Exhibition Thoughts: Screw what Parcells thinks, put them in the Hall already Edition

Rob0729 · Aug 10, 2013

With the general acknowledgement of that this was just an exhibition game and a lot of what we say didn't really me a heck of a lot, here are my rapid overreactions:

My apologizes to LeGarrette Blount. When the Pats traded a 7th and Demps for him, I thought the Pats were giving up too much for him. I figured he was nothing more than camp fodder. Last night he looked more like the guy who got 1,000 yards and 6 TDs his rookie season than the mediocre RB that he was the last two years.
I was hesitant to believe the hype about Kenbrell Thompkins coming out of camp. Last night he played like a first round pick (at least a first round pick in his first preseason game) rather than an UDFA. His versatility showed quite a bit in his limited action.
I think the biggest concern right now is back up QB. As I said in the game thread, if that is our biggest concern, it is a good thing. That said, I don't think either Ryan Mallet or Tim Tebow are good back ups. I am not a Tebow hater, but I do think if he is on the 53 man roster it is a waste of a roster spot.
I loved the Tommy Kelly signing from the second they signed him. We saw a little of what I think we can be seeing this season from him. I think this team desperately needed a pass rush up the middle and Kelly provides it.
I watched Chandler Jones quite a bit and although he didn't show up in the stats column other than the strip of Foles (and for some reason Kelly actually got credit for it in the stats), he was pretty impressive last night. Part of his lack of production was he was going against left handed mobile QB for the first two series. But I saw him double and even triple teamed (once when he broke through the double team and picked up by the RB at the next level) and displayed several new pass rush moves. He seems to have some good luck with the push-pull move. Again although it didn't show in the stats last night, he is is going to have a monster year if he continues to play like he did last night especially when the Pats start scheming on defense.
Daniel Fells looks a heck of a lot better than last year. Yes, most of what he did was with the 2s, but he seems to be far more comfortable in the offense this year than last.
I am predicting Brandon Bolden will be a surprise (or not such a surprise depending who you talk to) cut. I just don't think he has done enough in my eyes between last year after one good game and last night or in training camp. I think the Pats will only carry 4 RBs (especially if they carry three QBs) because they are likely going to have to carry an extra WR or TE or one of each.
I am excited about the possibility of Shane Vereen being the Pats' version of Darren Sproles. He he might not end up equaling Sproles' production, but he and Brady do seem to have that end zone fade thing down pretty well.
Speaking of Tom Brady, I think based on what I saw and heard about in practice, I think he might be stepping up his game to compensate for the youth and inexperience with his receivers. I can't remember seeing Brady as up for and engaged in a preseason game especially the first game.
As long as he stays healthy, I think Danny Amendola will make people forget about Welker. I didn't see much of a drop of (if any) with him on the field for the limited time he was out there.

I stayed mostly on the positives. There was still much I missed in my comments, but I didn't to make this post go on for three pages and much was covered by others in other threads.

And of course, all this means pretty much nothing. It was one preseason game with the starters in for two series. But it was a nice start and sent the Chicken Little scurrying under their rock for at least another week.

jmt57 · Aug 10, 2013

Re: Exhibition Thoughts: Screw what Parcells thinks, put them in the Hall already Edi

I wouldn't go so far as to say that "the biggest concern right now is back up QB"; should I assume that you meant that is the biggest concern right now on offense?

Even if that is the case I would rank the depth on the offensive line as a bigger concern right now. Playing time lost due to injuries to players on the OL are far more common than to quarterbacks. Until Connolly's shoulder is healed to the point that he can play again, what has been a strength is now a weakness. With Connolly and Cannon both out Svitek is temporarily the starting RG. The second unit didn't look to impressive (though I admit I really need to re-watch the game before rushing to judgement).

At the moment our game-day swing tackle would be one of Markus Zusevics, RJ Mattes, Kevin Haslam or Brice Schwab, and one of Tyronne Green, Josh Kline, Luke patterson or Chris McDonald would be the first off the bench at guard; I'm not even sure if any of them can play center.

Granted, I fully expect that when the Pats play Buffalo 29 days from now Cannon and Connolly will be ready to go. And if this is the biggest concern that I can think of with this offense, then that is certainly a very good thing. When the only thing wrong with an offense is the backup depth then overall that has to be considered a positive.

andrewgarrr · Aug 10, 2013