Official Post Game Thread - Patriots Beat The Lions

[RobertWeathers]

I thought Williams was projected to be Brandon Browner 2.0 and what Eric Rowe was supposed to be. That is:

- A tall, physical outside corner who matches up well against tall, physical WRs but who will need safety support over the top for when the WR eventually gets by him (which if he’s peak Browner good, won’t be too often), and who provides solid support on outside runs

- A guy who can line up against the TEs of the world who are just glorified big slot WRs and can be physical and not get beaten by them since they’re slower. Would cover Kelce and free up DMac to exploit his versatility. Would also be solid in run support against these types of TEs, maybe not so much against blocking guys.

If he develops he can be a very solid contributor in that role, but we shouldn’t be thinking lockdown CB as a ceiling with him. Last night it appeared to me they just generally played him as a vanilla outside CB with little safety support, and given that’s not his strength I’m not surprised he just looked Meh out there.

Could be. He's a matchup piece. In the first 1/2 I really liked his tackling in run support

 

[BTTA]

4) Interesting that Damien Harris didn't get into the game at all. Is he hurt?

Strange Damian Harris didn't play at all. Its possible they wanted to see Bolden run, catch and block to see if he can still handle that in emergency situations...in our offense...check. IMO they wanted to see this to help decide if they want to trade Burkhead or not.

Yes, out injured. Thumb, I think.

 

[RobertWeathers]

Strange Damian Harris didn't play at all. Its possible they wanted to see Bolden run and catch to see if he can still handle that in emergency situations...in our offense...check. IMO they wanted to see this to help decide if they want to trade Burkhead or not.

That was the most curious personnel decision of the night by far. They couldn't give him a few touches?

I've also noticed in practices they haven't run him in short yardage sets. It's been White.

He's either way behind or they know what they have and will unleash the Kraken in due time.

I say the latter

 

[Zuma]

That was the most curious personnel decision of the night by far. They couldn't give him a few touches?

I've also noticed in practices they haven't run him in short yardage sets. It's been White.

He's either way behind or they know what they have and will unleash the Kraken in due time.

I say the latter

He has deffo been held back carrying the rock in camp like you said.

 

[Nehalem]

Reminds me of the first preseason game of the 2011 season when the D suddenly felt much faster and more aggressive than the the year before. There were several posts about it.

I think this is a better D, though. Especially if Andre Carter doesn’t get hurt again.

I hope its a better D.

2011 featured one of the worst pass defenses in NFL history

 

[Family]

Strange Damian Harris didn't play at all. Its possible they wanted to see Bolden run, catch and block to see if he can still handle that in emergency situations...in our offense...check. IMO they wanted to see this to help decide if they want to trade Burkhead or not.

That was the most curious personnel decision of the night by far. They couldn't give him a few touches?

I've also noticed in practices they haven't run him in short yardage sets. It's been White.

He's either way behind or they know what they have and will unleash the Kraken in due time.

I say the latter

It says to me that they will sit Sony next game and Harris will play with the starters.

 

[SBLIII]

I see a lot of issues, not thrilled. Not sure what you guys were watching.

—Running game was anemic. Teams will pin their ears back and kill Brady. OL not getting it done.

—Williams and Dawson trending seriously downward.

—Harry & LaCosse already banged up. Anybody else? Gonna be one of those years looks like.

—Harris had more drops than catches, or close to. His early flashes in camp are a distant memory.

—Stidham’s release time is atrocious. Actual NFL teams won’t let him camp out forever.

—Gostkowski missed a kick. Of course. Because that’s what he does.

And so on. Not to mention the meaningless final score might actually convince these guys they’re good so they won’t take coaching well. Could be it’s actually downhill from here. Look for Belichick to make a move to shake things up.

Is this supposed to. be sarcasm?

 

[SBLIII]

Good start. Always fun to see a dominating performance, even if it was against scrubs playing vanilla schemes. If nothing else, it's nice to know that our depth and competition for the bottom of the roster is better than the Lions'

My random thoughts:

1) If you include the nickel CB, there are 12 "starters" on defense. Going by projections, only 2 of those actually played tonight (Collins and Bentley). So yeah, we were facing Lions backups, but we have 10 better defenders we could throw out there when the competition ramps up. Hard not to love that!

2) Winovich looked good to me, not because of the results per se, but just his energy. He looks like he has controlled aggression, and enjoys playing the game. He may not break into the regular defense a ton this year if we stay healthy, but he was on a few ST units in the first half, so he'll have a chance to stay involved while waiting for his shots.

3) I'm encouraged by the WR's, but as with every preseason, I need to see how they look with Brady before I get excited. Their chemistry with him and how much he trusts them is the only thing that matters. Also, Berrios had a good game, but it's not enough yet for me to have him on the 53. My 5 (not including Slater) are Edelman, Harry, Meyers, Dorsett, Harris. But again, nothing will really take shape until Brady takes the field.

4) Interesting that Damien Harris didn't get into the game at all. Is he hurt?

The most encouraging news were that Rivers and Winovich can get after the QB. I definitely see at least 1 of those guys breaking into the regular defense. We still need more pass rush and if those players provide it, they will play a ton.

