Winners / Losers

[Rob0729]

Don't forget it took Welker 3 years before he became Wlker v1.

Welker was so bad as a rook the Chargers cut him.

JE has a head start

We don't know why they cut Welker. He was an undrafted free agent and many times those guys have a lot of untapped potential that never gets realized because teams don't give him the opportunity or don't care enough to figure out how to use them the right way. Belichick is still unique in the NFL because he does look at the entire roster from top to bottom and tries to find ways to best utilize people's skills. Belichick loves to experiment at the bottom of the draft and see if he can get diamonds in the rough (Edelman, Givens, Cassel).

 

[Rob0729]

Ill go straight to the LOSER:

Maroney: It has gotten to the point where "We drafted him 1st, so we must continue to use him!", even though BJGE still continues to impress me over Maroney...

Do you agree it is drafting round Bias? So what if BJGE went undrafted, who seems like the better player on the field?

BJGE played against second and third stringers. Let's not go overboard. Maroney had a bad night last night and if he continues to have nights like that for the rest of the preseason, he is in danger of losing his roster spot. But comparing Maroney's play vs. the Eagles' starters and BJGE against the back ups is an unfair comparison. That's why many preseason studs who do all their work against second and third strings end up not making the 53 man roster. See Patrick Cobbs for example. He had 188 yards and 3 TDs in the preseason in 38 attempts. He ended up getting traded for a conditional seventh to Pittsburgh (Cobbs was cut before the start of the season so the Pats got nothing for him).

 

[DaBruinz]

All I remember is the one time BJGE started he ran for 100 something yards on a key win against the Bills. He also found the endzone for what, 5 straight weeks?

But you Maroney defenders can still find every excuse in the bag.

People like you claim that facts are excuses because, otherwise, you'd have to admit your ignorance. A perfect example is your claim that BJGE ran for over 100 yards in his only start.

BenJarvus Green-Ellis: Game Logs

BJGE had 3 starts last season. The 3rd one was the one against the Bills where he ran for 105 yards on 26 carries. In his 1st two starts he had 9 rushes for 16 yards against the pathetic Rams and 15 carries for 57 yards against the Colts. The Bills had the 22nd ranked Rush defense last year.

As for finding the Endzone for 5 weeks straight. Again, you don't have the correct facts or NFL.com says otherwise. He only did it 4 straight weeks. Not 5. He also did it against the defenses of Denver, Indy, St. Louis and Buffalo. All 4 of those defenses were ranked 22nd or WORSE against the run. Not to mention that in 3 of those 4 weeks, he was 1 of only 2 healthy RBs on the active roster. So its pretty easy to be the one to get the carries close to the endzone.

People like yourself put on the horse blinders when it comes to Maroney because you don't ant to hear the facts...

 

[Jimke]

Thoughts on tonight's winners and losers?

Winners:
1. Brady - what can I say? He played well and stayed safe. That works for me.
2. Chris Baker - he annoyed me when with the Jets because he always seemed to play well against the Patriots. I'm glad he's on our side and expect him to be the most productive TE on our roster this year. 40 receptions, 500 Yards, 7 TDs.
3. Edelman - Kid had a great start. As has been mentioned on this board throughout the night, he could turn into Welker v2. Caught everything thrown in his direction and had a huge return. Can't wait to see more from him.

Losers:
1. Maroney - The only running back that can't find a hole. The good news is that when his career is over he'll excel on Dancing with the Stars! I just wish he'd stop preparing for that role while on the Patriots.
2. Eric Alexander - Not that I had high hopes for him, but he was awful tonight. I can't remember him actually diving and hitting anyone ... one miss after another!
3. Nunn? - There's been a lot of positive camp notes/press about this guy. I was excited to see what he brought to the team. The only impression I took from tonight's game is a negative one.

Side note: Thank god football is back! 4 hour long, slow played baseball games bug the hell out of me.

You hit them right on the head. Maroney needs to visit the Wizard
to get a heart. No health related excuses any more.

 

[Rob0729]

People like you claim that facts are excuses because, otherwise, you'd have to admit your ignorance. A perfect example is your claim that BJGE ran for over 100 yards in his only start.

BenJarvus Green-Ellis: Game Logs

BJGE had 3 starts last season. The 3rd one was the one against the Bills where he ran for 105 yards on 26 carries. In his 1st two starts he had 9 rushes for 16 yards against the pathetic Rams and 15 carries for 57 yards against the Colts. The Bills had the 22nd ranked Rush defense last year.

