9/13 Practice: Hightower, Amendola absent

[luuked]

If you recall, Brady's security blanket late in that game was Austin Collie.

I dont think you know what the word security blanket means.

 

[maineman209]

Not exactly reassuring.

Maybe so. But maybe also better than nothing. We'll see how that goes and hope to be pleasantly surprised.

"You work with the players you have who are healthy," is part of BB's mantra. And not even BB can always pull an Edelman out of his sleeve right away every time he needs one.

 

[Simpelton]

So looks like it's gonna be Hogan, Cooks, Dorsett, SLATER and no 5th wr for the foreseeable future. No one in that group is a third down security blanket for Brady....I remember one year the Pats were so banged up at receiver they had to sign and activate the corpse of Henry Ellard...I'm afraid this season is headed that way

May see the team line James White in the slot to flesh out that receiver Corps and use Burkhead as the third down back. Pulling from our deep receiving back pool to cover our suddenly vulnerable receiver depth seems like the way to go.

 

[Ras-IR Dowling]

See SB 49

Thomas and chancellor. I put berry in the conversation with those guys. And matchup wise berry matches up much better against Gronk than both those guys. He's bigger than Thomas and faster than chancellor. Plus Thomas wasn't 100% in that game.

 

[mgteich]

May see the team line James White in the slot to flesh out that receiver Corps and use Burkhead as the third down back. Pulling from our deep receiving back pool to cover our suddenly vulnerable receiver depth seems like the way to go.

White may be our best option as WR3 in a 3 WR set. Other options are Burkhead, Lewis and Dorsett.

 

[FCB02062]

And? MGH doctors aren't magic paragons of virtue. The doctor was assigned to NE by the NFL.

Yes, he is also likely a NYG season ticket holder from Manhattan....

 

[FCB02062]

It looks like the team runs the after-the-game-is-over concussion protocol except that the "independent" neurologist has to sign off on the player before he can play in games.

So if Amendola isn't practicing, that's because the team has decided he's not at a stage where he can practice yet. Any "fix" wouldn't come into play until the final step -- when the "independent" neurologist has to clear the player to return to games.

I, for one, don't trust the "independent" neurologists. Nothing that the NFL's hand touches can be assumed to be clean, fair, unrigged, or on the up-and-up.

According to MMQB and SI, before the player can RETURN to practices or games he must be evaluated and cleared by BOTH the team doctor and the "independent" doctor during the week....there must be consensus. People are crazy if they think for ONE second that this "independent" doctor would never, ever, get direction from Goodell, Maras, Rooneys, or anyone else from the NFL establishment. The Patriots "independent" doctor is about as "independent" as Ted Wells...

 

[captain stone]

Can't be any worse than the WR lineup for 2013 haha.

2013 New England Patriots Roster | The Football Database

Yeah…that was pretty bad.

And the TE position, after Gronk was IRed vs Cleveland & TJ Ward, was a Marianas Trench of Suck.

 

[captain stone]

The Patriots "independent" neurologist is a neurosurgeon from Mass. General.

Tommy Gill was from MGH too.

 

[Mack Herron]

Tommy Gill was from MGH too.

I think of him every time Gronk straps on that mechanical arm.

 

[Vindicate]

Actually, that will depend on your personal perspective as to which WR positions can be considered to be more important to the team. For instance, Julian Edelman still played in all 16 regular season games and ended up catching 105 balls. Danny Amendola played in 12 regular season games and caught 54 balls.

The weak parts of the WR corps were Aaron Dobson and Kenbrell Thompkins, so our vertical game (not that there was really one post-2010 Moss) was weakened, but the Tom Brady security blankets and quick timing routes were most definitely still there.

Good point on that one, you're very right. Let's hope with Cooks we try to line him up in those security routes and it works. Is his speed strictly vertical or does he have a pretty good bolt off a cut?

 

[Vindicate]

2013 New England Patriots Roster | The Football Database

Yeah…that was pretty bad.

And the TE position, after Gronk was IRed vs Cleveland & TJ Ward, was a Marianas Trench of Suck.

@supafly made a good point though - we had Edleman for all 16 regular season games and he had a very productive year. What sucked was our vertical game. So what's different now is we lack the security blankets for Brady and he's either going to have to adapt or we might see Cooks lining up differently and adapting. I would say the RBs could take some of those middle spots but at the same time, it takes a little longer for those routes to develop out of the backfield.

Hopefully our O Line can pick up the slack when it comes to creating lanes. If there's a surplus of talent on this offense, it's at RB.

 

[NG Pats Fan]

Good point on that one, you're very right. Let's hope with Cooks we try to line him up in those security routes and it works. Is his speed strictly vertical or does he have a pretty good bolt off a cut?

Cooks 20 yard shuttle time 3.81 is the fifth fastest in combine history

 

[Vindicate]

Cooks 20 yard shuttle time 3.81 is the fifth fastest in combine history

So at this point it's just getting used to having that ball already is his face as he comes of the cut. "Chemistry"

 

[Mack Herron]

Amendola
Hightower
Slater
Ebner
Valentine
++