Some observations from the Patriots Pre-Season Loss to Philadelphia:<\/p>\n
There are jobs to be won and lost in this game.\u00a0 Some players flourished while other failed miserably.\u00a0 In two weeks, the final cutdown will come and some 18 players will be looking for employment elsewhere.<\/p>\n
First point is that none of the Eagles Offensive stars played in the game.\u00a0 Jalen Hurts, Saquan Barkley AJ Brown and DeVonta Smith all sat out.\u00a0 We saw our first Defense against their 2nd<\/sup> team Offense.<\/p>\n The Patriots Defense dominated and if it wasn\u2019t for the 47-yard Interception return, the Eagles would have been shut out in the 1st<\/sup> half.\u00a0 I believe the number on 3rd<\/sup> down was 3 for 7.\u00a0 The Patriots were the more physical team, putting constant pressure on the Philly QBs.\u00a0 Despite this, Kenny Pickett completed 11 of 13 passes.<\/p>\n Drake Maye <\/strong>They finally took the bubble wrap off Maye and let him wing it.\u00a0 It appeared the Patriots drew up plays that played to Maye\u2019s strengths rather than try and force feed him into the AVP West Coast Offense.\u00a0 He rolled out, and even had a bootleg with an option to pass or run which ended up as a TD.\u00a0 Was he good?\u00a0 Not so much, completing 6 of 11 passes, with many drops by the receivers.\u00a0 Maye dropped a dime on a deep pass to Javon Baker who stretched out for the ball and had possession of it until he hit the ground.\u00a0 That kind of catch has to be made.\u00a0 Maye showed good command of the huddle and the field.\u00a0 He looked like the #3 pick in the draft. There is some optimism after this performance.<\/p>\n Defense Had 5 Sacks\u00a0 <\/strong>Five different players were credited with sacks and Pickett made a few escapes for short gains, but overall there was good pressure all night.\u00a0 That was the carryover from the joint practice with the Eagles that the team was causing pressure.\u00a0 Except for that 47 yard INT return by Maddox, Philly would have been shut out in the 1st<\/sup> half.<\/p>\n This kind of pressure may have contributed to the Patriots decision to trade Matt Judon.\u00a0 Keon White had a sack for his lone tackle and Anfernee Jennings also played well.<\/p>\n Raekwon McMillan <\/strong>He has been hurt coming out of training camp the last two years after performing well in both camps.\u00a0 The Patriots resigned him despite the injury, and he led the team with 9 Tackles.\u00a0 He was all over the place.\u00a0 I think he secured his place on this team.<\/p>\n Jacoby Brissett\u00a0 <\/strong>I expected more from him, having played in this Offense of AVP before.\u00a0 Throwing an Interception at the 3- yard line ended up being the difference in the game.\u00a0 He was 3 for 7 with an abysmal 10.7 QB rating.\u00a0 Do we now have some concerns about Brissett\u2019s ability to run this offense?\u00a0 He has not looked good in either Pre-season game.<\/p>\n Liam Fornadel\u00a0 <\/strong>Two fumbled snaps ( I thought one was on Milton) for a player that had never played Center until two weeks ago.\u00a0 The last one ended the game when Bailey Zappe was driving the team towards a potential game winning Field Goal.\u00a0 What happened to Charles Turner the UDFA from LSU?\u00a0 We all know that Atonio Mafi can\u2019t play Center and the Patriots mercifully ended that experiment.\u00a0 I\u2019m not sure Mafi has the ability to play in the NFL period.\u00a0 I felt bad for Fornadel who was being consoled by his teammates on the sideline.\u00a0 I still think there is a place for him on the Practice Squad to continue to develop.<\/p>\n Marcellus Dial <\/strong>I don\u2019t know what the Patriots coaches saw in this player to draft him in the 6th<\/sup> round.\u00a0 He can\u2019t cover my grandmother, and she is in her grave!\u00a0 I have never seen such a poor performance in a pre-season game.\u00a0 Philly kept pounding the ball at him on the same type of routes.\u00a0 They even targeted him on the two-point conversion.\u00a0 He just cut himself with that performance and I don\u2019t think being a draft pick will save him now.<\/p>\n Dell Pettus <\/strong>He had 5 Tackles and he hits very hard, as a hit broke up a pass.\u00a0 He also has Special Teams potential.<\/p>\n AJ Thomas\u00a0 <\/strong>He had 6 Tackles and he is in competition for a spot on the roster if not then the Practice Squad.<\/p>\n Joey Slye<\/strong> I think Slye won the kicking competition last night by banging home a 45-yard kick.<\/p>\n Overall the Patriots were very competitive, and I thought they dominated the game with the exception of the 4th<\/sup> quarter and the atrocious play of Marcellus Dial.\u00a0 \u00a0Unfortunately, they cannot afford to make mistakes like Jacoby Brissett did.\u00a0 They don\u2019t have that kind of margin for error.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" There are jobs to be won and lost in this game.\u00a0 Some players flourished while other failed miserably.\u00a0 In two weeks, the final cutdown will come and some 18 players will be looking for employment elsewhere.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":55312,"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":[11,10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-55322","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-patriots-commentary","category-patriots-news"],"yoast_head":"\nThree Up <\/strong><\/h3>\n
3 Down\u00a0 <\/strong><\/h3>\n
Other Notable Players <\/strong><\/h3>\n