PostGame Thread OFFICIAL POSTGAME THREAD: 2025 Preseason Game 1: Patriots Blow Out Commanders 48-18

[DaBruinz]

I'm not sure any team would trade even a 7th for Polk. He just doesn't look like an NFL athlete, he's a smaller N'Keal.

N'Keal Harry was 6'4 and 225

Polk is 6'1 and 203. So yea.. He's smaller.. Plenty of 6'1 and shorter receivers with good to great careers in the NFL.

 

[Real fan 02]

I think BB felt they were quicker to move more twitchy and he likes his d backs to be more solid tacklers and hand fighters punchy.

Aside from Plaxico being on an island with Hobbs, the short DBS did rack up a lot of wins.

Tyrone Poole is the only guy I can definitely say played well at 5'8 on the outside.. remember when we kept missing in the draft? and FA..at CB wilhite, Wheatley, butler, Arrington ( who got benched in the SB) common denominator why those guys struggled on the outside they were small and QBs took advantage.. the position didn't get settled until we got guys like Talib, revis, gilly.. Malcom was 5"11.. seemed like BB changed his mentality some once we solidified the position.

 

[captain stone]

Looked at that Maye Strip/Fumble again. It was bad all around.

We had 6 OL vs 4 rushers... Bradbury helps the right side so we have 2 on 4 there. Campbell lets himself get engaged on the chest and is trying to keep the inside move from happen while Wilson's guy separates and goes around Campbell. Wilson is looking to hand off it seems but he is a full yard ahead of Campbell who dropped back to absorb the pass rush.

Lots of things to look at. Bradbury should be aware and ready to peel off. I know it's not the scheme but in that situation where there is help and 2 other guys are isolated you need to keep your head up.

Campbell's short arms may be a long term problem here. He seems happy to put a guy on his chest and use his power. But then he is in no position to hand off.

Wilson needed to not let his guy go free. He allowed him to get to the outside practically uncontested and was stopped by the body of the other defender where him and Campbell were locked up. He looked lost on what to do. It was a tough situation but he needs to do something. Either fall back and try to loop underneath or be more aggressive when a defender backs off so he can' loop around freely.

And Maye makes a big mistake because of it.

All 4 of those guys could have played that better. It was no one players fault. So i don't think you just blame Campbell for it. But yeah, if he didn't let that guy get to his body maybe he could have done something. But it was the whole center/left side operation.

Personally i think this is something that needs to be talked about more. Campbell short arms will make stunts to the outside in particular a problem. They need to have a plan for this going forward, besides we hope they don't do it.

Edit: One thing i am very interested in hearing is the back up interior OL battle. Is Strange still the guy or did someone else show tonight? Robinson 1 or 2? Conley? Butler? (Sow didn't play)

Alec Lindstrom also played Center last night, as did Bradbury & Ben Brown (who also played LG). Don't know if Strange69 took even one snap there... Also don't know if Conley took any snaps at Guard, but he did take a bunch at Right Tackle and acquitted himself fairly well I thought vs the Commandos 3s...

 

[Huckleberry1]

Looked at that Maye Strip/Fumble again. It was bad all around.

We had 6 OL vs 4 rushers... Bradbury helps the right side so we have 2 on 4 there. Campbell lets himself get engaged on the chest and is trying to keep the inside move from happen while Wilson's guy separates and goes around Campbell. Wilson is looking to hand off it seems but he is a full yard ahead of Campbell who dropped back to absorb the pass rush.

Lots of things to look at. Bradbury should be aware and ready to peel off. I know it's not the scheme but in that situation where there is help and 2 other guys are isolated you need to keep your head up.

Campbell's short arms may be a long term problem here. He seems happy to put a guy on his chest and use his power. But then he is in no position to hand off.

Wilson needed to not let his guy go free. He allowed him to get to the outside practically uncontested and was stopped by the body of the other defender where him and Campbell were locked up. He looked lost on what to do. It was a tough situation but he needs to do something. Either fall back and try to loop underneath or be more aggressive when a defender backs off so he can' loop around freely.

And Maye makes a big mistake because of it.

