So who looked good last night?

[PatsFan37]

What I saw was how valuable Brady/Moss/Welker really are.
CJ dropped a pass, didnt come back for another on 3rd down, lost his feet too early on a 3rd pass and couldnt make a move on a kick.
CJones dropped at least 2 more passes, so making 2(1 nice one by the goal line)is tempered.
Slater has to have at least 2 decent returns to get a roster spot....and hasnt had one yet--despite a good number of chances last nite.
The O-Line was AWFUL. Was it Britt at LT?? Yates is a problem and got hurt. Do we know how hurt Neal is? Did he need complete reconstruction on his knee? CJ took the whole season off after, how long do we give him??
Say what you want but that opening 17(!!!) play opening drive was a bit reminiscent of the SB no? They ran on VINCE!
Woods still looks out of place and didnt make a play at OLB.
The back up DT didnt look good.
Guyton has no place playing LB in the pros right now, may have played himself to the PS.
Nothing MAJOR, but some of these guys on the bubble just made BB's job ALOT easier.

Trouble reading thread titles?

 

[Rob0729]

It all depends on what you were expecting from Cassel. I looked at his fundamentals since they seems horribly out of whack against the Ravens. Cassel's pass to Moss was a horrific decision and the screen to Maroney was rushed, but other than that he did his job pretty well.

If you judge Cassel by scoring output, he obviously didn't get it done. I just choose not to judge a QB behind a makeshift line in the 2nd preseason game using that criteria. Cassel didn't fumble on the TB side of the field. Cassel didn't snap the ball like a shanked FG. Cassel didn't drop consecutive passes to stall a drive.

I'm not a Cassel cheerleader by any stretch. I think he needs to go if Gutierrez can show any progress at all. I'm just saying that last night he did a pretty solid job given the circumstances.

I am judging Cassel on his decision making and his ability to be a #2 QB and fill in for a game or two if Brady went down. I think he failed in the first part (he was saved on what should have been a sure INT that was dropped) and I don't think he showed me enough to convince me of the latter part.

I thought he was ok at best last night. He mastered the dump off, but I am not convinced he can do much more than that. He still stares down receivers and makes poor decisions when not throw quick screens or slants. Personally, I saw a lot of bad habits by him that has worried me for a while now.

 

[Metaphors]

I am judging Cassel on his decision making and his ability to be a #2 QB and fill in for a game or two if Brady went down. I think he failed in the first part (he was saved on what should have been a sure INT that was dropped) and I don't think he showed me enough to convince me of the latter part.

I thought he was ok at best last night. He mastered the dump off, but I am not convinced he can do much more than that. He still stares down receivers and makes poor decisions when not throw quick screens or slants. Personally, I saw a lot of bad habits by him that has worried me for a while now.

All fair points that I happen to agree with. Now take the preconceptions you had about Cassel and put them aside...would you view the performance last night as positive, neutral or negative? I think he gets a positive for mechanics and ability and a neutral for decisions and efficiency. As you said, that sounds pretty "ok" to me. Now add in the complete lack of support from key members of the offense and an "ok" result is actually a good effort.

Again, I agree with your overall assessment. He does stare down receivers and seems to lack the ability to know or sense where defenders are even if you aren't looking at them. I see those as fatal flaws and are fair game for criticism. Most of the other garbage being thrown his way is unfair.

 

[Rob0729]

All fair points that I happen to agree with. Now take the preconceptions you had about Cassel and put them aside...would you view the performance last night as positive, neutral or negative? I think he gets a positive for mechanics and ability and a neutral for decisions and efficiency. As you said, that sounds pretty "ok" to me. Now add in the complete lack of support from key members of the offense and an "ok" result is actually a good effort.

Again, I agree with your overall assessment. He does stare down receivers and seems to lack the ability to know or sense where defenders are even if you aren't looking at them. I see those as fatal flaws and are fair game for criticism. Most of the other garbage being thrown his way is unfair.

Looking at the performance objectively, Cassel didn't show me enough to make me feel comfortable as him being the #2 QB. He showed me enough that if Brady went down in the middle of a game that he could come in and potentially manage the game for a few series. He didn't look good enough that if he actually had to start for a game or two that he could pull it off. So I wouldn't put him in the good category. Granted he only threw 6 times.

When factor in the fact that Cassel was fighting for a roster spot and the #2 QB position in this game and he needed a strong performance to assure himself a place on the team, I think he failed. You can gets virtually any QB with some experience to do quick dump offs to Wes Welker. He needed to show more with more complicated routes and reads and I think he failed in that area.

 

[KCSVEN]

Slater has to have at least 2 decent returns to get a roster spot....and hasnt had one yet--despite a good number of chances last nite

I thought the 2 returns were excellent, quick through the first hole, very decisive, he was clearly the best KR on the team, better than Hobbs who did a good job last year. On the coverage he was constantly down the field, one return on punts he got lambasted near the ball carrier, went back like 3 feet but got up and got back in the play near the sidelines. He seems good on coverage and possibly a great Kick returner, based on his KR abilities he would be the best option and I hope he makes the team.

