It all starts in the trenches

[cstjohn17]

As someone famously said....

I expected more out of both lines and agree with Reiss that Washington consistently pushed the line of scrimage. It is good that Wilfork is getting snaps but he looked very weak, I hope this is part of the progression.

Observation deck: espnBoston

"While the Patriots lost battles along the offensive line, they didn't win many defensively either. This carried over a theme from joint practices earlier in the week. The Patriots, as previously noted, lost along the line of scrimmage throughout the week in one-on-one situations."​

Extra points from New England Patriots - Washington practice - espnBoston

"Line of scrimmage: When the teams worked on pass-rush drills the first two days, my subjective charting had Washington with the edge on both lines. There has been a lot of positive buzz about the Patriots in this setting, and the team has practiced well overall, but the line of scrimmage is one area that perhaps has been a bit overlooked. Still anxious to see more and how all the pieces fit as the competition at center and right guard evolves, and if the Patriots can generate a bit more pass rush than we have seen here"​

 

[BTTA]

I was at the game, and had a birds-eye view of Wilfork, Kelly, Chandler Jones, Nink, Mayo, Hightower, and Collins, as they STOOD AROUND WATCHING THE GAME, tossing footballs back and forth. Joined by Chris Jones in the second quarter.

I couldn't find Easley and Siliga for some reason. Oh, right, they weren't there.

So we played our 6th and 7th string DT's, and 4th and 5th DE's, and LB's most of whom won't even make the practice squad.

Not overly worried about the D.

 

[PatFanCraig]

But the OLine struggled badly. Especially Solder who has looked bad all preseason. If he has a bad year the OLine and team will struggle. I don't think they can make or win the Superbowl if Solder doesn't play very well. But he seems to struggle every preseason but gets better by early/mid season sometimes playing as good as any LT. But this preseason has been his worst. Fleming looked really good at least. He is big/powerful/rather quick especially for a guard. I think he can be a standout or at leadt a very good RG a lot like Carl Nicks/Osemele.

On DLine Wilfork coming off Achilles at his age is causes questions about him playing at a high level. Same with Kelly and Beasley. Although Easley is young there's questions if he can get all his explosion/ agility back and avoid injury.

 

[supafly]

Reiss' comments seem to be a bit of a 180 from the earliest day (Monday?) of joint practices last week when the Pats defense was pressuring RGIII, knocking him off his spot, and really dominating the LOS.

So, that's a clear and decisive victory for the Pats on Monday + Wednesday was nothing but a walk through. That only really leaves Tuesday to be a continuation of a poor week of practices, which would seem kind of an odd comment.

Note: If he's specifically talking about one-on-one matchups, then maybe that explains it, but I'd hardly concern myself if that is the case.

 

[supafly]

As stated in another thread, I believe that getting Easley back will be a very good thing, even with an expected steep learning curve. Hopefully, the sheer talent and quickness is there to allow him to be right in the mix of things relatively early. If anything, his versatility may allow us some different looks, which is obviously key as well.

We'll also have a clearer picture of the injuries to Jones and Siligia, and I'd have to imagine that Belichick will be making an addition or two within the next 3 weeks for final cutdowns. It may not be much to get overly excited about, but you never know when you'll find the next bigger body with some upside.

In the meantime, Wilfork and Kelly should be able to anchor down the DT spots. Let's just hope for some good luck with the injury front there, along with some improvement from our backup DEs as well.

 

[Huckleberry1]

Brown paper bag, deep breaths. Even with Wendell and Connolly starting and Vollmer gone they ended up with a top 3 scoring offense, and this a better team all the way around. Vollmer is back and Wendell is buried on the depth chart, all is not lost.