All 4 of those guys could have played that better. It was no one players fault. So i don't think you just blame Campbell for it. But yeah, if he didn't let that guy get to his body maybe he could have done something. But it was the whole center/left side operation.

Personally i think this is something that needs to be talked about more. Campbell short arms will make stunts to the outside in particular a problem. They need to have a plan for this going forward, besides we hope they don't do it.

Edit: One thing i am very interested in hearing is the back up interior OL battle. Is Strange still the guy or did someone else show tonight? Robinson 1 or 2? Conley? Butler? (Sow didn't play)

Yeah, that 1/3 of an inch is huge. This reminds me of deflategate, when a sportscaster held up a football with 12 lbs of air pressure and one with 11 lbs of air pressure and said he could easily tell the difference in weight, which was the same weight as a dollar bill. Anyone who says they can see the difference in Campbell’s play due to 1/3 of an inch in arm length is 100% full of ****.

 

[Patjew]

It's called Perspective. Try it once, you might like it.

 

[DoubleDeluxe]

N'Keal Harry was 6'4 and 225

Polk is 6'1 and 203. So yea.. He's smaller.. Plenty of 6'1 and shorter receivers with good to great careers in the NFL.

I know both their sizes. My point is he looks like Harry when running routes or with the ball. Slow, and not an NFL caliber athlete. As guys get bigger more often than not they are less sudden, so Polk moving like Harry who is significantly bigger than him is a very bad thing.

 

[Patjew]

My point is this:

I use that expression from time to time at work. Sometimes it lands and other times not so much.

 

[captain stone]

Unless they're nursing injuries, I don't understand why Wallace & Chaisson didn't play at all...

 

[mgteich]

Worth pointing out that this helps against the whole "Washington wasn't playing their ones!!" argument... The Pats also were without:

1. Their CB1 (Gonzo)
2. Their CB2 (Davis)
3. Their top DT (Barmore)
4. Their starting OLB (Landry)
5. Another OLB who will play a lot (Chaisson)
6. Their WR1 (Diggs)
7. Their starting RT (Moses)
8. A veteran starting-level WR (Bourne)

... and several other depth players competing for top backup jobs (Tavai, Sow, Wallace, Lowe).

Yes, the team had a great game. And, yes, I am nitpicking.
=================
HOWEVER,

We are evaluating our WR's.

Our WR's played against WAS backups.

The pass blocking was suffuiient.

The WR's that played did not look good.
=========
IN CONTRAST,
we are evaluating our backup DB's. James, Austin and Hawkins showed that they are, at minimum, fine backups. If the 4th quarter is so important in evaluation, then I should note that Battle also looked good, the top of those competing for the 6th CB roster spot.

 

[Kdo5]

Yeah, that 1/3 of an inch is huge. This reminds me of deflategate, when a sportscaster held up a football with 12 lbs of air pressure and one with 11 lbs of air pressure and said he could easily tell the difference in weight, which was the same weight as a dollar bill. Anyone who says they can see the difference in Campbell’s play due to 1/3 of an inch in arm length is 100% full of ****.

They measure arm length for a reason, do they not? I’ll defer to the experts.

It doesn’t necessarily mean it will doom him as a tackle but it wouldn’t be talked about if it was complete fiction as you are making out to be.

 

[DoubleDeluxe]

Unless they're nursing injuries, I don't understand why Wallace & Chaisson didn't play at all...

Chaisson missed the joint practice with an undisclosed injury, so he's nursing something.

 

[ctpatsfan77]

Yeah, that 1/3 of an inch is huge. This reminds me of deflategate, when a sportscaster held up a football with 12 lbs of air pressure and one with 11 lbs of air pressure and said he could easily tell the difference in weight, which was the same weight as a dollar bill. Anyone who says they can see the difference in Campbell’s play due to 1/3 of an inch in arm length is 100% full of ****.

And, BTW, that's 1 gram on the order of 400 grams (about 0.25%). I'd be willing to believe he could tell a difference in the "feel" of the ball because of the difference in pressure (about 4%), but not that he could tell the mass apart.

