Brutal, that was the word Greg Bedard used to describe the joint practice weeben the Patriots and Eagles.\u00a0 The Offensive line was truly offensive giving up a total of 14 sacks.\u00a0 Many of those were on Drake Maye as he was indecisive and holding onto the ball.<\/p>\n
Here is what I am looking for in the 2nd<\/sup> Pre-season game with the Eagles.<\/p>\n Offensive Line <\/strong>Can they protect the QBs?\u00a0 The Patriots are not going to show any part of their offense to a team they will be playing in the Opening game.\u00a0 It will be very basic football.\u00a0 I expect them to run the ball and pass infrequently.\u00a0 The tackle play must improve if they are going to do anything this year.\u00a0 Vederian Lowe at Left Tackle is a problem.\u00a0 The starting line is ok but the backups have been awful, especially Atonio Mafi at Center.\u00a0 Caedan Wallace and Layden Robinson are rookie middle round draft picks and they are playing like rookies.\u00a0 I expect more out of Nick Leverett, Calvin Anderson and Michael Jordan as they are NFL veterans that have started in the NFL.\u00a0 The Patriots don\u2019t trust them enough to put Drake Maye behind them and expose him unnecessary hits.\u00a0 They don\u2019t want to turn Maye into Mac Jones in his pre-season games.\u00a0 Maye is extremely inexperienced as a QB having played just two seasons of college ball and missing his senior year of High School ball to COVID.\u00a0 He has never played under center, and this is all new to him, especially reading defenses.\u00a0 We are looking at a two-year project to get him up and ready to play in the NFL.\u00a0 Get use to that.\u00a0 If I am the Patriots, I would have Joe Milton as the Game Day backup and Maye as the emergency QB.<\/p>\n Defensive Line<\/strong> That is the one area the Patriots did well against the Eagles.\u00a0 They put constant pressure on the QBs.\u00a0 Can they contain Hurts?\u00a0 Jeremiah Pharms is having a great camp and he was a force against a good offensive line by Philly.\u00a0 The last 4 games of 2023, Pharms had a 20% win rate per Pro Football Focus.\u00a0 He is one to watch.\u00a0 Will they have a drop off now that Judon has been traded?<\/p>\n Cornerbacks\u00a0 <\/strong>With Jon Jones and Marcus Jone out there is an opportunity for Alex Austin, and Marco Wilson to secure a spot on the team as backup.\u00a0 Shaun Wade is also expected to miss this game.\u00a0 Isaiah Bolden and Marcellus Dial have special teams ability. Christian Gonzalez has had a mediocre camp and got eaten alive by AJ Brown in the joint practice.\u00a0 Brown does that to a lot of NFL corners.\u00a0 Gozalez will face top WRs every week as the Patriots schedule is the worst in the league.<\/p>\n Wide Receivers\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>The few times the QBs were able to throw the ball downfield the receivers dropped too many passes.\u00a0 I don\u2019t get the insistence of having Tyquan Thornton as the principal outside deep threat.\u00a0 He has great speed but doesn\u2019t know how to be a receiver.\u00a0 Kayson Boutte has the skills, but he and Jalen Reagor have the dropsies and can’t be relied upon.\u00a0 I hope we get to see Pop Douglas, especially if the QBs have to get rid of the ball quickly.\u00a0 Reagor has one plus factor going for him, and that\u2019s his kickoff return capability, which Thornton and Boutte don\u2019t.\u00a0 Will we get anything out of KJ Osborn?<\/p>\n I am sorry to see Matthew Judon traded.\u00a0 He was a leader on the team and a stand-up guy.\u00a0 Judon was colorful and, always came out and faced the media no matter how bad things were.\u00a0 When healthy, he was a force on the pass rush.\u00a0 Getting a 3rd<\/sup> round (top 100) pick from Atlanta is very good compensation.\u00a0 The Patriots are going nowhere this year, Judon was not in the team\u2019s plan past this year.\u00a0 He is 32 and that played against him for getting a new contract from the Patriots.\u00a0 The way he played this out worked against him too.\u00a0 They are making an example of him for the younger players too.\u00a0 Last year Anfernee Jennings played very well in Judon\u2019s place.\u00a0 He doesn\u2019t have the pass rush skills that Judon does.\u00a0 Keon White is another player that could step in.\u00a0 This also gives Oshane Ximines and Josh Uche opportunities to make the team! \u00a0Houston and Chicago were teams that were listed as interested.\u00a0 It looks like Atlanta stepped up with the best offer.\u00a0 Houston\u2019s pick would be later in the round and not as good as Atlanta\u2019s.\u00a0 Chicago\u2019s offer was believed to be a 4th<\/sup> round because it would probably been at the top of the round.\u00a0 The Patriots also get back another $6.5M on the salary cap.<\/p>\n Backup Safety \u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>Jaylin Hawkins and Dell Pettus have a good chance of making the team.\u00a0 Pettus also has special team playmaking ability.\u00a0 Joshuah Bledsoe has been hurt for most of training camp, but he did play in the joint practice.\u00a0 Hawkins has been playing with the ones some.<\/p>\n Open Training Camp is Over\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>Tuesday\u2019s joint practice is the last open practice for the Patriots.\u00a0 The media will have limited access to the beginning of practice, so we won\u2019t be getting reports on the number passes completed and one-on-one battles.\u00a0 They will be able to report on the start of practice but that is it.<\/p>\n Kicker Competition<\/strong>\u00a0 I don\u2019t think either kicker is lighting it up in practices and this may be an area where the patriots will be looking at the waiver wire for help.\u00a0 Hopefully we will have a few opportunities to see them kick in the game.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Brutal, that was the word Greg Bedard used to describe the joint practice weeben the Patriots and Eagles.\u00a0 The Offensive line was truly offensive giving up a total of 14 sacks.\u00a0 Many of those were on Drake Maye as he was indecisive and holding onto the ball.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":55146,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-55287","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-patriots-news"],"yoast_head":"\nMatthew Judon Traded to Atlanta for 2025 Third Round Pick<\/strong><\/h3>\n