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Ups & downs

Posted by Mike Reiss, Globe Staff August 18, 2008 04:00 PM

A look at who's up and who's down from the Patriots' 27-10 loss to the Buccaneers after watching the game live, then re-watching the TV broadcast:

Up

  • Stephen Gostkowski -- His 53-yard field goal at the end of the first half was arguably the team's best play of the night.

  • Mike Vrabel -- Provides pressure to help the Patriots' defense get off the field on third-and-6 early in the second quarter and finishes with six tackles in his first action of the season.

  • Wes Welker -- Breaks a tackle by Buccaneers linebacker Derrick Brooks to gain 12 yards on third-and-8 at the end of the first quarter, one of the best plays by a Patriots receiver all night. Later converts another third down.

    Down

  • Matt Cassel -- Fails to seize the opportunity to win the No. 2 quarterback job, locking on Randy Moss on a near-interception on the opening march. In all, he directed six drives and the offense produced just three points, which wasn't neccesarily all his doing but it ultimately comes back to the quarterback.

  • Dan Connolly -- Center's errant shotgun snap resulted in a touchdown for the Buccaneers.

  • Kevin Faulk -- Loses a fumble that ultimately ends the team's second drive, which had been its most promising.

  • Inside linebackers -- Some of the main first-half problems in the running game seemed to come right up the middle -- at Tedy Bruschi, Jerod Mayo and Gary Guyton.

  • David Thomas -- Tight end gets knocked back by defensive lineman Ryan Sims on a block that results in Laurence Maroney getting tackled for minus-2 yards, which stunted the progress of the second drive.

  • Pierre Woods -- Outside linebacker gets sucked in and fails to contain on Antonio Bryant's 16-yard run on an end-around, the third play of the Buccaneers' opening scoring drive.

    NOTE: Starting Friday in the Patriots' preseason game against the Eagles, the plan will be to wrap up the night with "ups and downs", then post an updated "ups and downs" after rewatching the game.

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    10 comments so far...

    1. Mike,

      Love to hear your opinion about Tedy Bruschi. I believe his play has been going down each of the past 3 years, so how much do you think he has left in the tank? He has major issues covering down the field.

      Ryan

      Posted by Ryan August 18, 08 04:25 PM

    1. we had some ups? really?

      Posted by Alex August 18, 08 04:35 PM

    1. It appeared to be a down nite for Wilfork, too. He was not his dominant self and Mayo and Bruschi's ineffectiveness was amplified by Big Vince's uncharacteristic struggles.

      Posted by randy August 18, 08 04:38 PM

    1. I thought the offensive line play was, well, offensive. Seemed to me no q-back had enough time, Cassel to get rid of it properly, and O'Connell got rid of it fast enough, just wasn't sure where it was going. O line played down from the superbowl thru the pre-season thus far. No quality draft picks or free agents signed to address this area. I fear it's going to be a long season for all quarterbacks on the Pats this year. Or a short one.

      Posted by Roger August 18, 08 05:19 PM

    1. Mike - which yet to be released QB do you anticipate the Pats signing for the 08 season - and will he most likely be the son of a former NFL Quarterback and currently on the Tampa Bay roster?

      Posted by JB Turk August 18, 08 06:24 PM

    1. Mike, have any of your readers actually seen Simms Jr. play? Probably not but it's jolly funny to see he's the flavor of the moment.

      Posted by Harold August 18, 08 07:22 PM

    1. can't wait for next week asante is coming back home(or will he with that injury?) i wish i could go to that game and wear my asante samuel jersey one last time. and yea that game was ugly. the pats better not lose to the giants it'd be nice to see pats play starters even though its a week before opening day and blow out the giants.

      Posted by Peter August 18, 08 08:09 PM

    1. You forgot the play of the night, courtesy of one Wesley Welker: Decking Eugene Wilson with a vicious block.

      - Scuba Owl

      Posted by Scuba Owl August 18, 08 08:30 PM

    1. Down: NFL Network game play coverage. I love their off-game analysists like Mayock and Eisen and others. But the game-time play by play coverage was awful.

      I don't subscribe to NFL network -- but I do watch NFL.com fairly regularly -- so I figured if the NFL is promoting its network, the one thing guaranteed to be good is the football aspect of it. However, I found it really just poorly put together glitter and lacking in substance... if the game itself was not so bad I might have watched more.

      I hope the Krafts read this because they have some influence with the NFL and might either urge improvements or end this experience before it harms the sport.

      Posted by Justin_R August 18, 08 11:18 PM

    1. What is the status of Merriweather? It seems like this could be a significant loss but no news on the injury. Please advise.

      Thanks

      Posted by BWP August 19, 08 09:56 AM
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    Mike Reiss, Christopher L. Gasper and the rest of the Globe team provide regular updates –and a behind-the-scenes look– on the daily happenings of the Patriots.
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