Mayo is a stud, he'll be the teams best linebacker by the end of the year, his instincts are incredible, awesome speed, he got off blocks very well, dropped in coverage well, but did get stiff armed on that 1 play but he came at the wrong angle and had no leverage. He's a difference maker on D.

Gostkowski looks like he's incredibly comfortable kicking.
Moss and Welker looked good
Wheatley looked solid overall though hard to tell sometimes with the camera angles

 

[JoeSixPat]

So who looked good last night?

Do you want a list of the Tampa players?

 

[Pat the Pats Fan]

I thought Sharpe and Faulk looked good.....sounded like idiots, but they looked good doing it.....

 

[JSn]

Do you want a list of the Tampa players?

Haha, yeah they had a good game. Sure hope they don't get over-confident. I'm SURE Gruden played them hard to get team morale working, but he knows full well he was up against the ferocious beast that NE has yet to set loose on the NFL. Nice gesture on Bill's part.

 

[Lloyd_Christmas]

Do you want a list of the Tampa players?

Good one.

Seymour was pretty good. He batted down at least one pass that probably would have been another TB first down.

 

[Lifer]

Campbell Brown. CNN Newscaster.

oh wait....sorry

 

[AzPatsFan]

Are you really going to include Matt Cassel among the players who looked good last night? When the general consensus was he may have played himself off the roster?

No I will stand up for him.

When he had major league receivers, he completed passes. There were drops by Evans once, Pollard once. He threw no INTs. Faulk's fumble ended one drive after they marched the length of the field to the red zone. Conolly's snap ended another. He displayed a maturing capacity to stay in the pocket. I believe he scrambled twice; once on a Bucs jailbreak, and evaded and even gained a couple of yards, after getting back to the line of scrimmage. The second tiem he gained three yards too. He was rushed on a screen pass to Maroney, and the first pass that was almost intercepted, were his only bad throws, IMO.

His job was to exercise the right side of the O line, over and over, and he did. His job was to test CJax and CJ and he did that too. All three CJax, CJ and Yates were terrible.

In all he went 6-10, with two drops, and two incompletions, no INTs, no TDs. Not a bad job really.

 

[AzPatsFan]

Despite the bad snap while trying out as a shotgun center, Conolly looks like the best of the youngsters on the O line. Possibly the only keeper amongst them.

Wellbourne won the RG job in my opinion, and also looked like he wil be a solid addition to the starting line. By far, this was the major question mark on the Team. A Line of Light/Britt, Mankins, Koppen, Wellbourne, and Kaczur iswould be fine. Britt provides depthat tackle and Hochstein, when he comes back, has proven a good interior backup. Running left the moved the ball. Running right they got stonewalled, with Yates. Running right with Wellbourne, they turned in several 4 -5 yard rushes to the right side.

 

[PATRIOT64]

Apparently, according to Scottie C. the most impressive looking person out there last night was the whole Tampa Bay Bucs cheerleaders squad

 

[stcjones]

I thought Vince Redd made a few plays on defense and ST. I was disappointed in Gary Guyton, I thought he got run over several times. Mayo looked decent again. O'Connell showed flashes and has potential. I think he makes the team. I think we will see Gutierrez Friday. I prefer him over Cassel. I'm down on Chad Jackson. He terrifies me when he is back on punts. I don't think he has a clue. I used to like CJ JOnes but no longer trust him. It's so bad I prefer Ray Ventrone to either of them.

It still seems we are tipping the runs somehow. When Maroney is in, run is a first good guess, and when the TE motions back to the middle that is usually a run. Maybe Josh will get a HC job and Charlie will get fired at ND and we can rehire him.

Kenny Smith made some plays in the backfield for the second week in a row.

Crable mde some plays but got run over a couple times, it helped that the refs allowed the OL to tackle Crable.

I thought Britt and Kaczur were ok. My concern on the OL is RG. I couldn't see how Welbourn was doing but maybe he can play and plug the gap.

Connolly hurt himself with the shotgun snap, maybe Wendell can do better but that is a practice squad player at best.

Anyway, not to worry. DeOssie was right, a preseason game in Florida after camp ends. We've seen it before and will see it again. Sometimes the team just doesn't make the plane for these games. If you remember correctly, they have trouble making the plane for Miami and Arizona games anyway so the moral is expect a loss in Florida and Arizona and hope for the best because once in a while they win there regardless of how bad they play.

Overall brilliant assessment......I think Crable looked good overall and like you say....the refs let a ton of crap go in this one....he was dragged down at least twice....I think the OL play is our top concern....they are awful overall....and have terrible problems opening holes for the running game....terrible work by them....again this year.....good post

 

[JSn]

Welbourne won the RG job in my opinion, and also looked like he wil be a solid addition to the starting line. By far, this was the major question mark on the Team. A Line of Light/Britt, Mankins, Koppen, Wellbourne, and Kaczur iswould be fine. ... Running right with Welbourne, they turned in several 4 -5 yard rushes to the right side.

I totally forgot to watch this guy. Might almost be worth firing up the PVR and re-watching him. Anyone else pay attention to JW and have any insight? I think we've cassel'd to our limit.