 

[SBLIII]

Need to see Brady play with them the next 2 weeks, and make sure there are no injury concerns, but I think a vet could go.

who do you want to trade? I really don't think you are getting more than a conditional 7th rounder for anybody that you would want to trade.

 

[SBLIII]

Wow. Other than a cringeworthy opening song to open the broadcast, we looked damn good. I can’t think of anyone who played badly. Both Hoyer and Stidham looked sharp. Tough decision if we can only keep one. Young receivers looked good too, as did the linebackers. Great start to the year!

How is that a tough decision?

 

[Nunchucks]

Wow, I have a lot of different thoughts about players than folks in this thread.

Stidhum (sp, gonna need to learn how to spell his name) looked friggin amazing. I thought he had a really quick release when he decided to throw the ball and he was very accurate. He did hold the ball a little long, but he is a rookie, so I don't know what people expect from him.

Hoyer looked as good as I've ever seen him. The question is whether Stidhum can do enough to make the Patriots comfortable cutting Hoyer in order to keep another player on the roster. In that context, it looks like that may be the case.

The backup offensive line did a really nice job overall. Kept the pocket clean for the most part and did enough in the running game to keep the defense honest.

Defensive line was great, 6 sacks in the first half! Dan Savage is a journeyman QB who has shown enough to be a borderline starter...so, great job!

The secondary was lights out. Sure, you can point to Dawson giving up a catch here or there, but you have to be realistic about these things. he played well enough. Williams also played well. He had that dumb penalty, but again, this is his first game. This will be a tough decision for that last CB spot.

LBs were fantastic...

WRs all played well, those balls that Harris dropped, were difficult catches, but yes, I agree he should have caught them. I suspect that Berrios and Myers make the team. That may leave Hoyer or Harris off the roster.

I haven't seen the Patriots play this well in a preseason game in forever. Lets hope they can carry this over against a much better defensive team in the Titans. Good stuff, really enjoyed myself last night.

 

[SBLIII]

They looked good but I wouldn't get too hyped ...
The Lions are missing many players on the DL ...
But I was pleased with what we have so far ...

agreed. Some positives certainly but a ton of question marks remain.

 

[RobertWeathers]

It says to me that they will sit Sony next game and Harris will play with the starters.

Yea they'll give Sony some game 3 touches and then hit the showers.

 

[aluminum seats]

You're kidding, right? It was Brandon Bolden and <<insert first name I can't remember>> Brosette running behind the BACKUP offensive line. Were you expecting total ground domination?



Dawson agreed, he did himself no favors. But how can a rookie playing his first preseason game trend in ANY direction, when he has no history to trend FROM?



Don't love this either, agreed. Both are important pieces to uncertain groups.



Harris is what he is at this point, and could contribute as depth. But I wouldn't call those drops either. Gotta fight through the contact, but both times he had an arm being interfered with, more so than the call that the Lions tried to challenge.



He's a 4th round rookie playing his first game, and we're not depending on him this year in any capacity. I agree we shouldn't start crafting his Canton bust, but this shouldn't be seen as a concern at this point.



If this is satire, I missed it. But I highly doubt that Belichick needs to "shake things up" to find enough coaching points to keep these guys humbled.

You know, it's funny. Tapped that out on the train as just kind of an exercise...how negative can you be after a great showing? It's interesting, when you actually express opinions, then you almost feel obligated to back them up (I mean, individually there's probably something to discuss in most of them, but overall of course it's absurd). I can see how the idiot talking heads start to believe their BS. Probably true in political punditry too.

But yeah, basically I was trolling. (Edit: On the other hand, maybe it's good to look at areas that need work...)

 

[PatsWSB47]

I see a lot of issues, not thrilled. Not sure what you guys were watching.

—Running game was anemic. Teams will pin their ears back and kill Brady. OL not getting it done.

—Williams and Dawson trending seriously downward.

—Harry & LaCosse already banged up. Anybody else? Gonna be one of those years looks like.

—Harris had more drops than catches, or close to. His early flashes in camp are a distant memory.

—Stidham’s release time is atrocious. Actual NFL teams won’t let him camp out forever.

—Gostkowski missed a kick. Of course. Because that’s what he does.

And so on. Not to mention the meaningless final score might actually convince these guys they’re good so they won’t take coaching well. Could be it’s actually downhill from here. Look for Belichick to make a move to shake things up.

........Gotta love these season defining conclusions based on what happened in the first preseason game of the year.

 

[WaterfallJumper]

Timnog does a fantastic job every year. Check out these clips:

 

[farn]

Look for Belichick to make a move to shake things up.

The defending SB champs slaughtered an NFL team 31-3 in the first preseason game. I must have missed something.

 

[PatsWSB47]

I'm pretty sure Tom's is as motivated as he's ever been after watching his backups performance tonight

 

[patsinthesnow]

Ben Watson looked pretty quick on his one catch. TE may be fine...in week 5.

 

[slam]

I honestly would like to see 2 or 3 “trade up a round or two” trades of guys who won’t make the roster. We have so many picks next year it’d be nice to consolidate rather than accumulate. Dawson or Crossen, Dorsett if we truly like all the kids, Roberts if he’s odd man out at LB. Even Ryan Allen. Whoever gets you the upgrade from the 7th to the 6th or 7th.