Good morning, here are Sunday’s Patriots news notes and what’s happening around the division:
A slightly abbreviated column this Sunday as we’re still in the midst of moving here and surrounded by boxes with a lot of work to still get done before heading back to the Patriots practices this week. So there’s no AFC East notes this week, we’ll get back to that next Sunday.
Brady and Chandler recapture Chemistry from early Workouts: During the first two preseason games, Tom Brady didn’t have Julian Edelman, Rob Gronkowski, Brandon LaFell , Aaron Dobson or Scott Chandler to work with and the results were about what you’d expect.
Things didn’t start so well on Friday night in Carolina with Brady tossing two picks in the first half. But once the Patriots went to their two minute drill at the end of the first half, we saw the Brady we’ve been accustomed to for so many years.
With Chandler playing in his first preseason game for New England, he and Brady got the drive going and then capped it off with a beauty of a throw and catch in the far left corner of the end zone with under a minute to go.
During the spring and early days of training camp, Brady was developing a nice chemistry with Chandler and the big tight end should be a really nice target with Gronk in the red zone for the Pats this season.
Develin Will be Missed in the offense: If one were to look at the stat sheets it would be easy to discount the loss of James Develin, the Patriots fullback who broke his leg on Friday evening in Carolina. It also would be untrue.
Develin is a very talented player who fits in perfectly in the Patriots offense. He’s very versatile and can do a bit of everything from being a lead blocker in a traditional fullback role,(see Jonas Gray’s touchdown run against Green Bay), line up as an H-back or even slide out and catch the odd pass as a tight end.
Develin didn’t rack up eye-popping stats of his own but his presence on the field definitely helped other players to do just that.
Concussion Cure in the water? Who Knew?: Seahawks QB Russell Wilson took a lot of flak this week when he spoke about the healing properties of Recovery Water. He stated that after taking a big hit from Clay Matthews in the NFC Championship Game in January that the product helped prevent a concussion.
While such comments are to be taken with a consideration that the athlete is being compensated for his endorsement, it should be noted that this goes beyond that. Wilson also spoke about a teammate’s knee injury was cured by Recovery Water’s curative effects. A few Patriots with consistent injury woes should become heavy investors.
Tom Brady a few years ago also endorsed a product, NeuroSafe, that was purported to reduce concussions. It has since gone belly up.
Dion Lewis Looks to be a near lock for the roster: When he signed with New England, not much interest was generated by the signing of running back Dion Lewis in his quest to work his way into the Shane Vereen role.
One of our close friends and sources from inside the building in Foxboro stated back in the spring that the Pats coaches were enamored with Lewis’ speed and athleticism. At the time I kind of pooh-poohed that statement. During the early days of training camp, I saw little to change my impression. But in the past two weeks, that perspective has changed.
Lewis has been electrifying on the field during the past two preseason games and although he only played in 10 snaps on Friday night in Carolina, the diminutive 5’8 Lewis impressed once again both running and receiving, catching a touchdown pass from Jimmy Garoppolo.
Look for Lewis and James White to some work this week against the New York Giants and for both to be on the roster once the regular season starts.
“So Bill, how did the defense look on Friday night?” Thanks for asking: In one of the more bizarre and hilarious episodes in the Marshawn Lynch vs the NFL in terms of speaking to the media, his latest was the best yet.
After being fined for not speaking with the media again, Lynch took a different track than his previous one word answers when he responded with kindness to every question by responding, “Thanks for asking.” While it would be easy to point fingers at Lynch for being uncooperative, he’s been this way for years and it is not an act.
But one has to only imagine the raised eyebrows there’d be in Foxboro if Bill Belichick ever decided to answer his questions in that way.
“Hey Bill, do you plan on giving Jimmy Garoppolo more 1st team snaps this week?” Bill, would answer, “Oh thanks for asking about our quarterback situation.”
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A former US Army Special Forces NCO and Officer, Steve has been following the Patriots since their days at Fenway Park. Steve has worked in the film industry and wrote as an Military Editor at SpecialOperations.com, 1945.com as a reporter for the Millbury Daily Voice, Millbury-Sutton Chronicle, and the Grafton News. He's also a member of the Pro Football Writers of America (PFWA)