As for finding the Endzone for 5 weeks straight. Again, you don't have the correct facts or NFL.com says otherwise. He only did it 4 straight weeks. Not 5. He also did it against the defenses of Denver, Indy, St. Louis and Buffalo. All 4 of those defenses were ranked 22nd or WORSE against the run. Not to mention that in 3 of those 4 weeks, he was 1 of only 2 healthy RBs on the active roster. So its pretty easy to be the one to get the carries close to the endzone.

People like yourself put on the horse blinders when it comes to Maroney because you don't ant to hear the facts...

To add on your response:

-Against Denver, BJGE had an one yard TD run against back ups in the fourth quarter in 41-7 route.
- The following week, he average 1.8 YPC eventhough he got a TD in nine carries. His TD carry was 2 yards.

 

[Brady'sButtBoy]

Winners-
Brady- He took the first big step and looked cool and calm - I thought he shied away from contact only once or twice and very subtly.

Edelman- Better than I though he'd be and I was expecting good things.

Baker- Coaches are human too and two TD's stick in anyone's mind.

Wilhite - the kid's around the ball and doesn't look afraid

Guyton- steadily getting better and looks to believe in himself a little more.

Pryor- His penetration is refreshing for a D-line that didn't have much last year (yes, yes, I know the 3-4 isn't played for penetration but that doesn't mean it would hurt once in a while). Pryor opened plenty of eyes, it'd be hard to cut him now especially if the 4-3 emphasis is for real.

Chung- nose for ball, hitter, confident.

Losers-
Alexander- He looked lousy. I'd feel bad for him if he got cut but he's very limited in his skill level. But who else is going to backup at MLB? Lenon? I'm not sure I saw him last night.

Wheatley- He struggled but with the Pats D it's hard to tell if it was all his fault

Morris- Sammy was with the 3rd and 4th stringers? He may be ahead of BJGE but that Morris didn't get much (any?) time with the starters was telling.

Work In Progress-

O'Brien- the play calling was pretty good, not forced much.
Walter- looked decent considering his limited time with the team.
Woods- He didn't stand out

 

[RichardHead]

A little off topic:

Winners: Eagles Cheerleaders. OMG, was I the only one totally distracted everytime they cut to the low sideline shot and in the background all you could focus on were the cheerleaders and their painted on shorts? Maybe it's the 52 inch High Def TV, but for some reason it just kept drawing my attention away from the game.

 

[Dfresh429]

You freaking Maroney bashers - get your heads out of your asses! BJGE was playing against the 3rd and 4th stringers in the late 4th quarter...and somehow that impresses you?

The 1st string Oline opened ZERO holes for Maroney..he had nowhere to run last night and you hold the crappy run blocking against him...its ******s like you guys who get this site made fun of at other message boards.

 

[JackBauer]

Luckily no one cares what you think. Have some more Blue Patriots Koolaid you freakin homer..........

Sorry I didn't eat paint chips as a child, and thus an unable to join your club of dispassionate, objective observers.

 

[ctpatsfan77]

Winners: Eagles Cheerleaders. OMG, was I the only one totally distracted everytime they cut to the low sideline shot and in the background all you could focus on were the cheerleaders and their painted on shorts? Maybe it's the 52 inch High Def TV, but for some reason it just kept drawing my attention away from the game.

The wife of a former classmate of mine used to cheerlead for them. . . . They're almost as good looking as the fans are boorish.

[And, yes, we were jealous. ]

 

[JackBauer]

Didn't one of the announcers say that Sanders is a player that BB "loves" last night?

Debate over.

 

[PatsFanSince74]

We didn't get the game down here, but, based on reports:

Winners. The Pats Franchise: Brady's back and only a little rust away from his old form; the front office looks like it didn't miss a beat post Pioli as this year's draft looks mighty fine.

The only caution I would have is not to jump to conclusions on Maroney. From the couple of clips I saw, there was a lot of backfield penetration and missed blocks on more than one of his runs. Let's wait a bit and leave this call to BB.

 

[realtime]

Not to get too carried away after one pre-season game, but last night Vollmer reminded me a bit of Tony Boselli when he first came into the league. He looked great.