 

[captain stone]

How did teams not see this with Polk? I heard plenty of these concerns from posters after he was drafted, but he was valued around being a late 2/early 3rd round pick. He wasn’t very heavily over drafted based on rankings. Not sure how teams didn’t see this coming.

Word was that he was dropping into mid/late 3rd territory beginning after his pro day when teams' coaches started looking at his film, especially when compared with his teammate Jalen McMillan's...

 

[Zuma]

Diggs and Hollins already played in the McDaniels system and all the beat writers are saying that they are surprise by how well Pop is thriving in this system.

Pop was unguardable during the joint practices. Usually teams are running Vanilla offenses in pre season and are opening it way more during joint practices because there is no film of it for other teams to analyze.

I don’t recall Diggs playing for Josh. 32 yo Hollins who had no catches played for Josh 3-4 years ago. Lots of players were unguardable…athleticism isn’t the argument. Knowing the plays, the timing, knowing where to be and being on the same page with Drake and Josh is the argument. I think it will take some time.

 

[captain stone]

Bryant should be considered our #3 OT as of now. He primarily played RT in the game.

Lowe, Jacobs and Wallace compete for the 4th OT spot.

The Craptastic Four.

 

[mgteich]

Word was that he was dropping into mid/late 3rd territory beginning after his pro day when teams' coaches started looking at his film, especially when compared with his teammate Jalen McMillan's...

???

So, you agree that Polk was viewed as a 3rd down talent last year.

And, so, after he had an opportunity under adequate coaching, he should be cut?
======
We ALL agree that we could have done better with our pick, but that shouldn't cause us to cut an asset that perhaps has devalued from being worth a 3rd last year to one that might be valued as a 5th or 6th now with some potential.
======

 

[Ross12]

I've got to completely disagree with you guys on Marcus.

I get the feeling Vrabel really likes him. I've heard him call him out by name in a couple of press conferences. Last night with Davis and Gonzalez out he was the CB1 on the outside. Yes his size sometimes gets a little exposed on the outside and Washington tried but Vrabel putting him out there to me is a clear indication he's CB3 if not CB2 since we still haven't seen Davis. Certainly not indicative of someone getting less reps.

Also during practice I've noticed on more than 1 occasion they have used him to blitz. Again I see this as indication of someone they are putting more on his plate and that they trust is physicality.

I would be happy to be wrong. We’ll see!

 

[Ross12]

Hey Ross. - I don't think you're fully correct. My understanding is that the 2 players to be DFR can only be IRed at cutdown. Players IRed prior to cutdown like Durant, Dial, and Roy, are done for the year.

Honestly I’m not sure. This is the actual rule change but it’s a bit unclear. I interpreted it to say any player already on IR on cutdown day can be designated for return, but I can also see how they could be trying to say that the player must be placed on IR specifically on that day.

 

[dliverey44]

Trey Jacobs actually looked pretty good in the above clip as well. I think Bryant makes the 53 and Jacobs will be on the PS

 

[SlowGettingUp]

Hey Ross. - I don't think you're fully correct. My understanding is that the 2 players to be DFR can only be IRed at cutdown. Players IRed prior to cutdown like Durant, Dial, and Roy, are done for the year.

New rules here - looks like you make the two player designation at cutdown:

For the 2025 NFL season, the league has implemented key changes to the Injured Reserve (IR) and Designated for Return (DFR) rules to provide teams with more roster flexibility:

1. Designated for Return at Roster Cutdown: Teams can now designate up to two players for return from IR or Non-Football Injury (NFI) lists when rosters are reduced to 53 players. Previously, players placed on IR before the final roster cut were ineligible to return during the season. These designations count toward the team’s regular-season limit of eight DFR activations.
   
   
   
   
2. Playoff DFR Increase: Teams qualifying for the playoffs receive two additional DFR designations, increasing the maximum from eight to ten players for the postseason. This allows playoff teams to bring back key players who were injured earlier in the season.
   
   
   
   
   
   
3. Regular-Season DFR Limit: The regular-season limit remains at eight DFR designations, with players required to miss at least four weeks before returning. A single player can be designated for return up to twice in a season.