field for 10 plays total. I think he belongs in the other category.

 

[captain stone]

Jam Miller didn't play last night interesting.

Dude Sucks. I hope they didn't play him last night because they intend on keeping him .

 

[Football2007]

It' more than you think.

* RB Kenneth Walker III → Chiefs — the biggest loss.the
* S Coby Bryant → Bears — Super Bowl starter.
* EDGE Boye Mafe → Bengals — significant member of the defensive rotation.
* CB Riq Woolen → Eagles — major secondary contributor.
* WR/ST Dareke Young → Raiders — primarily a special-teams loss.
* WR Jake Bobo is still a Seahawk but is now out for the 2026 season with a knee injury.

They are still better than the Patriots. And with the game being in Seattle, it's looking like a loss. Spread will probably be similar to the SB.

After that: vs Steelers, @Jags, @Buffao.

It would be amazing to come out of that stretch at 2-2.