 

[CrazedChariot]

I thought Guyton Looked great out there. He has a lot of athleticism ( Made 1 or 2 nice pass deflections, along with forcing some perfect lobbed throws on other plays)

 

[PATSYLICIOUS]

Morris- Sammy was with the 3rd and 4th stringers? He may be ahead of BJGE but that Morris didn't get much (any?) time with the starters was telling.

I wouldn't look into that too much, I think they just wanted to get a real good look at Maroney since he's been out almost as long as Brady. Morris will get plenty of action so long as he is healthy. I do agree with your lists though.

I really wanted to see Taylor but I guess there is no need to risk putting him out there right now.

 

[Ring 6]

In my opinion, the only losers of the night were Alexander and Yates, but we pretty much already knew they sucked.

Yet we'll see people ripping on Maroney when, once again, I'm sure he'll average the same or better YPC as the other running backs.

Not to mention the first-string run blocking left something to be desired.

The problem with Maroney is that he plays a position where half of your plays will reasonably unsuccesful no matter who you are, and he has a style that gives people who want to whine a reason to blame their unhappiness over the nature of running plays on.
If there is no hole and RB X puts his head down and gets nothing, they blame the blocking. If there is no hole and Maroney hesitates in order to cut back and find one, doesnt and gets the same zero, Maroney actually gave the play a better chance, but is criticized for dancing. Probably because a lot of fans think it makes them cool to question Laurence Maroneys toughness and manhood. Its really pretty distrurbing.

 

[Ring 6]

BJGE played against second and third stringers. Let's not go overboard. Maroney had a bad night last night and if he continues to have nights like that for the rest of the preseason, he is in danger of losing his roster spot. But comparing Maroney's play vs. the Eagles' starters and BJGE against the back ups is an unfair comparison. That's why many preseason studs who do all their work against second and third strings end up not making the 53 man roster. See Patrick Cobbs for example. He had 188 yards and 3 TDs in the preseason in 38 attempts. He ended up getting traded for a conditional seventh to Pittsburgh (Cobbs was cut before the start of the season so the Pats got nothing for him).

Here is the difference. You say Maroney had a bad night, but in reality he got what he could get given the blocking that was there.
The coaching staff will evaluate what he did on those runs, and from what I saw (and what Box wrote in his play analysis) he will get strong grades.
If you hand the ball off to the RB and the blocking is awful and he gets as much as could be expected, how is that the RB having a bad day?

 

[Warren94]

Alexander is a liability without a doubt. poor tackling. He may make however I doubt it. It's one pre-season game in regard to Maroney. I believe it is both the OL and Maroney's fault. I am not happy with our right side of the line Neal is getting up there and Kaczur shows me nothing.

 

[Synovia]

The problem with Maroney is that he plays a position where half of your plays will reasonably unsuccesful no matter who you are, and he has a style that gives people who want to whine a reason to blame their unhappiness over the nature of running plays on.
If there is no hole and RB X puts his head down and gets nothing, they blame the blocking. If there is no hole and Maroney hesitates in order to cut back and find one, doesnt and gets the same zero, Maroney actually gave the play a better chance, but is criticized for dancing. Probably because a lot of fans think it makes them cool to question Laurence Maroneys toughness and manhood. Its really pretty distrurbing.

There were 3 or 4 plays last night, where had it been Morris running, it would have been "Morris tackled in the backfield for a loss of 5", instead Maroney sidestepped 2 guys, and got back to the LOS.



I liked what I saw from Edelman, and Baker. I didn't like what I saw from Brady. Its probably just rust, but that interception to Moss was an absolutely terrible throw. Moss had Samuel by a good couple yards, and that ball was probably 10 yards underthrown. That being said, the pass on the PI call on Samuel, who was soundly beaten, was fantastic.

 

[Ring 6]

There were 3 or 4 plays last night, where had it been Morris running, it would have been "Morris tackled in the backfield for a loss of 5", instead Maroney sidestepped 2 guys, and got back to the LOS.



I liked what I saw from Edelman, and Baker. I didn't like what I saw from Brady. Its probably just rust, but that interception to Moss was an absolutely terrible throw. Moss had Samuel by a good couple yards, and that ball was probably 10 yards underthrown. That being said, the pass on the PI call on Samuel, who was soundly beaten, was fantastic.

I think the hardest throw for a QB is exactly that one, in terms of being in 'midseason form' vs preseason.
ITs really a timing and judgment (distance judgment) thing, so I wouldnt be concerned. Other than that throw, Brady looked fine to me.