ashley
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CLICK HERE to Register for a free account and login for a smoother ad-free experience. It's easy, and only takes a few moments.When looking at training camp, from most telling/important to least, my order goes:
1) Joint practices
2) Preseason games
3) Padded regular practices
4) Non-padded practices
So the two most weighted events are still yet to happen. Still, it would be really nice to see the offense punch back a little today. I'd feel a lot better going into Thursday.
The offensive line has to get to work, figure out the blocking and everything else falls into place.Perhaps our defense is better than we all thought.
Yeah Wozzy, I think this week's preseason game against the Giants will be telling. My first thought was " maybe our defense is a lot better than what we thought it was".The offensive line has to get to work, figure out the blocking and everything else falls into place.
Also the defense is probably a lot better than assumed.
I think people went way to far going on about our defense sucking. We got shredded by buff twice and that left a nasty taste in everyone's mouth and losing JC meant that we were doomed in most people's minds. But as a whole the defense was really good last year and the secondary is very deep so it could withstand the loss of JC.This is what I’ve been wondering…maybe our D is better than advertised?
Good notes by Zack Cox about yesterday's practice:
This was a tough practice for Bourne. He dropped two passes in 1-on-1s and showed questionable effort on Mills’ INT. The wideout appeared frustrated after that turnover, which came on the first rep after a prolonged break for Mac Jones.
Jonathan Jones nearly made a diving interception three plays later but couldn’t hold on.
— Speaking of Jonathan Jones, the veteran slot corner saw more reps on the outside than he had in any previous camp practice, with Marcus Jones and Bryant rotating inside.
— Defensive lineman LaBryan Ray is making a strong case to become the latest undrafted rookie to crack the Patriots’ Week 1 roster. He’s spent a lot of time in the backfield these last few weeks.
— Matthew Judon and Anfernee Jennings both scored resounding wins over Herron on lineman 1-on-1s.
Herron has played reasonably well at left tackle in his career but traditionally has struggled on the right side, where he was stationed Monday with Wynn out.
With Wynn not participating in team drills, Mike Onwenu saw reps at right tackle with the second O-line. That was a new development, as the Patriots had been using the big Michigan prospect exclusively at right guard.
Onwenu has been better at tackle than guard in his NFL career, though, and the Patriots seem to have some reservations about playing him at the latter this season, rotating him out for Arlington Hambright in the last several practices. As a 350-pound mauler, Onwenu seems better suited for New England’s old gap-based run scheme than the zone-blocking system they’ve rolled out this summer, as the latter typically favors more athletic blockers.
I hope you're right. The defense started to falter at the end of last season, but the same thing can be said about the whole team in general. Let's hope we finish strong this timeI think people went way to far going on about our defense sucking. We got shredded by buff twice and that left a nasty taste in everyone's mouth and losing JC meant that we were doomed in most people's minds. But as a whole the defense was really good last year and the secondary is very deep so it could withstand the loss of JC.
I always felt with Barmore, Judon, Mills, and our safety group they have enough top talent and it's just filling in the rest without any major holes and I think we have that.
Padded practices are a whole lot more important and indicative of the overall state of the team than preseason games, especially the first one.When looking at training camp, from most telling/important to least, my order goes:
1) Joint practices
2) Preseason games
3) Padded regular practices
4) Non-padded practices
So the two most weighted events are still yet to happen. Still, it would be really nice to see the offense punch back a little today. I'd feel a lot better going into Thursday.
I think Jonathan playing outside would be fantastic as long as he can physically handle it. That would allow M. Jones and Wade to play inside.
We can hope but the last quarter plus of the schedule this year is BRULTAL. Lots of travel. Lots of night games. Buffalo twice. Not to mention the 2021 AFC Champs and a couple of other trending-upward teams.I hope you're right. The defense started to falter at the end of last season, but the same thing can be said about the whole team in general. Let's hope we finish strong this time
Padded practices are a whole lot more important and indicative of the overall state of the team than preseason games, especially the first one.
I think the whole "is our offense bad or our defense good?" debate this week demonstrates the limitation of what you can learn from non-joint practices.Padded practices are a whole lot more important and indicative of the overall state of the team than preseason games, especially the first one.