This just in..The Pat's O line picked up where they left off in Phoenix. Sucking. Big time..
Light and Neal didn't play at all, and Mankins and Koppen looked fine. Blame Kaczur and the rest of the backups for sucking complete ass. Kaczur is ****ing awful and I want him off the team. He was the biggest reason why we lost the super bowl.
I know it's only preseason game number one,but geeezz..Numerous times Cassell went back to pass and their were a couple of Raven's rushing in..It wouldn't surprise me,if over the next couple weeks,the Pats try and get some O linemen in for a workout..
They have 16 offensive linemen on the roster. They just have to figure out which ones don't suck.
The line was great for the first 18 games last year, so I'm not too worried.
And the lack of a bona fide backup to Brady is also an area of concern..He goes out for any length of time,so go the Pats.....
Same goes for Indy, Cincy, Pitt, Philly, Dallas, Jax, San Diego, Seattle, etc. When you have a player that is that good, there's no way a backup can replace them.
The Pats are going to need to change the playbook, the Giants really exploited their weakness and other teams are going to follow.
Belichick will obviously make adjustments. The two main reasons the Giants got so much pressure were (a) Nick Kaczur is ****ing terrible and he couldn't block Strahan and Osi to save his life and (b) the Giants had those two elite pass rushers. Not that many teams in the NFL have two guys like that.
Wasn't one of the concerns the age of the O line.
I don't think so. Age was the main concern with the linebackers.
Yes,which is probably the reason they brought in Jordan at RB. Hopefully they'll go with more quick slants/screens as teams will pass rush the hell out of them the way the Giants did in the SB.But they do need to address depth at O line..
I expect the offense to be much more balanced than it was last year. A healthy Maroney all through camp is going to be huge. Once he got healthy last year he had 4 100 yard games in the last 6 games. Combine that with Sammy Morris, Kevin Faulk, LaMont Jordan, and Heath Evans at FB and the Patriots have one of the deepest running back corps in the NFL.
I definitely expect the running game to be stronger this year (and they weren't bad last year, top 10 in the league), which will make the whole offense more explosive. It will keep defenses more on edge knowing that both aspects of the offense are so solid, plus you can throw in screens with Welker and Maroney to keep them even more off balance.
The most encouraging thing I saw last night was the play of some of the young guys on defense. Mayo, Meriweather, Crable, Woods, and Wheatley all looked great.
Jerod Mayo is going to be the key for this defense this year, and he's going to be great. Adding his youth, speed, and playmaking abilities to the veteran linebacker corps is going to be huge. This is going to let Tedy Bruschi play way less snaps, so when he's on the field he'll be more effective. Also having solid backups in Crable (who they compared to a young Willie McGinist as far as his style of play last night), Woods, and Hobson to spell Bruschi, Vrabel, and Thomas will be big.
Meriweather is also going to be key this year. Near the end of last season, he showed some flashes of brilliance, but I expect him to be even better this year. There was one play last night (3rd quarter maybe) where he squared up on a guy and made a solid, hard open field tackle when there was no other blue jerseys within 5 yards. Great play, and kind of reminded me of a Rodney Harrison style play. If he can keep up play like that, he'll be good.
ennington to be traded....
